Which North Carolina City is the Best for Football Fans?
While the Tarheel State is mostly known for basketball, which North Carolina city is best for football fans? Well, we’re glad you asked. Our friends over at Wallethub.com took a…

Charlotte is certainly well known for football in North Carolina. But is it enough to make it the highest ranked city in North Carolina for football fans?
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesWhile the Tarheel State is mostly known for basketball, which North Carolina city is best for football fans? Well, we're glad you asked.
Our friends over at Wallethub.com took a look at more than 240 cities across the country to determine which ones are the best for football fans. There's a lot that goes into this, and they only measured cities that have a professional, or Division I college football team. So, sorry Fayetteville, we didn't make this list at all.
"For our sample, we chose cities with at least one professional football team (NFL) or at least one college football team (NCAA, including FBS and FCS). We then grouped the cities by division — “Pro Football” and “College Football” — and assigned weights to each divisional category based on its popularity among fans."
According to Wallet Hub, 62 percent of all Americans say they are at least "somewhat" a fan of professional football. And 54 percent say they are "somewhat" a fan of college football. (That number is likely way higher in the South!)
They rated everything from number of teams, to success of teams, to attendance and even number of coaches the past 10 years. There's metrics for ticket prices, fan engagement and stadium capacity, among others.
So as Super Bowl LVI approaches this Sunday, let's take a look at which cities across North Carolina, and the rest of the country, are the best for football fans.
Here in North Carolina, the best city for football fans is: Charlotte! The Queen City came in at No. 25 overall in the rankings, with a solid fan base for the Carolina Panthers, that's not terribly surprising. Here's how the rest of North Carolina ranked out, followed by the top 10 cities in the country for football fans:
No. 25 - Charlotte
Home of the Carolina Panthers, and college football with Charlotte.
No. 39 Boone
Home of Appalachian State University.
No. 61 Buies Creek
Surprisingly high entry on this ranking, with Campbell University. Buies Creek also gained points for having a former NFL player as the Camels' head coach.
No. 111 Cullowhee
Home of Western Carolina University.
No. 115 Boiling Springs
Home to Gardner Webb University.
No. 122 Durham
Home to college football standout, Duke University!
No. 124 Greensboro
Home to UNC Greensboro.
No. 139 Chapel Hill
Home to last year's preseason No. 10 ranked UNC Tar Heels. (It didn't exactly end that way...)
No. 147 Winston-Salem
Home to Wake Forest University.
No. 152 Elon
Home to, well of course, Elon University.
No. 183 Greenville
Home to East Carolina University.
No. 233 Raleigh
Strangely low ranking for the home to the NC State Wolfpack.
No. 239 Davidson
Home to the Davidson Wildcats.
AND NOW THE TOP 10 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES FOR FOOTBALL FANS
No. 1 Pittsburgh, Pa.
Home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pitt Panthers (among others).
No. 2 Dallas, Texas
Home of the Dallas Cowboys, the SMU Mustangs and the North Texas Mean Green (nearby, among others).
No. 3 Green Bay, Wisc.
Home to the Green Bay Packers, obviously.
No. 4 Boston, Mass.
Home to the New England Patriots, Boston College, and many others.
No. 5 Los Angeles, Ca.
Home to the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. As well as UCLA, USC and gobs more. How is this not ranked higher?
No. 6 New York City
Home to the New York Giants and New York Jets (sort of). As well as a host of metro area colleges.
No. 7 Miami, Fla.
Home to the Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami Hurricanes.
No. 8 New Orleans, La.
Home to the New Orleans Saints and Tulane Green Wave.
No. 9 Cincinnati, Ohio
Home to the Super Bowl bound Cincinnati Bengals, as well as the top-5 Cincinnati Bearcats in college.
No. 10 Indianapolis, In.
Home to the Indianapolis Colts.