Ranking the Most Star-Studded American Sports Cities Right Now

It's a good time to be a sports fan. The NBA and NHL playoffs are heating up, Major League Baseball is in full swing, the WNBA is about to tip off its season, and the NFL, while dormant, always looms with the possibility of drama hitting at any moment.

As we enjoy the action that's currently ongoing, this is also as good a time as any to take those five leagues and try to sort out which city reigns supreme as the home of the most big-name stars.

Finding an objective metric for stardom is a daunting task, and there's certainly no perfect system. Is Caitlin Clark more of a star than Aaron Judge? How do you rate an aging Sidney Crosby against an ascendant Anthony Edwards?

To avoid individual comparisons, we decided to ascribe stardom only to those who have had recent high-level individual success. Below are the merit-based parameters to determine who qualifies as a star for our purposes:

NBA: All-NBA first team since 2020 or top-10 MVP finish since 2022
NFL: Top-nine MVP finish in 2021-24; Defensive Player of the Year since 2020
NHL: Top-five MVP finish since 2020 (skater); Vezina Trophy since 2020 (goalie)
MLB: Top-three AL or NL MVP finish or Cy Young since 2021
WNBA: All-WNBA first team since 2020

Since no methodology is perfect and some seemingly obvious stars are bound to slip through the cracks, we'll also include a writer's pick for each ranked city. That should help ensure actual stars are included instead of being left out.

Lastly, for the WNBA and NBA, we gave players who were in the top five in Instagram followers the nod.

Taking all of that into account, the final result should give us a good idea of which city is the most star-studded in major American sports. Obviously plenty of cities were left off the rankings, so we'll touch on some of them with an honorable mentions list that features select cities with two or fewer "stars" based on our criteria. Notable excluded players will also be mentioned for teams that did make the rankings.

Honorable Mentions: Indianapolis, Kansas City, Boston, Cincinnati, D.C.

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Indianapolis

Caitlin Clark and Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor were the only Indy athletes to qualify using our metrics. That said, Clark might be the most popular athlete in the country and Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has undoubtedly ascended to superstar status over the past couple of years.

Kansas City

The superstar tandem of Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift's boyfriend Travis Kelce is high-wattage enough on its own (though Kelce doesn't qualify via our star metrics), but those Kansas City Chiefs stars also share a city with Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who finished second in the American League MVP voting last year.

Boston

It's hard to believe that only Jayson Tatum and David Pastrnak qualified as stars on our list, as Boston certainly has more star power than those two. Red Sox stars Rafael Devers, Jarren Duran, Alex Bregman, essentially all of the Celtics' rotation players (notably Jaylen Brown) and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye have plenty of name recognition and definitely are stars—even if they may not (yet) be superstars.

Cincinnati

Bengals stars Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase were the only stars to qualify from Cincinnati, which feels like an affront to Reds All-Star Elly de La Cruz. He finished eighth in NL MVP voting last year and was one of the cover stars for MLB 25 The Show. That's gotta be worth something, right?

Washington, D.C.

Alexander Ovechkin may be past his prime, but he's still one of the biggest stars in the NHL. Meanwhile, Jayden Daniels may only be coming off his rookie campaign, but he's already in the conversation among the biggest stars in the NFL. No one else came close to qualifying from our nation's capital.

Honorable Mentions: Baltimore, Detroit, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh

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Baltimore

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson have the Charm City eying championships, but they're the only two stars by our metrics. Running back Derrick Henry would have qualified in the past, while the O's would have had another representative if they had been able to hold on to Corbin Burnes in free agency.

Detroit

Tigers ace Tarik Skubal and Lions quarterback Jared Goff were the only qualifiers from the Motor City, but both teams are contenders and certainly aren't short on star power. Also, Cade Cunningham blossomed this year and helped carry the Pistons back to the playoffs, bolstering himself as a rising star in the NBA.

Las Vegas

Reigning and three-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson is the biggest star in Sin City, and teammate Jewell Loyd joined her as the only Vegas athletes to count as stars in our rankings. Golden Knights standout Jack Eichel certainly has star power (and in 2023 won a Stanley Cup, to boot), and maybe No. 6 overall draft pick Ashton Jeanty can become a star for the Raiders.

Pittsburgh

Sidney Crosby and T.J. Watt aren't just Pittsburgh greats—they've done enough to both be considered among the all-time greats in their respective sports (though Watt should have much more time to cement that status). Like fellow MLB 25 The Show cover star Elly de la Cruz in Cincinnati, it feels wrong not to count Pirates pitcher and 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes among the Steel City's superstars, because he definitely is one.

