Girls Flag Football Just Cracked the Top 10 — What the New NFHS Numbers Mean for Your League

If you've spent this month registering a "waitlist only" youth flag team or watching a brand-new girls' program fill up in days, you're not imagining the surge — the numbers just caught up to what you've been seeing on the field. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) released its newest High School Athletics Participation Survey on August 27, and girls flag football posted the most dramatic growth of any sport in the country.

The Numbers

According to the survey, girls flag football has officially cracked the top 10 girls sports nationally for the first time. Here's the breakdown:

▸ 102,360 girls played high school flag football in 2025-26, up from 68,847 the year before — a 49 percent jump in a single season.

▸ Nearly 4,000 high schools now sponsor the sport, up from 2,736 — a 46 percent increase in programs.

▸ Since the 2021-22 survey, when just 15,716 girls played, participation has grown more than sixfold in four years.

▸ Girls' sports overall added 114,993 new participants nationally, and flag football alone accounted for a huge share of that growth.

For context, both the boys' and girls' national participation totals hit record highs this year, and flag football is a big reason why.

What It Means for Your League

This isn't just a headline for athletic directors — it's validation for every rec league, YMCA program, and travel team that built a girls' division before the state association made it official. High school sanctioning follows youth participation, not the other way around. Every 8-and-under or middle school girls' team filling a Saturday morning slot right now is quietly building the roster numbers that get flag football sanctioned in the next state, and the college scholarship pipeline — now open at dozens of NCAA and NAIA programs — that keeps those players on the field for years to come.

For organizers still on the fence about adding a girls' division, this is the data to bring to your board meeting. For parents, it's a sign that the sport your daughter loves has real staying power — and a real path forward, from youth leagues all the way to college programs.

Get Involved

Looking for a team for this fall? Browse girls flag football teams near you, or if you're ready to launch a new division, check out our resources for organizations building youth programs from the ground up.

Is your local league seeing the same growth? We'd love to hear about it — and maybe feature your program in an upcoming spotlight.