Here are the top 15 US cities producing the most major league athletes
A close-up view of an American football leaning on the goal line marker. (David Madison/Getty Images)
There’s no shortage of talented athletes playing professional sports in the U.S., but if you’ve ever wondered where these players grew up and honed their skills, new research reveals the cities that have developed the most talent.
OLBG, an online sports betting community, took a deep dive into this topic by looking at the birthplaces of professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL.
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The list features the top 15 cities and Chicago takes the number one spot with the most major league athletes at 1,061 players born there.
Los Angeles came in second place with 818 pro athletes, followed by Philadelphia with 717, St. Louis with 553, and New York City with 546 to round out the top five.
Here is the full list of cities below.
Top 15 cities producing the most major league athletes
1) Chicago-1,061 professional athletes were born there (494 NFL athletes, 155 NBA athletes, 387 MLB athletes, 25 NHL athletes)
2) Los Angeles-818 professional athletes (460 NFL athletes, 113 NBA athletes, 240 MLB athletes, five NHL athletes)
3) Philadelphia-717 professional athletes (216 NFL athletes, 122 NBA athletes, 372 MLB athletes, seven NHL athletes)
4) St. Louis-553 professional athletes (317 MLB athletes, 187 NFL athletes, 35 NBA athletes, 14 NHL athletes)
5) New York City-546 professional athletes (169 NFL athletes, 104 NBA athletes, 262 MLB athletes, 11 NHL athletes)
6) Houston-528 professional athletes (340 NFL athletes, 43 NBA athletes, 143 MLB athletes, two NHL athletes)
7) Detroit-513 professional athletes (275 NFL athletes, 71 NBA athletes, 126 MLB athletes, 41 NHL athletes)
8) Brooklyn, NY-458 professional athletes (102 NFL athletes, 107 NBA athletes, 248 MLB athletes, one NHL athlete)
9) Dallas-401 professional athletes (258 NFL athletes, 48 NBA athletes, 95 MLB athletes, no NHL athletes)
10) Cincinnati-400 professional athletes (175 NFL athletes, 20 NBA athletes, 204 MLB athletes, one NHL athlete)
11) Miami-398 professional athletes (314 NFL athletes, 15 NBA athletes, 69 MLB athletes, no NHL athletes)
12) Cleveland-395 professional athletes (220 NFL athletes, 27 NBA athletes, 137 MLB athletes, 11 NHL athletes)
13) Pittsburgh-388 professional athletes (212 NFL athletes, 23 NBA athletes, 139 MLB athletes, 14 NHL athletes)
14) New Orleans-364 professional athletes (235 NFL athletes, 30 NBA athletes, 99 MLB athletes, no NHL athletes)
15) Baltimore-345 professional athletes (123 NFL athletes, 44 NBA athletes, 178 MLB athletes, no NHL athletes)
This story was reported from Washington, D.C.