The U.S. Marathons You Can Still Enter for Less Than $100

When a running coach named Hank added up what the Chicago Marathon had cost him this month, the $266 entry fee turned out to be one of the smaller lines on a $5,748.48 bill. We kept coming back to it on The Running Story, Marathon Handbook’s weekly news podcast, all the same. A runner can skip the $1,200 watch or sleep on a friend’s couch, but nobody gets to the start line without paying the entry, and at the World Marathon Majors that number now starts in the hundreds.

Boston will charge accepted qualifiers $270 for its 2027 race, $10 more than this year, according to the B.A.A. The 2027 Chicago Marathon costs $250 for U.S. residents and $260 for everyone else. New York’s most recent published fees, for 2025, were $255 for New York Road Runners members and $315 for non-members, and the Marine Corps Marathon charged $240 this year.

Smaller races have been creeping up as well, though from a much lower base. The average marathon sold through RunSignup, the registration platform that sold entries to 2,952 marathons last year, cost $97.57 in 2025, up 31 percent from $74.47 in 2021, according to the company’s annual RaceTrends report. Organizers raised their prices an average of 2.1 times during each registration window last year. Much of the cost of staging a race comes from closing roads, with police overtime, permits, timing and insurance on top. Michael Clemons of Running USA told Marketplace last week that a half-marathon in a small market costs $50,000 to $75,000 to stage, and $1 million or more in a large city.

That leaves plenty of room in small towns, on rail-trails and around a NASA base for a marathon that costs less than a pair of race shoes. The 19 below were all under $100 on Oct. 20, checked against each race’s own registration page. The prices are base entry fees, and most races add a few dollars in processing at checkout. Nearly all of them rise in steps as race day gets closer, so the last column shows when the current price ends.

Race	Location	Race date	Fee on Oct. 20	Current price ends
Paavo Nurmi Marathon	Hurley, Wis.	Aug. 14, 2027	$45	Oct. 31
Stennis Space Center Marathon	Stennis Space Center, Miss.	Nov. 28, 2026	$50	Nov. 22
Pocatello Marathon	Pocatello, Idaho	Sept. 4, 2027	$60	Feb. 14
Boise River Marathon	Boise, Idaho	May 2, 2027	$60	Oct. 31
Wausau Marathon	Wausau, Wis.	Aug. 22, 2027	$70	Dec. 30
Albany Marathon	Albany, Ga.	March 6, 2027	$75	Dec. 5
Horse Capital Marathon	Lexington, Ky.	April 10, 2027	$75	Nov. 30
Capital City Marathon	Olympia, Wash.	May 16, 2027	$75	Oct. 31
Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon	Holdingford, Minn.	May 8, 2027	$80	Oct. 31
Med City Marathon	Rochester, Minn.	May 16, 2027	$80	Jan. 13
Atlantic City Marathon	Atlantic City, N.J.	Oct. 17, 2027	$85	Oct. 31
B&A Trail Marathon	Severna Park, Md.	March 7, 2027	$85	Jan. 1
Golden Driller Marathon	Tulsa, Okla.	April 17, 2027	$85	Dec. 16
Des Moines Marathon	Des Moines, Iowa	Oct. 17, 2027	$85	Oct. 25
Surfside Beach Marathon	Freeport, Texas	Feb. 6, 2027	$85	Nov. 30
Yakima River Canyon Marathon	Selah, Wash.	April 3, 2027	$85	Feb. 28
Race to Space Marathon	Huntsville, Ala.	March 21, 2027	$90	Jan. 30
Famous Idaho Potato Marathon	Boise, Idaho	May 15, 2027	$90	Nov. 30
Providence Marathon	East Providence, R.I.	May 2, 2027	$95.95	Oct. 31

The Lowest Fees on the List

At $45, the Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Hurley, Wis., is the cheapest entry we found, and it is also one of the oldest. It was first held in 1969, and its organizers say no marathon in Wisconsin has been going longer. Next year’s race will be the 57th. It runs point to point from Upson to Hurley along Highway 77 and stays small: 52 runners finished the marathon this year. Its price climbs to $65 after Oct. 31 but never goes above $95, even on race day.

