A personal finance website has ranked Orlando as the second-best city for soccer fans in the United States.
Last week, WalletHub released its 2025 Best Cities for Soccer Fans, naming the City Beautiful as the second-best city. The top spot was claimed by Los Angeles, California.
“Americans finally have found their own soft spot for the world’s most beloved professional sport. After what seemed an eternity of low popularity among U.S. fans, soccer — better known as ‘football’ to the international community — has gained admiration and respect here at home,” reads the list.
In order to compile the list, WelletHub compared 302 of the most populated U.S. cities across five divisions: Major League Soccer (Division I Men’s), National Women’s Soccer League (Division I Women’s), United Soccer League (Division III Men’s), College Soccer (Division I Men’s), and College Soccer (Division I Women’s).
“For our sample, we chose cities with at least one college or professional soccer team,” said WalletHub. Additionally, the company used more than 50 relevant metrics to evaluate the five divisions listed above, including number of teams, number of championships won, number of regular season conference titles, minimum season ticket price, fan engagement, and attendance, among other factors.
Orlando, which is home to the Orlando City SC MLS team and Orlando Pride NWSL team, earned the #2 spot on the list. While Orlando City SC has yet to win an MLS Cup, Orlando Pride has earned one NWSL championship, joining only a handful of teams that have accomplished this feat.
In addition, Orlando Pride has the second-best overall winning percentage in the NWSL, as well as the most engaged fans on social media and the seventh-highest popularity in terms of Google searches.
Orlando is also home to the University of Central Florida, which has one NCAA men’s soccer team and one NCAA women’s soccer team, though neither team has won a championship.
Multiple cities in Florida joined Orlando on the list of best U.S. soccer cities, including Miami (#8), St. Petersburg (#43), Jacksonville (#98), Boca Raton (#157), Tampa (#171), Fort Myers (#172), Gainesville (#210), Tallahassee (#237), Coral Gables (#240), and DeLand (#261).
WalletHub compiled its list using data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Collegiate Athletic Association, ESPN, Soccer Stadium Digest, National Soccer Hall of Fame, FlashScore, Google Trends, MLS, Forbes, each team’s website, and each team’s social media accounts.
To read the complete list, visit WalletHub’s 2025 Best Cities for Soccer Fans webpage.