T-9. Atlanta

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Qualified Stars (3): Chris Sale, Ronald Acuña Jr., Brittney Griner
Writer's Pick: Trae Young
Notable Exclusions: Marcell Ozuna, Matt Olson, Bijan Robinson, Michael Penix Jr.

This might be the rare city on our list where the players who were weeded out have as much or more star power than the ones who actually made it.

Honestly, fans in Atlanta have reason to be upset with being ranked this low. While Sale (2024 Cy Young), Acuña (2023 NL MVP) and Griner (2021 first-team All-WNBA) are all obvious star selections, they should have more company alongside them.

Young was the writer's pick for Atlanta because he is one of the main faces of the city's sports scene, especially after the 2021 playoffs in which he played the villain role to perfection in a surprising Hawks run to the Eastern Conference Finals. The fact that he's a four-time All-Star doesn't hurt either. Ozuna and Olson both missed the NL MVP cut in the past few years, while Robinson and Penix are up-and-coming stars on what could be an interesting Falcons team in years to come.

Run this list back again a year or two from now, and Atlanta could be much higher.

T-9. Miami

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Qualified Stars (3): Lionel Messi, Tyreek Hill, Matthew Tkachuk
Writer's Pick: Bam Adebayo
Notable Exclusions: Sandy Alcántara, Tua Tagovailoa, Tyler Herro, Aleksander Barkov

Yes, in the intro we stated that the only players who could qualify as stars would be those from the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB and WNBA. But we're talking about Lionel freakin' Messi here.

If you're an international superstar known as the one of the greatest to ever play soccer and you decide to take your talents to South Beach, you undeniably qualify as a star by any metric.

Hill has been one of the NFL's best wideouts for nearly a decade, Tkachuk just helped deliver the Panthers a Stanley Cup and Adebayo is the erstwhile face of the Miami Heat after Jimmy Butler was jettisoned to the Golden State Warriors.

Alcántara actually qualified for inclusion by virtue of unanimously winning the 2022 Cy Young award, but his precipitous drop-off since then took him out of contention. Not only is he languishing on a dreadful Marlins team, but he's also 9-17 with a 4.80 ERA since that 2022 gem of a season, including missing all of 2024 because of Tommy John surgery.

If someone could reasonably ask, "Is that guy still playing anymore?" then he needs to re-earn his star status.

T-9. Minneapolis

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Qualified Stars (3): Justin Jefferson, Anthony Edwards, Napheesa Collier
Writer's Pick: Karill Kaprizov
Notable Exclusions: Rudy Gobert, Marc-Andre Fleury, Kayla McBride, Carlos Correa

Jefferson and Edwards are the foundation for some exciting seasons to come in the Twin Cities. Both superstars are 25 years old or younger, likely to display jaw-dropping feats of athleticism and, most importantly, both have their teams winning at a high level.

Collier, 28, is also part of the bright sports future in Minneapolis. A first-team All-WNBA player in 2023 and 2024 as well as the Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, Collier help lead the Lynx all the way to the WNBA Finals, where they fell to the New York Liberty in the winner-take-all Game 5.

Kaprizov took the edge for the writer's pick thanks to his ascendancy as a star compared to other contenders who are toward the end of their primes or past it. Though he missed multiple months because of an injury, Kaprizov was on track to be a Hart Trophy contender, and the expectation is he can stay in that conversation into the future.

Correa, who finished fifth in AL MVP voting in 2021 as a member of the Houston Astros, just missed the cut for qualifying as a star on our list. He hasn't lived up to the massive contract he signed to join the Twins prior to the 2022 season, but he was an All-Star last season, so he could break out at any time. Fleury, the 2021 Vezina Trophy winner, technically qualified for inclusion, but he's not the star he once was and he's now retired, as the 2024-25 season was his last.

T-7. Chicago

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Qualified Stars (4): Angel Reese, Courtney Vandersloot, Hailey Van Lith, Lonzo Ball
Writer's Pick: Caleb Williams
Notable Exclusions: Connor Bedard, Kyle Tucker

The Instagram popularity part of our definition of a star is doing heavy lifting here.

Ball (18.2M), Reese (4.9M) and Van Lith (1.4M) rank in the top five of their respective sports in Instagram followers.

Vandersloot returns to Chicago hoping to find her form from 2019 to 2023, which included two first-team All-WNBA nods and four All-Star selections.

It was a tough call between Williams and Bedard for the writer's pick. Bedard, the 2023 Rookie of the Year, already has 128 career points and he's just 19 years old.

But Williams got the nod as a breakout candidate with a new head coach (Ben Johnson) and a better supporting cast.

The Cubs have surged to first place in the NL Central on the backs of several good players but no superstar. We don't talk about the White Sox, unless it's in reference to the fandom of Pope Leo XIV.

