How The World Cup has affected attitudes towards soccer in the U.S. and Canada.
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The FIFA World Cup has a mixed track record when it comes to leaving an enduring impact on its host nations. Long after the Spain vs. Argentina final whistle, however, North American enthusiasm continues to linger. New fans appear to be sticking around and casual viewers could be about to become regulars – at least in some major U.S. and Canadian cities.
To first find out where that effect is landing hardest in the US, this study combines two data sources: a nationally representative survey of 1,201 Americans, asked directly whether the World Cup changed their soccer-watching habits, and a city-level index ranking the 20 US metro areas showing the strongest signs of a lasting soccer surge.
This data was built from World Cup search interest, World Cup-related conversation volume (both adjusted for population), and the number of active soccer clubs and organisations on the ground in each city.
Together, they paint a picture of not just who says they’re watching more soccer, but where geographically that shift is actually showing up in searches, conversations, and grassroots infrastructure.
US Soccer Buzz: A Nation Warming Up to the Beautiful Game
Asked directly whether they’re more likely to regularly watch soccer now than before the World Cup, 38% of Americans said yes, and a further 8% said they were already regular viewers. This means close to half the sample (46%) now count themselves among soccer’s active or newly-converted audience.
That’s a meaningful shift for a sport that has spent decades fighting for a foothold in a market dominated by the NFL, NBA, and MLB.
Break the 38% national “Yes” figure down by state, and it’s clear the World Cup bump wasn’t felt evenly:
Oregon (60%), Texas (50%), and Georgia (46%) all came in well above the national average
Missouri (43%) and New York (42%) also outpaced the national figure
By contrast, Ohio (21%), Illinois (33%), and Pennsylvania (30%) lagged behind
That state-level split turns out to matter, because several of these states are also home to cities that rank among the country’s strongest emerging soccer markets.
The 20 Cities Leading America’s Soccer Shift
While the survey captures sentiment, the city index captures behaviour – how much people in a given metro are actually searching for and talking about the World Cup, and how much soccer infrastructure (clubs and organisations) already exists to support new fans and players.
The result is a ranked list of the 20 US cities best positioned to become the country’s next soccer strongholds:
Rank | City | Total Score |
1 | Miami | 98.58 |
2 | Atlanta | 90.41 |
3 | New York City | 86.37 |
4 | Los Angeles | 85.40 |
5 | Boston | 82.11 |
6 | Seattle | 77.32 |
7 | St Louis | 72.76 |
8 | Salt Lake City | 68.81 |
9 | Houston | 60.82 |
10 | Chicago | 59.42 |
11 | Denver | 53.54 |
12 | San Diego | 50.20 |
13 | Philadelphia | 44.91 |
14 | Portland | 42.63 |
15 | Dallas | 41.75 |
16 | Cincinnati | 40.59 |
17 | Kansas City | 39.05 |
18 | San Francisco Bay Area | 35.04 |
19 | Columbus | 29.28 |
20 | New Orleans | 23.39 |
Miami tops the table, driven by the highest World Cup search interest per capita of any city measured (18.2 million) alongside strong conversation volume. This is a fitting result for a metro that’s long served as a cultural bridge to soccer-mad Latin America. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi having a sensational World Cup, leading Argentina all the way to the final, likely played a huge role here.
Atlanta‘s #2 finish lines up neatly with the survey data. Georgia posted a 46% “Yes” response – eight points above the national average – and Atlanta backs that up with the second-highest Total Score in the country, powered by the country’s single largest volume of World Cup conversation (114,000 adjusted). Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise considering the city hosted as many as eight games at the tournament’s 2026 edition.
New York City (#3) and its home state tell a similarly consistent story: New York recorded a 42% “Yes” rate, above the 38% national figure, and the city itself shows by far the deepest soccer infrastructure of any market studied. The Big Apple boasts 519 clubs and organisations, more than double second-placed Los Angeles.
Texas‘s two entries – Houston (#9) and Dallas (#15) – are backed by the strongest state-level survey number outside the coasts. Fifty percent of Texans said they’re now more likely to watch soccer regularly, a full 12 points above the national average, giving the state two cities in the top 20 and real survey evidence that the enthusiasm is broad-based rather than concentrated in one metro.
