Small businesses kick off summer with higher revenue in World Cup host cities

New data from the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index shows US small businesses in World Cup host cities enjoyed stronger revenue growth in June 2026.

While June was a good month for small businesses in general—with average monthly revenue rising 0.40% nationally compared to May—it was especially good for those located in the 11 host cities across the US (Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle), according to Intuit’s analysis.

Notably, this was the first June in six years of data where host cities pulled away from their peers. In these cities, seasonally-adjusted small business revenue grew 3 times faster, on average, compared to non-host cities.

The growth shows up in exactly the kinds of small businesses where visiting fans are most likely to spend their money: restaurants, bars, hotels, and entertainment venues. Overall, leisure and hospitality (NAICS 70) was the fastest-growing sector in host cities.

Nationally, host cities dominated June's growth rankings for small business revenue. Of the fastest-growing metro areas in the US, four out of five of them hosted World Cup matches: Boston (#1), the San Francisco Bay Area (#2), Philadelphia (#4), and Kansas City (#5).

June's data covers only the tournament's opening weeks, and while many factors can influence local revenue, the pattern is consistent with a World Cup effect. Data for July—covering the knockout rounds and final—will be available in the first week of August.

About this analysis

These findings are based on the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index methodology, applied at the city level to anonymized QuickBooks platform data covering 220,000 small businesses across the 11 US host cities and their surrounding metro communities. As with the published Index, revenue is adjusted for inflation and seasonally adjusted, and growth is measured month over month.

To assess whether June 2026 was unusual, two independent tests were run. First, each host city's growth was compared against its own June performance in prior years (2021–2025). Second, the host cities as a group were compared against a group of similarly sized US cities that did not host a World Cup match. This test showed a statistically significant gap in June 2026 that did not appear in any of the prior five years. The comparison also held when the non-host group was expanded to include all sufficiently large cities among the 40 most populous in the US.

June 2026 figures are preliminary and may be revised as final revenue data becomes available. These findings are correlational: they show host cities outperformed in the month the tournament began, but do not establish the World Cup as the cause.

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