T-7. Denver

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Qualified Stars (4): Nikola Jokić, Nathan MacKinnon, Patrick Surtain II, Russell Westbrook
Writer's Pick: Cale Makar
Notable Exclusions: Jamal Murray, Bo Nix

OK, let's address the elephant in the room. Based on the metrics...what is Westbrook doing here?

Yes, he's a former MVP, but that was in 2017 and outside of our scope. He's at the latter stages of his career and past his prime, but he's one of the players who qualifies as a star for our purposes based on his Instagram popularity. With nearly 23 million followers, Westbrook ranks in the top three among NBA players.

Jokić (MVP in 2021, 2022 and 2024...and maybe 2025), MacKinnon (2024 Hart Trophy) and Surtain (2024 Defensive Player of the Year) are unassailable superstars at or near the peak of their respective sports. Adding in Westbrook's popularity helps boost Denver a little higher in the rankings.

Makar, the Norris Trophy winner in 2022 and a perennial contender for the award, was a clear choice for the writer's pick here, though Murray and Nix certainly have some star power of their own. No one from the Colorado Rockies was considered, as they're the only also-ran in a city full of teams with legitimate hopes for postseason contention.

6. Philadelphia

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Qualified Stars (5): Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, Joel Embiid, Bryce Harper
Writer's Pick: Zack Wheeler
Notable Exclusions: Tyrese Maxey, Paul George

The Philadelphia Eagles felt like they were one star away from a Super Bowl, so they went out and got Barkley from the rival New York Giants. As it turns out, they were right.

The trio of Hurts, Barkley and Brown elevated Philadelphia's offense while the defense took care of business to help the Eagles claim Super Bowl LIX in runaway fashion.

Outside of the NFL, Embiid and Harper have had MVP seasons in Philadelphia and helped their teams stay competitive in their respective leagues, though neither has been able to get their team to the mountaintop. Harper played a massive role in the Phillies' World Series run in 2022, while Embiid—despite shouldering a massive load over the years—has not been able to carry the 76ers beyond the second round of the playoffs.

Wheeler, who finished second in Cy Young voting in 2021 and 2024, felt like an unfair omission from this list, which is why he earned the writer's pick. He's consistently been a dominant force over the past few years, and the consistency of his high-level performance deserves to be recognized.

If the 76ers hadn't devolved into an abomination this past season or if the Flyers weren't in the midst of a stretch in which they've made the playoffs just once in seven years, then Philadelphia could have been higher on this list.

5. Phoenix

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Qualified Stars (6): Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally, Ketel Marte, Corbin Burnes
Writer's Pick: Kyler Murray
Notable Exclusions: Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., Corbin Carroll

While Phoenix's recent sports history have been marked by underachievement, there's no question about the star power out in the desert.

The Suns flamed out, but there's no denying that Durant and Booker are stars (Bradley Beal, however...). Thomas (2023 and 2024) and Sabally (2023) were recent first-team All-WNBA picks. And while the Diamondbacks fell just short of the playoffs in 2024 after a World Series run in 2023, you can't blame Marte (third in NL MVP voting) or Burnes, the 2021 Cy Young winner who joined the D-backs this offseason.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Cardinals have plenty of talent on their own led by quarterback Kyler Murray and have reloaded for 2025. Should any of the Phoenix teams bounce back next season, then this list could look a lot different next year.

4. San Francisco Bay Area

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Qualified Stars (7): Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa, Justin Verlander, Robbie Ray
Writer's Pick: Logan Webb
Notable Exclusions: Draymond Green, Macklin Celebrini, Willy Adames, George Kittle

The Bay Area may not be the home to the Splash Brothers any longer—or the Athletics for that matter (too soon?)—but the Bay is still brimming with superstar-level talent.

There are few stars of any sport as effervescent as Curry, especially after he took his stardom global this summer with a legendary performance in the Paris Olympics. With Jimmy Butler now as his sidekick, the Warriors will remain plenty intriguing for as long as Curry keeps playing.

Meanwhile, in Santa Clara, the 49ers are trying to keep their contention window open, and it helps to have stars like McCaffrey, Purdy and Bosa—though they'll all need to stay healthy if the team wants to get back to winning like it did in recent years.

Verlander and Ray may be getting up their age-wise, but their recent accolades still lend themselves to plenty of star power. That's especially true when it comes to Verlander, who despite being a bit of a journeyman has put together a first-ballot Hall of Fame career.

If Verlander and Ray are both qualified as stars, then it only makes sense for Webb—the actual ace of San Francisco's pitching staff—to garner writer's pick recognition and be counted as a star as well.

Give 2024 No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini some time to get his feet wet in the NHL and the Golden State Valkyries a chance to...you know...play their first game in the WNBA, and the Bay Area could move up these rankings fairly soon.

