Copyright Men's Journal
Without question, sports play an integral role in the American experience, and not just at the professional level. Collegiate and lower amateur athletics have a major impact as well. As far as which city is the best for sports fans, well, that topic is bound to cause fights if you bring it up. There are several places with strong claims, depending on what criteria you use. Personal finance company WalletHub took a shot at ranking the top sports cities in America, comparing almost 400 cities across 50 key metrics in the five biggest sports: football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer. The final rankings were derived by combining WalletHub’s previous lists for each of those five individual sports and assigning a “weight corresponding with the total percentage of adults in the U.S. who claim to follow that particular sport, according to Gallup.” Football overall rankings were weighted at 60% Baseball overall rankings were weighted at 14% Basketball overall rankings were weighted at 13% Soccer overall rankings were weighted at 7% Hockey overall rankings were weighted at 6% “Each sports category was also graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for sports fans,” WalletHub wrote. “Finally, we determined each city’s weighted average across all sports categories to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.” The top 5 sports cities in America, per WalletHub After all the numbers were crunched, this is how things shook out: Boston, Massachusetts Los Angeles, California Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania New York, New York Dallas, Texas Boston stands above all Boston topped WalletHub’s list, and many Beantown fans would have to agree, especially considering the city’s extended run of championships in the four major men’s pro sports over the last two decades. Boston topped the list of hockey cities, which isn’t a shock. The annual Beanpot men’s and women’s hockey tournaments featuring the city’s four Division I programs–Boston University, Boston College, Harvard University and Northeastern University–is immensely popular, and both BU and BC have recent national runner-up finishes to their credit. The Boston Bruins are also a hockey fixture, and while the team missed the playoffs last season and hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 2011, the Bruins have 11 postseason appearances since they last hoisted the trophy. Beantown is No. 2 on WalletHub’s basketball rankings, with the Celtics largely to thank. The boys in green and white won the NBA Finals in 2023-24 and were once again one of the top teams in the league until injuries last year derailed their repeat quest. Boston is fourth overall for football, thanks to “solid performance and affordable ticket prices,” while the play of the Red Sox–with a hat tip to an underrated Northeastern program–has The Hub ranked fifth for baseball. Finally, Boston’s lowest marks are for soccer (17th overall), but the city has a longstanding MLS franchise (the New England Revolution) and will be getting an expansion NWSL team, Boston Legacy FC, in 2026.
