Survey ranks Seattle as one of the best soccer cities in the US. Here’s where it placed
The FIFA World Cup kicks off in less than a month, signaling the long-awaited return of the United States Men’s National Team to the world’s brightest stage for the first time in eight years.
Combining that fact with the recently-concluded National Women’s Soccer League championship, the upcoming MLS Cup championship game this weekend, the FIFA Women’s World Cup next summer, and the ongoing college soccer seasons, it’s a fun time to be a soccer fan in the U.S.
But where in the U.S. is it the best place to be a soccer fan?
According to a new study from personal finance website WalletHub, Puget Sound residents couldn’t ask for a much better soccer haven.
Out of the 294 U.S. cities in the study, Seattle ranked as the second-best city for soccer fans, falling just behind first-place Los Angeles.
Source: WalletHub
WalletHub arrived at 294 cities for the study by identifying cities with at least one Division I college team or a professional soccer team in the NWSL, MLS, or the United Soccer League, which is considered the second-tier for professional men’s soccer.
In Seattle’s case, that would include the Seattle Sounders in MLS, the NWSL’s OL Reign, Tacoma Defiance in the USL, the University of Washington and Seattle University for men’s college soccer, and Seattle University for women’s college soccer.
Each city was then measured on 52 metrics, ranging from the number of championship wins and overall performance level of teams to the minimum season ticket price and franchise value. All 52 metrics resulted in a final score out of 100.
Seattle produced a score of 51.68, in large part to ranking third overall in the MLS and NWSL categories.
The Sounders have been a powerhouse since joining MLS in 2009. They’ve won two MLS Cups (2016, 2019), a Supporters’ Shield for the best regular season record in 2014, and most notably, became the first MLS club to win the modernized version of the CONCACAF Champions League in 2022.
Meanwhile, the OL Reign — founded as the Seattle Reign in 2012 before being purchased by the French group Olympique Lyonnais — is a two-time NWSL Championship runner-up (2014, 2015) and has won the NWSL Shield for the best regular season record on three occasions (2014, 2015, 2022).
Seattle also ranked 28th in the USL category, 61st for men’s collegiate soccer and 159th for women’s collegiate soccer.
Other Washington cities included in the study are Spokane (139th), Pullman (224th) and Cheney (261st).
Seattle’s soccer rival to the south, Portland, ranked third on the list. The Rose City is home to the Portland Timbers in MLS and Portland Thorns in NWSL, with the pair of teams often clashing with their counterparts in Seattle in heated Cascadia derbies.
Who is Seattle competing with?
According to WalletHub, here are the cities that Seattle is ranked alongside in the top 10 cities to be a soccer fan in America:
1. Los Angeles.
2. Seattle.
3. Portland, Oregon.
4. Orlando, Florida.
5. Kansas City, Missouri.
6. Washington, DC.
7. New York.
8. Atlanta
9. Salt Lake City, Utah.
10. St. Paul, Minnesota.
