MLS’s top earners

1. Inter Miami - $41.68 million

2. Toronto FC - $31.41 million

3. Chicago Fire - $25.13 million

4. Nashville SC - $21.4 million

5. FC Cincinnati - $18.71 million

6. Austin FC - $18.41 million

7. New England Revolution - $18.32 million

8. LA Galaxy - $17.93 million

9. New York Red Bulls - $17.11 million

10. Houston Dynamo - $16.77 million

The LA Galaxy made significant payroll cuts, reducing it from $23.5 million to $17.9 million at the start of last year. Similarly, Atlanta decreased its payroll from $21.3 million to $16.7 million. However, Toronto increased its payroll from a league-high of $25.7 million in 2023, and Nashville saw an increase from $14 million.

In terms of player compensation, Toronto winger Lorenzo Insigne ranks second with $15.4 million, followed by Sergio Busquets, Xherdan Shaqiri of Chicago, Sebastián Driussi of Austin, Federico Bernardeschi of Toronto, and Emil Forsberg of the New York Red Bulls, with compensations ranging from $8.2 million to $6 million.

The average base salary for senior roster players, excluding designated players who have a partial salary cap impact, saw an increase of 8.4% from $473,292 to $513,075 since the beginning of last year. The average total guaranteed compensation reached $594,389.

The total compensation of all signed players amounted to $519 million, reflecting a 12.8% increase from $460 million at the start of the previous season and a substantial rise from $394 million at the beginning of 2022.

Regarding the US national team players, Nashville defender Walker Zimmerman had a total compensation of $3.5 million, followed by Jesús Ferreira of Dallas with $2.2 million, Jordan Morris of Seattle with $1.7 million, Djordje Mihailovic of Colorado with $1.7 million, Miles Robinson of Cincinnati with $1.6 million, Cristian Roldan of Seattle with $1.5 million, and DeAndre Yedlin of Cincinnati as the lowest among them with $898,750.