October 2026 Six-State RunSignUp Price Snapshot: A Runner’s Budget Guide

A race-entry median can give your budget a starting point. The decision still belongs to the individual event: its current price, what the entry includes and what getting to the start will cost you. Use this snapshot to narrow your choices, then replace the reference figure with a verified price before committing.

Collected on October 27, 2026, this RunSignUp snapshot contains 3,363 eligible priced event entries from 1,682 unique races in six selected states: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas. It covers races scheduled from October 27, 2026, through January 24, 2027. Those dates define the race-date window; the prices were collected at one point in time.

The figures measure listed entry plus processing fees at collection. They provide a reference for that part of your budget, while leaving travel, optional purchases, discounts and checkout-specific charges outside the calculation.

Start with your distance and state

Find the row matching the distance you intend to enter and the state where you are considering racing. Read the eligible-event count alongside the median. Together, they tell you the middle listed price and how many event entries contributed to that comparison.

The California 5K median is $43.40, compared with $35.00 for New York. For marathons, the order reverses: California’s median is $96.40 and New York’s is $107.00. Those comparisons describe the retained listings for each distance. They give no basis for a single verdict about which state offers cheaper racing overall.

Matching medians also deserve a careful reading. Colorado, Florida and Texas each have a 5K median of $38.10, but their eligible-event counts are 121, 689 and 518, respectively. The matching middle price does not make the underlying selections interchangeable or tell you what any particular race includes.

For a practical shortlist, start with the row that fits your plans, then examine individual events. An entry above the median warrants a closer look at its details. The price alone cannot establish whether it offers good value for you.

Understand what the middle price represents

These are unweighted event-level medians. Every eligible event entry receives equal weight, regardless of how many runners enter it. The median describes the middle of those listed prices; it does not describe what the typical participant paid.

The observation unit matters just as much. A race can offer several events or distances and contribute several entries to the sample. The 3,363 priced entries therefore do not represent 3,363 separate races. If you are choosing a weekend outing or assembling a club calendar, check which options belong to the same race before treating them as separate destinations.

You can consult the downloadable event CSV, which contains the eligible event rows used for this sample.

A median also leaves much unanswered. It does not show the full spread of prices, identify the entry closest to your home or explain the differences between organizers. Use it to frame your search rather than to set a mandatory spending target.

Build a budget for the event you will actually enter

Replace the reference with a current registration quote

Once you have a candidate, open its registration page and select the exact event and distance. Record the current entry price and processing charge, then review the total shown for your registration choices before paying. Keep that quote separate from the October 27 snapshot figure so you know which number your budget uses.

RunSignUp’s Set Up Registration guide explains that organizers can create registration periods with their own event fees. A listed price captured during one period is therefore a dated reference. Check the active period and any stated deadline instead of assuming the saved price remains available.

Do not build your budget around a discount you have not confirmed. Age or membership discounts were not modeled here. If a candidate lists a discount, verify your eligibility and the amount shown for your own registration before including it in your plan.

Add the costs outside the snapshot

Make a separate allowance for anything the entry requires or you choose to buy. Depending on your plans, that might include transportation, parking, lodging, meals or optional registration purchases. Check each candidate’s details for charges rather than assuming every event has the same extras.

This distinction becomes useful when comparing a nearby event with one requiring an overnight stay. Set out the current registration quote and the rest of your expected spending for each option. The snapshot supplies no travel totals, so it cannot tell you which outing will cost less overall.

Read what the entry includes before assigning value to a price difference. Confirm any item or service that matters to your decision, and check refund, transfer or deferral terms before committing. A fee comparison is most useful when you understand what you are agreeing to purchase.

Keep comparisons within the evidence

The geographic selection was fixed in advance: CA, CO, FL, IL, NY and TX. This is a descriptive sample of eligible public RunSignUp listings in those states. It is neither a random sample nor a picture of all US races, all registration providers or every event within the selected states.

You can compare the reported state-and-distance medians as descriptions of this sample. You cannot turn them into national averages, market rankings or explanations of why prices differ. The snapshot does not measure organizer costs, participant preferences or the causes of regional differences.

It also cannot establish a price trend or historical inflation. The race dates span October 27, 2026, through January 24, 2027, but the collection happened on October 27. An event scheduled in January contributes its price at collection, not a price observed in January.

Counts place another limit on interpretation. New York’s marathon median rests on five eligible entries; California’s rests on nine. Small retained groups can have medians that change substantially when a few listings change. Groups below five are suppressed, but reaching five is not a reliability guarantee. A missing comparison does not establish that no races exist.

How the sample was selected and calculated

The collection retained currently open physical running, running-only, trail or ultra events with recognized distances, one unambiguous current registration period and known processing fees. Other event types were excluded. These rules mean real race choices can fall outside the sample because of their format, registration status, distance information or pricing information.

The supplied exclusion record lists 3,167 noneligible events, 263 closed or schedule-note races, 1,948 unclassified-distance events, 61 events with missing or ambiguous current prices and three events with unknown fees. These categories describe different screening steps and units; they should not be treated as a single count of excluded races.

For each eligible event, the measure combines the listed entry fee and processing fee in the current registration period. RunSignUp’s Get Race API documentation describes event and registration-period information, including those fee fields. It specifies Eastern Time for dates and times other than event start and end times. The snapshot selected current registration periods using Eastern Time.

Duplicate listings with the same race ID and event ID were removed before calculating the medians. The medians are unweighted across eligible event entries and rounded half up to cents. State-and-distance comparison groups with fewer than five eligible events are omitted. Neither participant numbers nor the number of entries sold changes an event’s weight in the calculation.

The collection reports complete pagination for all six selected state searches. RunSignUp’s Get Races API documentation describes paginated results and search filters. Completed retrieval means those selected searches were fully retrieved under the collection’s rules. It does not establish complete coverage of the race market. A pagination cap in a later collection would indicate incomplete retrieval, not zero inventory.

Recheck before you register

Return to the live listing when you are ready to pay. Confirm the race date, location, exact distance, registration availability and active price. Review any optional selections and applicable conditions, then inspect your own checkout total. If the listing leaves an essential charge or inclusion unclear, resolve it with the organizer before committing.

For a shared race calendar, save the listing link and the date you checked it beside your budget figure. That gives everyone a clear reference when reviewing options later. Keep the October snapshot labeled as a historical comparison and use the current quote for the spending decision.

Ready to build your shortlist? Find a race on RaceThere and check the event’s current registration details.