■ Parents, school administrators, and community sports program leaders who participated in our survey perceive great benefits of youth sports participation in the areas of physical health, social and emotional skills, and academics.■ Youth sports participation rates are relatively high, and perceived demand has grown for youth sports in schools and community-based programs, according to those surveyed.■ Sports participation gaps exist between youths from lower-income families and middle-and higherincome families. Only 52 percent of parents from lower-income families reported that their student in grade 6-12 participated in sports, compared with 66 percent of middle-and higher-income families.Our finding is consistent with prior research which found a 25 percent sports participation gap between children from families earning less than $30,000 per year and those from families earning $75,000 or more per year (Pew Research Center, 2015).■ School administrators and community leaders in our survey noted that, in the past five years, most school sports budgets have not increased, despite rising sports fees for both school and community-based sports. This places the burden on families to provide additional financial support. Higher fees are likely more difficult for lower-income families to bear. For lower-income parents (those with a household income of less than $50,000), expense was the second-most-common reason their child did not participate in sports.