The base sources
Three sources sit underneath every profile:
- Aspen Institute Project Play: State of Play 2025 (annual report on youth-sports participation, including family spending data by income, sport, and level).
- Project Play: National Youth Sports Parent Survey (cost data; the "average U.S. sports family spent $1,016 on their child's primary sport in 2024" finding comes from this survey).
- Project Play: Research index (the State of Play archive plus published surveys, available at projectplay.org/research).
Sport-specific profiles add additional sources from the relevant national governing body or club association (USA Hockey, USAV, USAG, US Lacrosse, US Youth Soccer, USTA, USASF, USA Swimming, AAU Basketball, NFHS, USA Football, Little League International, Dance Studio Owners Association). Each profile lists which sources it draws from. We do not link to private travel showcase or pure travel-club operators as sources.
How the defaults get assembled
For each sport-and-level combination, defaults come from a synthesis of three things:
- Published fee structures from the relevant governing body or representative club programs (registration, club dues, tournament fees, membership).
- Project Play National Youth Sports Parent Survey medians, weighted toward the level (rec/school/travel/elite).
- Reader-submitted budget data through this site, which gets cross-checked against the survey medians.
Hotel and travel cost defaults assume mid-range chain hotels and the IRS standard mileage rate ($0.67/mile in 2026). Equipment and apparel defaults assume mid-range new gear with a 2-3 year replacement cycle averaged annually.
What we don't try to model
Three things vary too much for a default to be useful:
- Region. Hotel costs in Houston are different from Boston. Gas costs in Wyoming are different from Manhattan.
- Family logistics. Two parents and one kid is different from one parent and three kids. Carpools, shared hotel rooms, and split travel changes the math.
- Time cost. The hours a parent spends driving, organizing, coaching, and managing the season have real value. Surfaced as an optional line item; not priced for you.
What we do try to surface
Four things parents consistently underestimate:
- Tournament travel hotels. The single most underestimated line in travel sports.
- Equipment replacement. Most parents budget the initial purchase, not the annual replacement.
- Team apparel. The required spirit pack, second jersey, and warm-ups that often run $300-600/year at travel level.
- Per-game-played cost. Annual cost divided by games where the kid actually got real minutes. The metric most parents find most useful: it works the same whether you're at $400/year or $14,000/year.
Update cadence
Defaults update annually after the Project Play State of Play release (typically September) and after a winter pass through reader-submitted data. Profiles in the calculator carry an "as of" year reference; if you spot a number that's clearly off, email us at [email protected].
Per-profile sourcing
Every profile in the calculator and what's behind it: