States Ranked by Infrastructure Condition
All 50 states scored on bridge condition from federal inspection data, ASCE report card grades, and highway performance rankings.
How this ranking works
This ranking measures the physical condition of what states have actually built and maintained, using named federal and third-party sources rather than spending or announcements. First, the Federal Highway Administration's National Bridge Inventory, the federal inspection database behind the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) 2025 Bridge Report, which classifies every public bridge in America as good, fair, or poor (structurally deficient) on a fixed inspection schedule. Nationally, about 7 percent of the country's 618,923 highway bridges rated structurally deficient in the June 2025 data release, more than 42,000 spans (ARTBA, 2025; Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report). Second, state-level Infrastructure Report Cards issued by state sections of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which grade categories from aviation to wastewater; only three states, Utah, Georgia, and Wisconsin, currently hold a C+, the highest overall grade ASCE has ever assigned a state. Third, the Reason Foundation's Annual Highway Report (28th and 29th editions), which ranks all 50 state highway systems on pavement condition, deficient bridges, congestion, and cost-effectiveness.
The composite score is ordinal and analytical. ASCE grades and Reason rankings are third-party ratings and are attributed by name wherever they drive a position. Bridge percentages are federal inspection data and are quoted with their year. Each ranked entry that carries subscores surfaces the named components of the composite, all oriented so a fuller meter means better condition: bridge condition is the share of bridges NOT rated structurally deficient, and any bad metric such as congestion hours or deficient-bridge share is inverted so higher always means healthier. Positions 11 through 15 and 41 through 44 are the thinnest part of the ordering, where states cluster tightly. The top and bottom five are not close calls.
What is deliberately ignored: how much a state spends, what it has announced, and which party governs it. The framework applies the identical ruler to every state. A press release does not carry traffic. A bridge rating does. Drinking-water and broadband context is drawn from the EPA's public water system compliance reporting and the FCC's National Broadband Map and is discussed at the national and framework level, because clean, comparable per-state condition data for those systems is thinner than the federal bridge record; where a specific state figure is cited it is attributed to its source and year.
1UtahMountain West100.0
Holds a C+ from ASCE's 2025 state report card, tied for the highest overall grade ever given a state, with roads graded B+ and bridges B (ASCE Utah Section, 2025).
The receipts: Utah's 2025 ASCE report card is one of only three C+ grades ever issued to a state, with roads at B+, bridges at B, and drinking water at B-, each well above the national marks of D+ roads and C- drinking water (ASCE Utah Section, 2025). Its structurally deficient bridge share sits in the low single digits in the federal inspection data, and Utah pairs that condition with above-average broadband and water compliance.
2GeorgiaSoutheast98.4
One of only three states with an ASCE C+ overall grade, and second in the nation in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report for performance and cost-effectiveness (ASCE; Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report).
The receipts: Georgia ranked second of 50 in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report on overall performance and cost-effectiveness, and holds one of only three ASCE C+ state grades (Reason Foundation; ASCE). Its structurally deficient bridge share was 1.95 percent in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, among the five lowest in the country (ARTBA, 2025).
3VirginiaSouth Atlantic97.1
First overall in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, achieving top-tier pavement condition while spending near the bottom on capital and administrative disbursements (Reason Foundation).
The receipts: Virginia placed first of 50 in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, the top-ranked and most cost-effective highway system in the nation, delivering strong pavement and bridge condition while spending near the bottom per mile (Reason Foundation, 2026). Its poor-bridge share sits below the national rate in the federal inspection data (FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025).
4WisconsinMidwest95.8
The third member of the C+ club, the highest overall ASCE state grade currently held (ASCE, 2025).
The receipts: Wisconsin holds one of only three ASCE C+ overall state grades ever issued, alongside Utah and Georgia (ASCE, 2025). It keeps a poor-bridge share below the national rate in the federal inspection data while carrying a large northern-climate bridge inventory (FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025).
5South CarolinaSoutheast94.6
Third in the nation in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report for overall highway performance and cost-effectiveness (Reason Foundation).
The receipts: South Carolina placed third of 50 in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report on performance and cost-effectiveness (Reason Foundation, 2026). It keeps a below-national poor-bridge share in the federal inspection data while running one of the lower per-mile budgets in its region (FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025).
6North CarolinaSoutheast93.7
Fourth overall in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report (Reason Foundation).
The receipts: North Carolina placed fourth of 50 in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, one of the five best-performing and most cost-effective systems in the country (Reason Foundation, 2026). Its poor-bridge share sits near or below the national rate in the federal inspection data (FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025).
7OhioMidwest92.5
Fifth overall in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, the top performance among heavy-traffic northern states (Reason Foundation).
The receipts: Ohio placed fifth of 50 in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, the strongest performance of any high-traffic northern state (Reason Foundation, 2026). It carries one of the largest bridge inventories in the country while keeping its poor-bridge share near the national rate in the federal inspection data (FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025).
8TennesseeSouth91.4
Consistently posts one of the lowest structurally deficient bridge shares in the country in the annual ARTBA analyses of federal inspection data (ARTBA Bridge Report).
The receipts: Tennessee posts one of the lowest structurally deficient bridge shares in the country year after year in ARTBA's analysis of the federal National Bridge Inventory (ARTBA, 2025). It pairs that bridge record with a mid-pack Reason highway ranking, a state that maintains its spans well even where broader performance is average.
9FloridaSoutheast90.6
Among the states with the best interstate pavement quality in the Reason Foundation's data, with a poor-bridge share far below the national rate (Reason Foundation; FHWA NBI, 2025).
The receipts: Florida keeps a structurally deficient bridge share well below the national rate in the federal inspection data and posts strong interstate pavement scores in the Reason Foundation's rankings (Reason Foundation; FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025). Its warm climate spares its spans much of the freeze-thaw damage that drives deficiency in northern states.
10ArizonaSouthwest89.9
Posts the single lowest share of structurally deficient bridges of any state in ARTBA's tabulation of FHWA data (ARTBA Bridge Report, 2025).
The receipts: Arizona had the lowest structurally deficient bridge share of any state in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, 1.26 percent, the best bridge condition in the nation (ARTBA, 2025). Dry climate and a relatively young bridge stock help, but maintenance prioritization keeps the number at the floor.
11TexasSouth89.0
Maintains the nation's largest highway and bridge system while keeping one of the lowest poor-bridge percentages of any state (FHWA National Bridge Inventory; ARTBA).
The receipts: Of the 56,951 bridges in Texas, only about 1.4 percent, roughly 680 spans, rated structurally deficient in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, one of the lowest shares in the country while operating the largest bridge inventory in the nation (ARTBA, 2025). Scale multiplies the difficulty, which makes the low deficiency share the more notable.
12NevadaMountain West88.2
Among the lowest structurally deficient bridge shares in the nation in ARTBA's annual reports (ARTBA Bridge Report).
The receipts: Nevada had a structurally deficient bridge share of 1.40 percent in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, among the five lowest in the country (ARTBA, 2025). Its arid climate and newer system keep its spans in good federal condition even as highway performance ranks mid-pack.
13KentuckySouth87.1
Ranks well in the Reason Foundation's cost-effectiveness measures, delivering average-or-better conditions on below-average budgets (Reason Foundation, Annual Highway Report).
The receipts: Kentucky delivers average-or-better road and bridge conditions on below-average per-mile budgets in the Reason Foundation's rankings, a cost-effectiveness story rather than a top-condition one (Reason Foundation). Its poor-bridge share sits near the national rate in the federal inspection data (FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025).
14DelawareSouth Atlantic86.3
A compact system with a poor-bridge share below the national rate (FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025).
The receipts: Delaware had a structurally deficient bridge share of 1.61 percent in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, among the five lowest in the nation, on a small and tightly managed system (ARTBA, 2025). A compact inventory is easier to keep in good federal condition, and Delaware does.
15KansasMidwest85.6
Manages one of the largest bridge inventories in the country, a structural burden most states do not carry, while staying out of the worst tier on condition (FHWA National Bridge Inventory).
The receipts: Kansas carries one of the largest bridge inventories of any state, a maintenance burden most states never face, yet stays out of the worst deficiency tier in the federal inspection data (FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025). Sheer count, not neglect, is its structural challenge.
41New JerseyNortheast58.9
Commuters lose about 84.8 hours a year to traffic congestion, the worst tier in the nation alongside Massachusetts and New York (Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report).
The receipts: The average New Jersey commuter loses about 84.8 hours a year to traffic congestion, the worst figure of any state in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report (Reason Foundation, 2026). Its bridges are in better federal condition than its congestion suggests, but density defines its lived infrastructure problem.
42South DakotaMidwest57.8
16.9 percent of its bridges rated structurally deficient in the Reason Foundation's tabulation of 2021 federal data, among the worst rates in the nation (Reason Foundation, 28th Annual Highway Report).
The receipts: South Dakota rated 16.89 percent of its bridges structurally deficient in the Reason Foundation's tabulation of 2021 federal data and around 17 percent in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, one of nine states above 10 percent (Reason Foundation, 28th Annual Highway Report; ARTBA, 2025). Many are aging rural farm-route spans that carry light traffic but still fail inspection.
