A $40,000 Equinox Gym Membership Has a Waitlist

Equinox’s $40,000-a-year “Optimize” membership has amassed a waitlist of more than 1,000 people, CNBC recently reported. The membership has attracted attention because it is less a gym pass and more a concierge-style program targeted squarely towards wealthy clients.

A regular Equinox membership in New York City, for instance, costs anywhere from $215 to $395 per month, depending on club access and not including initiation fees. The basic membership includes unlimited access to group fitness classes and gym equipment. Some locations include pools, saunas and cold plunges. 

In contrast, Equinox structured its Optimize membership as a comprehensive health and performance program rather than traditional gym access. Under the program, which started in 2024, Equinox assigns members a core team that includes a trainer, a nutrition coach, a sleep coach and a massage therapist, coordinated by a dedicated concierge who synthesizes their data and plans. Clients do not have to be existing Equinox members to join the waitlist. Optimize members have to purchase a regular Equinox gym membership separately, adding to the cost. 

Programming is highly structured. Optimize promises three 60‑minute personal training sessions per week, plus short, recurring consults with nutrition and sleep specialists and monthly massage therapy, adding up to about 16 hours of one-on-one services per month.

The membership also integrates extensive lab work and diagnostics, testing roughly 100 biomarkers twice a year and feeding those results into customized training and recovery plans.

Why there’s a 1,000-person waitlist

Harvey Spevak, Equinox’s executive chairman, told CNBC that Equinox has seen strong demand for Optimize, which demonstrates broader “insatiable” demand for longevity and wellness offerings. He did not disclose how many Optimize memberships Equinox has granted. 

“Health is the new luxury,” Spevak told the outlet. “The number one thing in the experience economy, besides travel, that the consumer wants is, ‘How do I live a high-performance lifestyle?’”

The Global Wellness Institute estimates the global wellness economy could approach nearly $10 trillion by 2029, up from $6.8 trillion in 2024. The leap underscores how aggressively consumers, especially the affluent, are spending on health optimization. 

The scarcity element is working, too. Equinox rolled out Optimize in Los Angeles and Dallas first, with New York on deck, creating geographic and operational capacity limits that help fuel a sense of exclusivity.

For Equinox, the Optimize member isn’t just a gym client; they’re a recurring-revenue customer in a sector where spending is growing faster than traditional fitness, per CNBC. They’re the reason why a $40,000 membership can sell out. 

A comparable high-end gym membership is the annual pass for Lanserhof at The Arts Club in London. Membership ranges from around $8,760 to $20,200 per year for gym access layered on top of diagnostics, therapies and longevity treatments. 

Equinox currently operates 115 fitness clubs worldwide and plans to open 40 more, per CNBC. Spevak declined to disclose financials, but told CNBC that 2025 was a “record year” financially and he expects 2026 “to be even bigger.”

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Equinox’s $40,000-a-year “Optimize” membership has amassed a waitlist of more than 1,000 people, CNBC recently reported. The membership has attracted attention because it is less a gym pass and more a concierge-style program targeted squarely towards wealthy clients.

A regular Equinox membership in New York City, for instance, costs anywhere from $215 to $395 per month, depending on club access and not including initiation fees. The basic membership includes unlimited access to group fitness classes and gym equipment. Some locations include pools, saunas and cold plunges.