In Los Angeles, the sports calendar never hits pause. From sun-soaked summer afternoons at Dodger Stadium – home to multiple championship runs, including two recent World Series titles – to winter evenings cheering under the lights at SoFi, the city offers nonstop action for fans of every stripe. With multiple professional teams, iconic venues, and a fan base that lives and breathes competition, L.A. embodies what it means to be a year-round sports town.
A new study from WalletHub captured this vibrant landscape by evaluating 399 U.S. cities across more than 50 metrics spanning the five biggest American sports: football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and hockey. These metrics consider everything from team performance and fan engagement to stadium quality and overall accessibility.
L.A.’s Impressive Sports Ranking
Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles earned an impressive No. 2 ranking among large U.S. sports cities, scoring 49.45 overall. The city’s deep sports roots all contribute to a sports culture that keeps Angelenos energized every month of the year. The only city to outperform L.A. was Boston, MA, which claimed the top spot thanks to its long-standing championship legacy and intensely loyal fan base.
What methodology did they use?
To find the best sports cities, WalletHub combined results from its previous rankings and weighted each sport by how many U.S. adults follow it, based on Gallup data:
- Football: 60%
- Baseball: 14%
- Basketball: 13%
- Soccer: 7%
- Hockey: 6%
Each sport was scored on a 100-point scale, then blended into a single weighted score for every city. Those scores determined the final rankings.
The study evaluated 399 U.S. cities, grouped by size:
- Large: 300,000+
- Midsize: 100,000–300,000
- Small: under 100,000