3. Dallas

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Qualified Stars (8): Jason Robertson, Kyrie Irving, Arike Ogunbowale, Paige Bueckers, Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien
Writer's Pick: Anthony Davis
Notable Exclusions: CeeDee Lamb, Jacob deGrom, Adolis Garcia, Mikko Rantanen

We've arrived at the first and only city on our list where representatives from all five leagues qualified as stars using our methodology. And its list of stars that somehow don't count as stars feels criminal.

The players who made the cut all make sense. Robertson finished fourth in 2023 Hart Trophy voting and has the Stars chasing the Stanley Cup again this postseason. Irving with the Mavericks and Ogunbowale with the Wings are certified hoopers. Bueckers was just the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft and already boasts the third-most Instagram followers of anyone in the league. Prescott is the quarterback and Parsons is the defensive engine of America's Team. Oh yeah, and Seager and Semien are maybe the best middle infield pairing in baseball.

Somehow, that list still feels too short. Davis is way too big of a star to somehow slip through our metrics—which is why he earned the writer's pick—and soon he and Irving will likely be joined by No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg. Lamb is among the top wide receivers in the NFL, Garcia was an October star just a couple years ago (and great in lots of other months, too), and deGrom is a former multi-time Cy Young winner, though those years came before the window of time we're looking at.

All of that is to say there's tons of talent in the Dallas area, and all the teams there should be competitive either now or in the near future. Dare I say, who even needs Lu...no, no I won't say it.

2. New York

Qualified Stars (11): Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Gerrit Cole, Paul Goldschmidt, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, Jalen Brunson, Artemi Panarin, Igor Shesterkin
Writer's Pick: Karl-Anthony Towns
Notable Exclusions: Pete Alonso, Sauce Gardner, Russell Wilson, Malik Nabers, Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson

We've reached the top two cities, New York and Los Angeles, and they've pulled away from the rest of the pack. Given how many teams there are in each city—and their combined willingness to spend to get the necessary star power—this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

New York is heavily carried by the Yankees as Mets, which combine for five of the city's 11 stars based on our parameters. Judge, Soto and Lindor are three of the biggest stars not named Shohei Ohtani, and they're all built for the bright lights of Broadway. Cole (2023 Cy Young) and Goldschmidt (2022 NL MVP) are no slouches, either.

The reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty also have multiple representatives here, with Stewart, Ionescu and Jones all ranking among the elite stars in the W either because of their play, Instagram popularity or both. Brunson is well surrounded by supporting standouts, and now with Towns—the writer's pick as a five-time All-Star and two-time third-team All-NBA player—in the fold, the Knicks are knocking at the door of their first trip to the NBA Finals since 1999.

While this season was a forgettable one for the Rangers, the Blueshirts still have veteran stalwarts in Panarin and Shesterkin leading the way.

If the Jets and Giants weren't both simultaneously operating at a talent deficit, New York could be atop these rankings. Alas, it's going to take at least a year for someone on either (or both) of those teams to make the leap to superstardom.

1. Los Angeles

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Qualified Stars (12): LeBron James, Shohei Ohtani, Luka Dončić, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Justin Herbert, Matthew Stafford, Kelsey Plum, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Blake Snell, Cameron Brink
Writer's Pick: Puka Nacua
Notable Exclusions: Mike Trout, Teoscar Hernández, Clayton Kershaw, Davante Adams, Kyren Williams, Ladd McConkey, Khalil Mack, Anže Kopitar

We're talking about Hollywood. Of course there are superstars.

Based on our criteria, L.A. edged New York. But if you look at the overall star power of the players included and excluded from each city, Los Angeles has a bigger lead than the final numbers suggest.

It doesn't hurt that LeBron and Ohtani are two of the biggest stars not just in their respective sports, but in the world. When someone is talking about Luka, Kawhi, The Beard or Mookie, you know exactly who those one-named individuals are. And while they're better identified by two names most of the time, Plum, Herbert, Stafford, Freeman and Snell are all well-known and highly regarded names within their sports—and often household names even to casual fans. Just like Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith before her, Brink got in based on her exploding Instagram following.

And we haven't even gotten into the exclusions, which are sure to include multiple Hall of Famers and some up-and-coming young talent. Anyone could have reasonably been picked for the writer's pick from L.A., but Nacua was the choice thanks in large part to his ascendant status in America's most popular sport. Stars like Trout, Kershaw and Kopitar have accomplished more—specifically in Los Angeles (or Anaheim), too—but they're all at the twilight of their careers and their stardom is bright but fading.

Let the New Yorkers claim their stars are bigger and better, but we know who really takes first here.