The US soccer pyramid
US youth soccer has no single league table. Clubs join national and regional leagues by invitation, state leagues promote and relegate on results, and most players start in rec.
- 401 leagues
- 77,109 teams
- 49 states
- 7 levels
Top to bottom
Each band is a level. Counts are live from our published leagues and update as scores arrive. Select a level to read how it works.
- 01
Professional
The tip of the pyramid: the first divisions. Major League Soccer for men and the NWSL for women. Closed leagues with no promotion from below; players arrive from college, the academies, the divisions below and abroad.
- 02
Lower-division pro
The professional divisions under the first: the USL Championship and USL League One for men, the USL Super League for women, and MLS NEXT Pro, where the MLS clubs field their reserve sides. Fully professional, but a step down in budget and attention, and still with no promotion into MLS or the NWSL.
- 03
College and amateur
Where the youth pyramid leads: college soccer (NCAA) and the adult amateur and semi-pro leagues (UPSL, WPSL, USL League Two and USL W League). The pro clubs scout here, and most youth players who keep playing after U19 play here.
- 04
National leagues
The top of the pyramid. MLS NEXT (boys), the ECNL (boys and girls) and the Girls Academy are national leagues organised by club membership: a club is admitted, and its teams from about U13 to U19 play a conference schedule with national events and playoffs. Teams are not promoted on results alone; the league admits or promotes whole clubs, usually from the regional tier below.
- 05
Regional leagues
One step down. Conference-based leagues run by the national bodies (ECNL Regional League, Pre-ECNL, GA Aspire and Inspire) and the National 1 League, the competition US Youth Soccer and US Club Soccer run together since 2026-27 in place of the National League and the NPL. Mostly U13 to U19, some from U11. A club that wins here season after season is the club that gets invited up, and a national-league club often plays its second team here.
- 06
State and local leagues
The widest tier: leagues run by a state association or a group of clubs, usually U9 to U19, with divisions (Premier, Division 1, Gold, Silver) that promote and relegate on results every season. Most competitive youth teams start here, and the top divisions feed the regional leagues above.
- 07
Recreational leagues
Everyone plays and there are no tryouts, mostly U4 to U12. Scores are rarely published, so a power rank only exists for the rec leagues that report them.
Pick your state
Every state page lists the leagues we rank there by level, with the team currently on top of each one. Texas and California also split into their northern and southern halves.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
How the power rank works
- 01
Every score counts
Every reported final score in a flight goes in. Nothing is entered by hand and no team is seeded.
- 02
Three ratings, one blend
Points per game adjusted for strength of schedule, a goal-margin rating (Massey) and a who-beat-whom rating (Bradley-Terry), with a small allowance for home field.
- 03
One flight at a time
Teams in different flights rarely meet, so ratings are only compared inside a flight. These pages show each flight’s current #1, never one list across age groups.
- 04
Recomputed on every result
Rankings update as scores arrive, and every move comes with a written reason on the team page.
Link to this page from your club or team site
Clubs, teams and parents are welcome to link here. Copy the link, or paste the snippet on your site. Add your site so we can see who sent people our way.
<a href="https://myleaguerankings.com/pyramid/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=link">The US youth soccer pyramid, explained with live rankings</a>
Know when your team moves, and why.
- Rank movement alerts for the teams you follow
- Win, draw, and loss odds before every game
- Rating breakdown and strength of schedule