Racialized Black-White Economic Segregation and Major Chain Yoga Studio Locations in Major U.S. Metropolitan Areas.

Introduction: Despite yoga's benefits and popularity, there is concern for racial inequities in yoga access and participation that have not been empirically studied at the population level. Against this background, the objective of this study was to examine the geographic distribution of major chain yoga franchises in relation to racialized Black-White economic segregation across the U.S. Methods: The authors extracted census tracts and 5-digit ZIP codes (ZIP5) for >500 major chain yoga franchises in the U.S. and estimated the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICERace[Black-White]-Income), a measure of racialized Black-White economic segregation. ICERace(Black-White)-Income is a continuous variable ranging from -1 to +1, categorized into quintiles (-1=maximum deprivation; +1=maximum privilege). Results: Study findings revealed that <10% of studios were situated in census tracts and ZIP5s with a proportion of Black residents exceeding 13%. Less than 25% of studios were situated in census tracts and ZIP5s with household incomes below the 2022 national median ($74,580). Across all census tracts and ZIP5s, the mean value for ICERace(Black-White)-Income fell in the highest quintile for racialized Black-White economic segregation (ICERace[Black-White]-Income=0.37). Conclusions: Major yoga franchises are situated in census tracts and ZIP codes that fall within the highest quintile of racialized Black-White economic segregation in the U.S.