As interest in Major League Soccer grows outside of America, many people are beginning to wonder how much money the average MLS player makes.
While all players have their own individual contracts, averages are useful as a benchmark to compare MLS salaries with those of players in other leagues around the world. This gives us some idea of how successful the league is and how attractive it will be to players considering a move.
However, there are a number of factors that impact the salaries players get in MLS and therefore the average:
- Salary cap
- Designated player rule
- General allocation money
- Target allocation money
I have covered all of these in other articles, so I won’t repeat myself here, but these financial rules are in place to strike a balance between keeping the league competitive, promoting homegrown talent, and attracting star quality from abroad.
There are two different numbers to consider though: the salary and the guaranteed compensation.
The salary is exactly what it sounds like but does not tell the whole story, because the guaranteed compensation is the annual pay packet. This is important because it is possible for a club to pay a smaller salary but then boost a player’s take home pay with target allocation money, for example. The player doesn’t really care how their money gets to them, they just care about the final amount.
To take one random example, Inter Miami’s, Benja Cremaschi was on a base salary of $99,716 in 2024, but his total guaranteed compensation was $202,216 – a boost of more than 100%.
This article is interested in the average salary of the average MLS player, so to answer that question as accurately as possible, I will need to exclude designated players then look at both salaries and guaranteed compensation amounts for the players that remain.
Designated Players Skew the Numbers
Why am I going to exclude designated players?
To find the average salary in MLS is very simple. All we have to do is add up the salaries of every MLS senior roster player then divide that by the number of players there are.
However, the average salary of the average player is going to be skewed by the huge sums earned by a handful of top players who ply their trade in MLS at any one time. Who are those top players earning many millions more than their colleagues? Why, designated players of course.
Lionel Messi earned $12,000,000 a year in base salary but more than $20 million a year in guaranteed compensation during his time at Inter Miami. He was the highest earner by far but there were plenty of other DPs earning several millions. In fact, the top 10 highest paid players in MLS during the same time period were collectively paid almost $60 million in base salary, plus another $23 million when the total guaranteed compensation is taken into account.
Each team is allowed 3 designated players who will all be earning more than the maximum senior roster salary allowed in MLS. The total for them all is probably somewhere North of $150 million. Add that into the mix and the average salary of the average player is going to look a lot higher than it is in reality.
Average Salary is $513,075
If I look at the salary of all senior roster players in MLS excluding designated players, the average base salary across the league is $513,075.
Obviously, there will be a greater number of players earning below this line than above it, but that’s how averages work.
In terms of total guaranteed compensation, players operating within the regular salary structure don’t tend to have huge amounts added on to their base salaries. The average guaranteed compensation for senior roster MLS players is only a little higher then at $572,251.
This shows an average boost to base salaries of 11.53%. This average doesn’t mean a great deal on a case by case basis but gives you a general idea for the league as a whole. Interestingly, the average boost to base salaries for designated players is much higher.
These numbers are correct for the 2024 season, but as old players leave and new players join they will change. The minimum and maximum salary changes every season too, which will be another contributing factor.
Minimum and Maximum Salary
While each team must comply with the salary cap for their total wage bill, there is also a set minimum and maximum salary that senior roster teams must earn between.
How each team structures their salary bill is different, but the top and bottom end of each non-designated player’s salary potential is consistent throughout the league.
In 2024, these were:
- Minimum – $89,716
- Maximum – $651,250
This goes a long way to explaining why the average is where it is. If clubs have to pay their non-designated players a salary within these parameters, it stands to reasons that the average salary will always sit within them too.
These amounts change each season, but you can expect the average base salary will always be towards to higher end than the lower.
Players Can Earn More Through Bonuses
Bonuses are not included in either the salary or the guaranteed compensation figures. This is because there is no guarantee the player will receive them.
However, these bonuses can allow a player to earn more. Significantly more. Goal bonuses, assist bonuses, clean sheet bonuses, extra money for winning silverware – there is a lot of potential to top up the salary.
Back in 2019, for example, Wayne Rooney was on a $10,000 goal and assist bonus so he earned an additional $130,000 for his 13 goals and another $80,000 for his 8 assists. He got $250,000 for making more than 24 appearances plus another $100,000 when he hit 27 appearances. There was additional earning potential if he made the squad’s best XI, won the golden boot, was put in the MLS All Star team for the season, and more.
As an internationally renowned player, Rooney’s bonus earning potential was probably higher than a regular player’s, but it shows that a player can walk away with an awful lot more than their annual salary if they perform well.
Comparison With Other Leagues Around the World
The average salary in Major League Soccer has been rising year on year for some time, and while players in America by are no means badly off, their wages pale in comparison to those in European leagues.
The Premier League in England is the richest soccer league in the world. Players in the top tier of English football earn an average of £3.2 million ($4.1 million) per year – around 8 times that of MLS players.
In the other top leagues in Europe, average salaries are around:
- Serie A – Italy – €1.9 million ($2.1 million)
- Ligue 1 – France – €1.5 million ($1.6 million)
- La Liga – Spain- €2.3 million ($2.5 million)
- Bundesliga – Germany – €1.9 million ($2.1 million)
Again, these are 2024 figures and will change, but they show the disparity between a soccer player’s income in Europe vs America.
In fact, even players in the EFL Championship – which is the second tier of the English football pyramid – have a higher average annual salary than MLS players. The average salary in the Championship is £637,742 (or $827,652), which is way above the upper salary cap in MLS.
The way these leagues are set up is very different to MLS, they have no financial caps for a start, and there will still be certain clubs and players dragging the averages up. Even so, MLS has a long way to go before it will be on par with the top leagues in the world in terms of player salaries.