Kicking the Numbers: MLS Player Salaries 2026 (Part 1)

Messi makes more than all but one team put together.

On Wednesday, the Major League Soccer Players Association (MLSPA) released its first salary report for this season. Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi is currently making $28.3 million this season which is more than 28 other teams combined in MLS. The one exception is LAFC thanks to Son Heung-min who is making $11.15M this season which is the second highest among players. Not surprisingly, LAFC has the second highest wage bill at over $32.6M.

The team with the third highest wage bill in 2026 so far is also the team third from bottom in the entire league. Atlanta United’s wage bill is nearly $27.9M thanks in large part to the salaries of Miguel Almiron ($7.9M) and Aleksey Miranchuk ($5.1M).

The addition of Thomas Müller and others has added over $7 million to Vancouver Whitecaps’ wage bill from last season. Müller is currently making over $5.1 million with Ryan Gauld the next highest paid Whitecap at $3.675 million. Brian White continues to be a bargain at $1.065M.

Since 2021, Philadelphia Union’s wage bill has never peaked over $15M and this year, they have the lowest wage bill thus far ($11.7M) and their record sort of resembles that.The team with the second lowest wage bill, Sporting Kansas City, has the lowest median salary at $133,019. LAFC has the highest at $652,491.

Positionally, the highest paid defender in MLS is Miles Robinson of FC Cincinnati at $3.95 million, while the highest paid goalkeeper is St. Louis’s Roman Burki at $2.75 million.

There are a lot more things you can observe as this reporter has created a dashboard on Tableau Public which you can view by following this link: https://public.tableau.com/views/MLSPlayerSalaries_17539260563600/MLSPlayerSalaries?:language=en-US&publish=yes&:sid=&:redirect=auth&:display_count=n&:origin=viz_share_link