Gyms in Odessa

National figures frame what Odessa gyms charge. Forbes Health, citing Statista, put the average US gym membership at $28.58 a month in 2021, with prices from about $10 to $300. Fixr (January 2025) puts basic gyms at $15 to $40 a month and gyms with more advanced equipment at $50 to $100.

Ask about initiation fees, annual fees and whether the rate is locked. A gym that never requires a contract or prepayment over 31 days, financing, automatic bank drafts or initiation fees can be exempt from posting security, so a month-to-month plan can carry less protection as well as less commitment. The Texas gyms guide covers the full law.

Under the Texas Health Spa Act, a health spa is any business selling memberships for instruction in, or use of facilities for, a physical exercise program. A covered gym can't operate or sell memberships without a certificate of registration from the Secretary of State, and each location needs its own. Registration costs $100 and lasts a year.

Search the gym on the Secretary of State's online health spa search, which also shows whether it has posted security. The certificate must be displayed at each location, and the registration number must be printed in your contract. A contract signed with an unregistered seller is void.

Gyms in Odessa the Act doesn't cover

The Act doesn't reach tax-exempt nonprofits, member-owned private clubs, studios that only teach dance or aerobics, rehab providers, school programs or government clinics. Those can still be good places to train; just don't expect a health spa registration or security behind the membership.

Security behind an Odessa membership

Unless exempt, a gym posts $20,000 to $50,000 of security per location with the Secretary of State, rising with its prepaid memberships, as a surety bond or certificate of deposit. A gym can't advertise that it's 'bonded by the state'.

The cooling-off period ends at midnight of the third business day after the contract date, and the cancellation has to go by certified mail with proof of payment. The contract itself must state that right in conspicuous 10-point type. A membership contract can't run longer than three years, and financed contracts can't require payments for more than five.

You can also cancel for a refund of unearned payments if you die or become totally and permanently disabled, and for a partial refund if the gym closes without offering facilities within 10 miles, moves more than 10 miles, or fails to provide advertised services. If the gym is unusable for 30 days or more for reasons outside the owner's control, it must extend your contract by the same time.

A gym must post notice inside and outside each entrance at least 30 days before closing or relocating, and notify the Secretary of State; that notice isn't required after a fire, flood or act of God. Members can claim against its security by mailing their contract and proof of payment to the Secretary of State within 90 days of the closure notice appearing on the SOS website. Keep your contract and payment records for that reason, along with any receipt from a certified-mail cancellation. If a new gym sells memberships before opening, it must hold the money in an FDIC-insured escrow account until 30 days after it opens, and if it never opens within 180 days, prepaying members are generally owed a full refund.

Sales tactics and refund fights are outside the Secretary of State's role, so bring them to the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, (800) 621-0508. To compare options, see gyms in Midland or the Odessa local guide. The list above follows the method in our terms of service.