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America's Biggest Running-Store Deserts, 2026
Running has never been more popular — and yet 30 US cities over 100,000 people still have one running store or none at all (7 have zero). If you've ever daydreamed about opening a run shop, this is the market-gap list: big populations, nowhere to get fitted. Updated July 18, 2026.
The largest cities with one or no running store
| # | City | Population | Running stores |
| 1 | El Paso, TX | 681,723 | 1 |
| 2 | Detroit, MI | 645,705 | 1 |
| 3 | Fresno, CA | 550,105 | 1 |
| 4 | Mesa, AZ | 517,151 | none |
| 5 | Long Beach, CA | 450,901 | 1 |
| 6 | Bakersfield, CA | 417,468 | none |
| 7 | Aurora, CO | 403,130 | 1 |
| 8 | Cleveland, OH | 365,379 | 1 |
| 9 | Anaheim, CA | 344,561 | 1 |
| 10 | Riverside, CA | 323,757 | 1 |
| 11 | Irvine, CA | 318,683 | 1 |
| 12 | Newark, NJ | 317,303 | none |
| 13 | Santa Ana, CA | 316,184 | none |
| 14 | Greensboro, NC | 307,381 | 1 |
| 15 | Jersey City, NJ | 302,824 | 1 |
| 16 | North Las Vegas, NV | 294,034 | 1 |
| 17 | Chandler, AZ | 281,231 | 1 |
| 18 | Chula Vista, CA | 278,546 | 1 |
| 19 | Toledo, OH | 265,638 | 1 |
| 20 | Laredo, TX | 261,260 | none |
| 21 | Port St. Lucie, FL | 258,575 | 1 |
| 22 | Irving, TX | 258,060 | 1 |
| 23 | Chesapeake, VA | 254,997 | 1 |
| 24 | Garland, TX | 250,431 | 1 |
| 25 | Hialeah, FL | 235,388 | none |
| 26 | Cape Coral, FL | 233,025 | 1 |
| 27 | Norfolk, VA | 231,105 | 1 |
| 28 | Santa Clarita, CA | 229,159 | 1 |
| 29 | McKinney, TX | 227,526 | 1 |
| 30 | San Bernardino, CA | 224,775 | none |
What this list actually means
Most of these cities aren't runner-free — they're big suburbs (Anaheim, Plano, Gilbert) whose runners drive to the anchor city's shops. That's exactly what makes them interesting: each one is a six-figure population already lacing up somewhere less convenient. For comparison, the national average is roughly one running store per 169,000 people; every city here is at least twice as underserved as that.
Thinking about which markets do support shops? See America's running-store capitals — cities a fraction of this size sustaining 6–10 stores each.
Methodology
Store counts come from our continuously maintained national directory of 2,016 US running stores, matched to US Census incorporated places and consolidated cities (2024 population estimates), with census naming normalized to everyday city names. Counts are stores listed within the city proper — a shop one town over doesn't count, which is rather the point. A brand-new store we haven't indexed yet could nudge a row; tell us and we'll fix it.
Cite this data
Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0). Suggested line:
"According to RunningStores.net's 2026 running-store-desert data (runningstores.net/running-store-stats/underserved/), El Paso, TX is the largest US city with only one running store."