The Best American Cities for Soccer Fans

America’s love affair with soccer is clear: for good reason nine are in the top ten Most watched TV broadcast In US history there are only two Super Bowls (and to put that in perspective, the only other one is the Apollo 11 moon landing).

But for the rest of the world, the word soccer It means something completely different: The game known to Americans as “soccer” is soccer The most popular sport on the planetwith a staggering 3.5 billion fans and regular participants worldwide. But in recent years, the United States has begun to catch up, no doubt thanks in part to the record-breaking performance of the U.S. women’s team at the World Cup. Football is More popular than ever In the United States, with about 14 million Americans Exercise regularly. And now, the financial data website WalletHub has compiled a new survey revealing the best cities for soccer fans across the United States

1. Survey methodology
2. The best American cities for soccer fans are…
3. The best cities for football fans by city size
4. An interactive map of the best American cities for soccer fans

Survey methodology

The survey’s authors compiled data on 302 of the most populous U.S. cities that have at least one college or professional soccer team, and took data from five divisions: MLS (men’s Division I), NWSL (women’s Division I), USL (men’s Division III), college soccer (men’s Division I), and college soccer (women’s Division I). Each city was then given a weighted score across 52 different metrics, including stadium capacity and attendance, franchise value, coaching statistics and records, local Hall of Fame members, and even likes on social media and activity among local teams.

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The best American cities for soccer fans are…

Taking all the data and crunching the numbers, the survey found that Los Angeles is the most football-friendly city in America, with a weighted total score of 55.88 – making it a full eight points higher than the city in second place.

Los Angeles’ first-place finish is perhaps not surprising given that it is one of the founding cities of Major League Soccer in the United States, and is home to two of the most profitable teams in Major League Soccer – the LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC, who are each worth an average of more than $1 billion – as well as Angel City FC from New South Wales.

In second place, Orlando scored 47.14 points in the poll, followed by Seattle in third place (46.26), Salt Lake City in fourth place (44.15), and Portland, Oregon in fifth place (44.05). The rest of the top 10 consists of New York (40.65), Washington, D.C. (39.83), Miami (37.63), Kansas City, Missouri (36.62), and Atlanta (35.24).

The best cities for football fans by city size

Comparing major population centers like Los Angeles and New York with smaller (but no less sports-friendly) locations may seem a bit unfair. But the survey authors had the foresight to break down the data further based also on the relative size of the city in the study, splitting the numbers between large cities (300,000 people or more), mid-sized cities (100,000 to 300,000 people), and small cities (fewer than 100,000 people).

Los Angeles remains No. 1 on the large list, and Salt Lake City takes No. 1 on the list of medium-sized cities. The most football-friendly small city in America is Clemson, South Carolina, which scored 12.75 in the study. Not far behind was Pawtucket, Rhode Island, with a score of 12.70 in second place, followed by Leesburg, Virginia, in third place with a score of 11.86.

It seems America’s love of soccer doesn’t always depend on legions of fans and billions of dollars in sales.

An interactive map of the best American cities for soccer fans

Hover over the scores to see each city’s ranking.

To learn more about choosing the survey metrics, and to see how other cities included in the study fared in the national rankings, head to the WalletHub blog here.