TCS New York City Marathon, Bank of America Chicago Marathon and Boston Marathon continue to rank as top three largest marathons in the United States

WICHITA, Kan. – For the second time in history (with the exception of 2012 when the New York City Marathon was cancelled), the number of U.S. marathon finishers declined, but only slightly in the most recent year-over-year comparison.

In 2016, there were a total of 507,600 finishers over the marathon distance in the U.S., down slightly from 509,000 in 2015. In addition, there were 1,100 marathons held in the United States, similar to 2015.

The TCS New York City Marathon maintained its number one ranking as the U.S.’s largest marathon with 51,267 finishers, up from 49,365 finishers last year. The top 15 marathons in the U.S. remained fairly consistent. In 2016, there were 86 marathons with 1,000+ finishers, down from a record high of 98 marathons in 2014 and 90 in 2015.

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Year

Estimated U.S. Marathon
Finisher Total

1976

25,000

1980

143,000

1990

224,000

1995

293,000

2000

353,000

2004

386,000

2005

395,000

2006

410,000

2007

412,000

2008

425,000

2009

467,000

2010

507,000

2011

518,000

2012

487,000 (NYC Marathon cancelled)

2013

541,000

2014

550,600 (Record High)

2015

509,000

2016

507,600

Top 15 U.S. Marathons

2016 Ranking

2015 Ranking

Event

Finishers

1

1

TCS New York City Marathon

51,267

2

2

Bank of America Chicago Marathon

40,523

3

3

Boston Marathon

26,640

4

5

Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon

20,608

5

6

Honolulu Marathon

20,117

6

7

Walt Disney World Marathon

19,836

7

4

Marine Corps Marathon

19,690

8

8

Philadelphia Marathon

8,991

9

9

Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon

8,556

10

10

Chevron Houston Marathon

7,809

11

11

Grandma’s Marathon

7,522

12

12

San Francisco Marathon

6,323

13

14

California International Marathon

6,176

14

San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon

5,823

15

15

St. George Marathon

5,437

SOURCE: Running USA with Athlinks