WalletHub, a personal finance company that also specializes in data and surveys, released its updated list of the best football cities for fans in America. Pittsburgh remained on top, ranking No. 1 for pro football and No. 12 for college football. Pittsburgh retains the title, with the list previously updated in November.
“When it comes to the NFL specifically, the Pittsburgh Steelers have some of the most engaged football fans in the country in terms of social media likes and followers per capita. Pittsburgh has some of the most loyal fans, too, measured by ticket revenues, social media engagement, and the home team’s ability to outperform its payroll investments. Pittsburgh doesn’t have an overly stellar performance when it comes to NCAA football, but the dominance of its NFL team secures it the number one spot,” WalletHub analyst Adam McCann writes.
The Steelers’ fan base is nationwide, one that travels well and packs games at Acrisure Stadium. Using WalletHub’s rating system, which combines things such as team performance, team fan engagement, ticket price and number of Hall of Fame head coaches, the Steelers got 62.22 total points out of 75. That ranked nearly eight points higher than Dallas, named the second-best football city for fans in America, with a 54.71 grade.
Rounding out the top five behind Pittsburgh and Dallas are Green Bay, Los Angeles and Boston. Of the top five, only Los Angeles also had a college football ranking inside the top 40. Dallas, Green Bay and Boston all struggled to crack the top 200 with Boston the highest among those three for college football with a ranking of No. 197.
Given their lack of recent playoff success, it comes as little surprise that the Steelers were unable to crack the top five when it came to best-performing cities in the NFL. The top honor went to Kansas City, while Dallas, Buffalo, San Francisco and Philadelphia rounded out the top five. Charlotte was the worst-performing city after a dreadful year for the Panthers, while Houston was surprisingly listed as the third-worst performing city.
While the Texans had struggled recently, they made an appearance in the AFC Divisional Round in 2023 before losing to the Baltimore Ravens. Houston ranked below Washington D.C., and New York City (including both the Jets and Giants in the market) in terms of performance while being named the 26th-best city for fans.
It’s no surprise to anyone who’s been in Pittsburgh that it’s the best city for football fans. The place bleeds Black and Gold, and the Steelers are always the talk of the town. It’s now the sixth year in a row Pittsburgh has placed on top, and it’s a reign of dominance that’s unlikely to end as long as the Steelers stay in Pittsburgh, which will be for a long, long time.