43WashingtonPacific Northwest56.9
Among the five worst-performing state highway systems in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report (Reason Foundation).
The receipts: Washington placed 48th of 50 in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, among the five worst-performing and least cost-effective systems, pairing rough urban pavement with high costs per mile (Reason Foundation, 2026). It also carries one of the nation's widest rural-urban broadband gaps, 68 percent of urban users at 100/20 Mbps versus 31 percent of rural users (FCC National Broadband Map, 2024).
44IowaMidwest55.7
Leads the nation in the raw number of structurally deficient bridges, with roughly one in five bridges rated deficient in recent federal data (ARTBA Bridge Report; Reason Foundation, 28th Annual Highway Report).
The receipts: Iowa leads the nation in the sheer number of structurally deficient bridges, about 4,575 spans, roughly 19 percent of its inventory in the 2025 ARTBA analysis (ARTBA, 2025). A vast network of aging rural county bridges keeps Iowa at the top of the deficiency count year after year.
45New YorkNortheast54.8
Among the worst state highway systems in the Reason Foundation's 29th report, with congestion losses above 60 hours per commuter per year (Reason Foundation).
The receipts: New York ranks among the worst-performing and least cost-effective highway systems in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, with the average commuter losing about 61.6 hours a year to congestion (Reason Foundation, 2026). High spending per mile has not bought proportionate condition or throughput.
46LouisianaSouth53.9
Among the worst-performing highway systems in the nation in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report (Reason Foundation).
The receipts: Louisiana ranks near the bottom of the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report and is one of the nine states with more than 10 percent of bridges rated structurally deficient (Reason Foundation, 2026). Heat, subsidence, and flood exposure compound a maintenance backlog on its spans and pavement.
47CaliforniaPacific52.7
Second to last, 49th of 50, in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report on performance and cost-effectiveness (Reason Foundation, 2026).
The receipts: California placed 49th of 50 in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, pairing rough urban pavement and heavy congestion with the highest costs per mile in the country (Reason Foundation, 2026). Its own ASCE section graded state infrastructure a C- in December 2025, below the national C (ASCE California Section, 2025).
48Rhode IslandNortheast51.6
14.0 percent of its bridges rated structurally deficient in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, more than double the national rate, and it ranked among the worst nationally for poor bridges (ARTBA, 2025; Boston Globe, 2026).
The receipts: Rhode Island had one of the worst structurally deficient bridge shares in the nation in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, reported at 14.0 percent, more than double the national rate, and ranked sixth-worst nationally for poor bridges (ARTBA, 2025; Boston Globe, 2026). Its dense, older bridge stock and coastal exposure drive the number.
49AlaskaPacific50.4
The worst-performing state highway system in the nation in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report (Reason Foundation).
The receipts: Alaska ranked 50th of 50, dead last, in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report on overall performance and cost-effectiveness (Reason Foundation, 2026). Permafrost, extreme distance, and the highest per-mile costs in the country combine to make maintenance uniquely hard, and its affordable-broadband access is the lowest in the nation (BroadbandNow, 2024).
50West VirginiaSouth48.5
The nation's worst bridge inventory by share: 1,307 of its 7,345 bridges, 17.8 percent, rated structurally deficient in the 2025 ARTBA analysis of federal data, nearly triple the national rate (ARTBA Bridge Report, 2025).
The receipts: West Virginia had the worst structurally deficient bridge share of any state in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, 1,307 of 7,345 bridges, 17.8 percent, nearly triple the national rate (ARTBA, 2025). Steep mountain terrain, an aging span stock, and a thin maintenance budget keep it at the bottom, even as its Reason highway ranking improved to 30th in 2026.
Click any entry to open its full scorecard, sub-scores, and the receipts.
Share of bridges rated structurally deficient, worst states, 2025 federal data
The country's grade is a C, and that is an improvement
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. infrastructure an overall C in its 2025 national report card, the highest grade the organization has issued since it began grading in 1998 (ASCE, 2025). Eight of the seventeen graded categories improved, seven held, and for the first time since 1998 no category was rated D-. Roads climbed from D to D+, bridges held at C, and drinking water held at C-. The bridge data tell the same slow-improvement story: about 7 percent of the nation's 618,923 highway bridges rated structurally deficient in the June 2025 National Bridge Inventory release, down from nearly 9 percent a decade earlier, and more than 42,000 spans still carry that label (ARTBA, 2025; Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report). Federal money from the 2021 infrastructure law is visibly working through the system.
