World Rugby announced the host nations for all the World Cups from 2025-33 after a meeting of its council in Dublin on Thursday, with Australia also staging back-to-back tournaments in 2027 (men) and 2029 (women).
The sport is breaking new ground by taking the men's tournament - World Rugby's most lucrative asset - to North America, with the governing body regarding it as an area of untapped potential in both a commercial and sporting sense. The women's World Cup was played in Canada in 2006.
USA Rugby chief executive Ross Young described the decision as a "paradigm-shifting catalyst for the growth of our sport, not only here in the United States but around the world."
Hosting the two World Cups will cost around $A730 million, with profits and losses shared between World Rugby and USA Rugby. More than 20 American cities are potential hosts for World Cup matches, USA Rugby has said.
The bid received support from the White House, with US President Joe Biden sending a letter to World Rugby last month giving governmental guarantees and his backing for the "development of rugby in the United States."
The men's Rugby World Cup is regarded in some parts of the world as the third biggest sporting event, after the soccer World Cup and the summer Olympics.
The United States is hosting all three events in a five-year span from 2026, starting with the men's soccer World Cup that year - with Mexico and Canada as co-hosts - and then the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
"The unparalleled growth made possible by bringing the world's third-largest sports event and the fastest growing women's event to the world's largest sports market cannot be overstated," USA Rugby said.
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