Why these Atlantans are spending big bucks on luxury fitness memberships
One weekend in west Midtown, Milan Johnson celebrated her 31st birthday by renting out a Pilates studio and inviting a dozen friends to work out to her favorite music. After the private class, the group grabbed juices and lunch — a celebration built around fitness rather than nightlife.
Moments like this reflect a broader shift in how young adults socialize. For some, like Reagan Donnelly, wellness routines shape entire schedules. The 24-year-old said she’ll opt out of a late-night hangout if it means she won’t make her workout class the next morning.
They represent a recent era of wellness, one where luxury gyms and boutique fitness studios are becoming the ultimate hangout spots, and where your community is shaped, in part, by where you exercise.
As luxury fitness spaces expand across metro Atlanta, they’re doing more than offering a pricey place to break a sweat. They’re replacing traditional social hubs, redefining connection, and turning wellness into a central part of daily life for those who choose to invest.
The appeal of luxury gyms
So why are people spending hundreds of dollars per month on a gym membership? For many, the appeal comes down to convenience and experience.
“The amount of gyms that I probably pass to get (to Club Studio) is wild,” Donnelly said. “But if there’s a gym that I find worth it … If it’s energizing, clean, welcoming, then that’s a place that I would not only invest my money in, but invest my time to drive to it.”
For the past two months, she’s maintained that gym membership alongside an OrangeTheory membership she started in college, spending roughly $250 a month in total.
Donnelly isn’t alone. According to Bank of America Global Research data released in February, spending growth for especially Gen Zers and, to a lesser extent Millennials, was higher for fitness activities than for bars. McKinsey’s Future of Wellness survey in 2024 says that Gen Zers and Millennials make up 36% of the U.S. population but drive more than 41% of annual wellness spending, whereas adults 58 and older, who make up 35% of the population, drive 28% of wellness spending.
These younger generations are also helping to reshape the expectations and boundaries around fitness. In 2020, Johnson started working with a fitness trainer, but the high intensity workouts didn’t deliver the results she expected. Instead, the experience alerted her to some chronic health issues, including Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).
After her diagnoses, she began exploring different fitness routines better suited to managing a chronic condition, like Pilates and yoga for their lower-impact approach. She now practices both consistently through ClassPass, a subscription that allows users to apply monthly credits to classes at a variety of boutique studios and gyms.
Johnson’s mindset around wellness, and that of her friends, feels like a generational shift. She doesn’t recall her parents going on walks with friends or talking about working out.
“My wellness era is not an era anymore. It’s like my whole life,” Johnson said. “Every day I want to feel the best in my body that I can feel.”
That approach often comes with tradeoffs, like cutting back on alcohol or budgeting differently to afford the classes and trainers who know their name and celebrate their wins.
“To me, that’s an investment that I don’t ever see the burden,” Donnelly said. “I would change my spending in other aspects of my life before my fitness.”
Atlanta trauma surgeon Randi Smith, now in her 40s, joined Life Time after the birth of her son. A former track athlete, she had always been active but between working and raising a family, the busyness of daily life pushed fitness to the side until she started building out a consistent routine. She’s currently training for HYROX, a popular indoor fitness competition.
“I also get bored sometimes. I’m a former runner, but I’m also a former sprinter, so running long distances and running on a treadmill forever does not float my boat at all,” she said. “I like the variety and the versatility and the classes and the types of coaches.”
For Smith, the value lies in having everything in one place. She’s been at Life Time for about six years, and she says the “one stop shop” has everything she needs. With workout classes, a cafe, spa and even a kid’s academy, the gym allows her to fit fitness, family and self-care into a single, convenient space.
That level of convenience, however, comes at a cost. A membership at Life Time’s Buckhead location starts at $299 per month, with day passes alone for $75. The company bills itself as an “athletic country club” with all the amenities to go with it, and it recently opened its third metro-area location in Sandy Springs.
In Brookhaven, Club Studio — which held its grand opening in October — offers memberships starting at $189 per month, with perks like boutique fitness classes, a spa, steam room, sauna, weightlifting and running equipment and a cafe, according to Donnelly.
Meanwhile, Carbon Performance in west Midtown offers a slightly wider pricing wage, from $99 to $230 per month. It offers personal trainings, group classes, a recovery lounge, a protein shake bar plus a 360-degree “mirrored posing room.”
Community through fitness
For Smith, her gym has become more than a place to exercise. It’s where she built a community, many who are in a similar phase of life and know what it’s like to juggle the demands of parenthood.
“We encourage each other,” she said. “I’ve done 5Ks with my gym family.”
That sense of connection is a common byproduct of frequenting these spaces, where shared routines and priorities often turn into friendships.
While the costly memberships aren’t attainable for everyone, it boils down to what experience you’re looking for, Khetanya Henderson said, the owner of KKRU Pilates Studio & Wellness in the West End. For those seeking a more elevated, luxury environment, she said, that can mean paying a premium.
There are also structural reasons behind the cost. Henderson said expenses can add up quickly: Pilates reformers can range anywhere from $3,000-$6,000 each, not including rent, paying instructors, training and other standard brick-and-mortar costs.
But Joseph Pilates, the founder of the Pilates exercise system, emphasized in his foundational books that “Pilates is for everybody,” Henderson explained. “It was never meant for it to be specific to one group or whatever.”
Those barriers to access are part of what inspired Henderson to launch Pilates in the Park, a free outdoor session in Grant Park that’s open to anyone.
“In many communities, access to high-quality wellness spaces is limited by cost, location or representation. Pilates in the Park exists to change that narrative by offering inclusive, welcoming, outdoor classes rooted in respect for the body, nervous system awareness and community connection,” according to its mission statement.
The program recently restarted, drawing anywhere from 75 to 150 people in attendance.
“What it showed is that people want to be in community,” Henderson said.
That desire for connection, she added, helps explain Atlanta’s surge of luxury gyms and fitness opportunities. In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people experienced isolation, there’s a strong desire to be around others and to build a community of like-minded people, she said. Henderson also points to the rise in wearable technology and an influx of transplants from cities like New York and Los Angeles as factors shaping expectations around fitness in Atlanta.
She hopes Atlanta will continue to prioritize wellness, and that future growth will bring nutritious food and fitness opportunities to parts of the city that don’t usually see that sort of investment.
“I think what is exciting is that wellness is really going to have more of a holistic perspective,” Henderson said. “We’re going to look at it from all angles.”
About the Author
Olivia Wakim is a digital content producer on the food and dining team. She joined the AJC as an intern in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree. While in school, she reported for The Red & Black, Grady Newsource and the Marietta Daily Journal.