Missouri‘s double entry – St Louis (#7) and Kansas City (#17) – is also supported by the numbers. At 43% “Yes,” Missouri sits five points above the national average, and St Louis in particular posts the highest World Cup conversation volume per capita of any city in the index (60,000). Kansas City, of course, hosted nine games, but is till relatively low down in this index.
Oregon‘s Portland (#14) is worth a special mention. Oregon posted the single highest state-level “Yes” response in the entire survey at 60%, yet Portland only ranks 14th on the index. This suggests any sentiment there is running ahead of the search and infrastructure signals for now. It’s a market to watch rather than one that’s already arrived. Surprising, maybe, given the presence of the well-established Portland Timbers MLS franchise.
California: The Clearest Soccer Story in the Country
If any one state’s data tells a clean, unambiguous story, it’s California‘s. Of the Californians surveyed, 54% said they’re now more likely to watch soccer regularly, a full 16 points above the 38% national average.
California also has the highest “Yes” figure of any state with a statistically meaningful sample size. Add in the 12% who say they already watch soccer regularly (also above the 8% national rate), and two-thirds of Californians (66%) now count themselves as engaged or newly-engaged soccer viewers. Only around a third (33%) said no.
That sentiment is backed up by hard data. California is the only state in the country with three cities in the index’s top 20 – more than any other state by a clear margin:
Los Angeles – #4 overall (85.40): The highest-ranked California city, driven by strong search interest per capita (8.5 million) and a deep bench of 305 soccer clubs and organisations, second only to New York City nationally.
San Diego – #12 overall (50.20): A mid-table finish supported by solid, consistent search and conversation activity relative to its population.
San Francisco Bay Area – #18 overall (35.04): Rounding out the state’s presence in the top 20, with a notably high concentration of soccer clubs (159) relative to its search volume – suggesting an already-established grassroots scene rather than a purely World Cup-driven spike.
Put together, California is showing up consistently, across three very different metro areas and its survey numbers are the strongest evidence in the entire dataset. Where other states maybe show a gap between sentiment and index performance (Oregon, Ohio), California shows the opposite, displaying enthusiasm and evidence in equal measure.
Canada: A Head Start on the Rest of North America
Canada’s numbers set a higher baseline than the US from the start. Nationally, 46% of Canadians say they’re now more likely to watch soccer regularly, and a further 18% say they already do.
That means 64% of the country counts itself as an already engaged or newly-engaged soccer audience, well above the equivalent US figure (46%).
That national mood is fairly consistent across the country, with a couple of standouts. Quebec (50%) and British Columbia (48%) both came in above the national “Yes” average, while Ontario and Alberta (44% each) sat just below it, despite being home to four of the six cities in the index.
The Canadian city index tells a similarly tight story, led by:
Rank | City | Total Score |
1 | Toronto | 98.94 |
2 | Montréal | 79.87 |
2 | Vancouver | 79.87 |
4 | Calgary | 70.05 |
5 | Edmonton | 37.80 |
6 | Ottawa | 26.42 |
Toronto‘s #1 finish is driven by comfortably the highest World Cup search interest per capita of any Canadian city (344,974 per 100k people) alongside the deepest conversation volume. Ontario also contributes a second city, Ottawa, to the list.
Montréal and Vancouver tie for second, and both are directly backed by their provinces’ survey numbers: Quebec (50% Yes) and British Columbia (48% Yes) are the two strongest provincial results in the country, ahead of the 46% national average.
Calgary and Edmonton give Alberta two cities in the index, though Alberta’s 44% “Yes” rate sits slightly below the national figure. That’s similar to the Oregon/Portland pattern seen in the US data, where index strength is running a touch ahead of stated survey sentiment.
The combined score is designed to reflect not just short-term attention around the tournament, but the underlying infrastructure likely to sustain interest beyond it.
Methodology
This report draws on two data sources per country.
National surveys: Nationally representative samples of 1,201 US adults and 1,000 Canadian adults were asked: “Are you more likely to regularly watch soccer after the World Cup than you were before?”
Respondents could answer Yes, No, or “I already watch soccer regularly.” US results are broken out by state and Canadian results by province/territory.
City indices: The top 20 US cities and top 6 Canadian cities were ranked using a weighted Total Score built from three population-adjusted metrics: World Cup search interest per capita, World Cup-related conversation volume per capita, and the number of active soccer clubs and organisations based in each city.
Data correct as of 11th August 2026.
