Ranking every MLS club by their wage bill in 2024: Where do Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami rank?

Major League Soccer clubs don’t quite spend as much as the top clubs of European football, but their wage bills as ever increasing as clubs like Inter Miami lure superstar signings like Lionel Messi to the United States.

But where do Inter Miami rank in terms of wage bills in the 2024 MLS season?

Unsurprisingly, the club that employs Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets have comfortably the highest wage bill in North American soccer, paying over $18million per year on their array of Champions League-winning royalty.

Messi is the top-paid player in MLS history, which’ll no doubt have played a major role in him leaving European football behind, but he sounds genuinely settled and happy in the city of Miami – unlike his last club PSG.

“The welcome I received was impressive. It’s a city with many Latinos and that’s why everything is easier. Latino people are closer, they show their emotions, they show their feelings,” he said after signing with Inter Miami last summer.

“That care, closeness, that’s the most important thing. It’s very healthy and that helps you to accommodate yourself and to do a good job. … I’ve been here on vacations, I knew it. I knew what the city was all about, the people, and I already liked it. Now live it every day here.

“Me going to Paris wasn’t something I wanted. I didn’t want to leave Barcelona and that was from one day to another. I had to get adjusted to a completely different place from where I had been all my life, both from the city standpoint and sporting standpoint, and it was hard. It’s the complete opposite of what’s happening now, thank God.”

According to industry estimates, Inter Miami’s wage bill is more than double 11 of the 26 clubs in MLS. It’s over €4million that the next top spenders, Chicago Fire, with the likes of Nashville SC, Sporting Kansas City and Seattle Sounders also breaking the €12million barrier.

The lowest wage spenders in the MLS 2024 season are Inter Miami’s Florida rivals Orlando City, who were also founded relatively recently. Orlando City’s wage bill is just $5.8million, which is less than a third of Inter Miami’s.

Still, MLS clubs’ wage bills are small potatoes when you compare it to the lens of elite European football. PSG and Real Madrid, for example, are believed to spend more on wages in a month than Inter Miami do in a year.

Inter Miami’s $18million annual wage bill is comparable to that of Osasuna, Bochum or Rayo Vallecano, who are ranked 80th, 81st and 82nd respectively in terms of the 96 clubs’ wage bills across Europe’s five major leagues in 2023-24. Even relegated Luton Town, minnows by Premier League standards, are estimated to have spent more per year than top MLS spenders Inter Miami.

Top European players like Kylian Mbappe, Frenkie de Jong, Robert Lewandowski, Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne are believed to earn more alone than entire MLS squads put together.

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Here’s every MLS club from the 2024 season ranked by their annual wage bill. The estimates come from FBref, via Capology:

1. Inter Miami – $18,651,544 (€ 17,494,390, £ 15,055,606)
2. Chicago Fire – $14,475,496 (€ 13,577,426, £ 11,684,685)
3. Nashville SC – $13,509,538 (€ 12,671,396, £ 10,904,957)
4. Sporting Kansas City – $12,514,412 (€ 11,738,010, £ 10,101,691)
5. Seattle Sounders – $12,176,679 (€ 11,421,229, £ 9,829,068)
6. Austin FC – $11,964,690 (€ 11,222,393, £ 9,657,951)
7. D.C. United – $11,874,580 (€ 11,137,873, £ 9,585,215)
8. Houston Dynamo – $11,804,308 (€ 11,071,961, £ 9,528,491)
9. New England Revolution – $11,629,687 (€ 10,908,174, £ 9,387,536)
10. Columbus Crew – $11,397,124 (€ 10,690,040, £ 9,199,806)
11. Atlanta Utd – $11,009,093 (€ 10,326,081, £ 8,886,588)
12. Philadelphia Union – $10,671,579 (€ 10,009,505, £ 8,614,144)
13. Minnesota Utd – $10,624,521 (€ 9,965,367, £ 8,576,161)
14. FC Dallas – $9,679,606 (€ 9,079,078, £ 7,813,419)
15. NYCFC – $9,539,214 (€ 8,947,395, £ 7,700,095)
16. St. Louis – $8,562,496 (€ 8,031,272, £ 6,911,682)
17. FC Cincinnati – $8,375,078 (€ 7,855,483, £ 6,760,399)
18. LAFC – $8,293,853 (€ 7,779,296, £ 6,694,835)
19. Real Salt Lake – $8,280,212 (€ 7,766,503, £ 6,683,824)
20. Portland Timbers – $7,944,000 (€ 7,451,149, £ 6,412,433)
21. LA Galaxy – $7,881,362 (€ 7,392,396, £ 6,361,869)
22. New York Red Bulls – $7,597,940 (€ 7,126,561, £ 6,133,092)
23. San Jose Earthquakes – $7,339,203 (€ 6,883,875, £ 5,924,238)
24. Colorado Rapids – $7,035,608 (€ 6,599,114, £ 5,679,175)
25. Charlotte FC – $6,818,099 (€ 6,395,100, £ 5,503,596)
26. Orlando City – $5,888,729 (€ 5,523,391, £ 4,753,407)