The Stennis Space Center Marathon is a single paved loop around the perimeter of the NASA facility in Mississippi, and it costs just $50 until Nov. 22. The course is certified and a Boston qualifier. Getting in takes some paperwork, since every adult needs a Real ID or a passport, plus proof of car insurance, to get through the main gate, and walkers aren’t allowed in the marathon.

Farther west, the Pocatello Marathon in Idaho sells its 2027 entries for $60 until Feb. 14, and the price doesn’t reach $100 until July. The USATF-certified course drops just under 1,500 feet, and organizers adjusted it for 2026 so that it meets Boston’s elevation rules.

Races With a Long History

The Atlantic City Marathon was founded in 1958, and the race lists itself as “the third oldest continuing marathon in the United States.” Its USATF-certified course is flat and includes eight miles on the Boardwalk. A presale for the Oct. 17, 2027 race costs $85 plus a $6.10 signup fee and runs until Oct. 31.

Olympia’s Capital City Marathon has its own place in the history books. The race began in 1982, and two years later its organizing association helped bring the first U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials for women to the city. More than 50,000 people watched from the roadside on May 12, 1984, when Joan Benoit won on her way to Olympic gold, according to a history published by the Washington State Capitol. Entry for next May’s race is $75 through Oct. 31.

Local running clubs organize a good number of these races. The Annapolis Striders have put on the B&A Trail Marathon in Maryland since 1992, and it costs $85 until Jan. 1, with $10 off for club members. In Washington, the Yakima Hard Core Runners stage the Yakima River Canyon Marathon, a certified Boston qualifier that was directed for 19 years by Bob and Lenore Dolphin. Bob finished 502 marathons before he died in 2021, the Yakima Herald reported. The entry is $85 until Feb. 28 and $95 after that.

Where the Price Barely Moves

Some races keep their fee under $100 for almost the whole registration window, which takes the pressure off signing up early. The Albany Marathon in Georgia, formerly known as the Snickers Marathon, costs $75 until Dec. 5 and does not pass $100 until the two days before the race. It had 258 finishers this year on a course the race describes as flat. Kentucky’s Horse Capital Marathon, which passes more than 50 horse farms around Lexington, stays under $100 until April 1, nine days before race day.

The Wausau Marathon in Wisconsin tops out at exactly $100, and it is $70 until Dec. 30 on a USATF-certified course that counts for Boston, Chicago and New York qualifying. Tulsa’s Golden Driller Marathon runs on the flat Riverparks trails along the Arkansas River, with one hill, and goes from $85 now to $105 on race day. It had 160 marathon finishers in 2026.

Two More to Watch for 2027

Two New England races were under $100 in 2026 but have not yet opened entries for next year. The Maine Marathon in Portland charged $75 for its 2026 race until Jan. 1 and stayed under $100 through the end of June, before climbing to $125 the day before the race. The whole event is run by Maine Track Club volunteers, more than 900 of them in 2025, and the race says it and its runners have raised nearly $9 million for charity since 1997. In Vermont, the Champlain Islands Marathon cost $80 this year, with another $10 off for members of the organizing club, and sold out its cap of 500 runners. The certified course starts and finishes near the former home of Clarence DeMar, who won Boston seven times.

Prices Rising at the End of October

Seven of the prices on the list change within the next two weeks. The Des Moines Marathon, first run in 2002, offers its 2027 race for $85 until Oct. 25, after which the price goes to $100 and eventually to $195. The Boise River Marathon makes the sharpest jump, from $60 to $110 on Nov. 1. Paavo Nurmi’s $45 entry, Atlantic City’s presale, Capital City’s $75 entry, the $80 Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon in Minnesota and the Providence Marathon all reprice after Oct. 31, although Providence only rises to $99.95.

Anyone who would rather not wait until 2027 has one option close at hand. The Stennis Space Center Marathon is on Nov. 28, and the $50 entry is open until Nov. 22.