But the national average hides a spread that this ranking exists to show. West Virginia's structurally deficient bridge share, 17.8 percent, is nearly triple the national rate. Arizona's, at 1.26 percent, is the lowest in the country (ARTBA, 2025). Utah's civil engineers just handed their state the highest report-card grade any state has ever received, while California's section graded its own state a C- (ASCE, 2025). Every one of these facts comes from the same country in the same year. A national letter grade is an average of extremes, and the extremes are where people actually drive, drink, and connect.
Only three states have ever earned a C+
ASCE state sections grade their own states using the same rubric as the national card, and the ceiling is low everywhere. Utah's 2025 C+ made it one of exactly three states at that grade, alongside Georgia and Wisconsin (ASCE, 2025). Utah's card shows what the top of the American range looks like: roads B+, bridges B, drinking water B-, dragged down by failing subgrades for levees and canals. Even the best state infrastructure in America carries failing subsystems. No state has ever been graded B- or better overall. The distance from the American ceiling to a genuinely sound national system is wider than the ceiling itself.
Utah's own engineers frame it plainly: good roads cost less than bad ones, because deferred maintenance compounds. A road allowed to slip from good to poor costs several times more to rebuild than it would have cost to preserve. That is the quiet logic behind the ranking. The states at the top are not the ones that spent the most. They are the ones whose spending shows up in pavement and spans, and who preserved condition before it collapsed into replacement. Utah reached the ceiling by keeping roads at B+ while the nation sat at D+.
The gap between the best and worst subsystems inside a single state is itself a finding. A state can hold a B on bridges and a D on stormwater, an A on aviation and an F on transit. ASCE grades seventeen categories precisely because a single letter would flatten those differences into meaninglessness. This ranking anchors on bridges and highways because those are the categories with the deepest, most comparable federal data, but the report-card structure is a reminder that infrastructure is not one thing. It is a portfolio, and every state holds both winners and failures inside its overall grade.
The Reason rankings add a second, harsher lens
The Reason Foundation's Annual Highway Report scores all 50 state highway systems not just on condition but on cost-effectiveness: what taxpayers paid for what they got. In the 29th edition, Virginia ranked first while spending near the bottom per mile; Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Ohio filled out the top five (Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report). The winners are not the biggest spenders. They are the states whose spending shows up in pavement. Virginia's civil engineers and Reason's analysts arrive at the same conclusion from opposite directions: condition and efficiency are not enemies, they are the same discipline.
At the bottom sit Alaska, California, Washington, New York, and Louisiana (Reason Foundation, 2026). Alaska ranked 50th, dead last, fighting permafrost, extreme distance, and the highest per-mile costs in the nation. California ranked 49th, pairing rough urban pavement and severe congestion with costs no other state matches. The bottom is reached by different roads. Some states there are geographically cursed. Others spend heavily and have little to show. The ranking does not distinguish between an honest and a wasteful path to a bad road, because the driver on that road cannot tell the difference either.
Movement inside the Reason ranking is real and fast. Massachusetts recorded the largest single-year improvement in the 29th report, rising 23 spots from 40th to 17th, and West Virginia climbed three spots to 30th (Reason Foundation, 2026). A state highway system is not a fixed inheritance. Sustained investment and better prioritization move the number within a few budget cycles, which is precisely why this ranking measures the current condition rather than a state's reputation.
The bridge table is where the gap gets dangerous
Bridge condition is the most objective infrastructure measure that exists: every public bridge in America is federally inspected on a fixed schedule and rated on the same scale, good, fair, or poor. That is why this ranking weights it most heavily. The 2025 ARTBA tabulation of that federal data shows West Virginia worst by share at 17.8 percent structurally deficient, 1,307 of 7,345 bridges, with Rhode Island reported at 14.0 percent; nine states, West Virginia, Iowa, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Maine, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Michigan, and North Dakota, all exceeded 10 percent (ARTBA, 2025; Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report). Iowa leads the country in the sheer number of deficient bridges, about 4,575 spans, roughly one in five of its inventory, a legacy of thousands of aging rural county bridges (ARTBA, 2025).
At the other end, the condition is dramatic. Arizona posted the single lowest share in the nation at 1.26 percent, followed by Texas at 1.39 percent, Nevada at 1.40 percent, Delaware at 1.61 percent, and Georgia at 1.95 percent (ARTBA, 2025). Texas does it while operating the largest bridge inventory in the country, 56,951 spans, with only about 680 rated deficient. Scale should make the job harder, and in Texas it visibly does not. Climate, terrain, and bridge age explain part of the gap between top and bottom. Freeze-thaw cycles and coastal salt punish northern and eastern spans that Arizona's desert never sees. But maintenance budgets and prioritization explain the rest, and the inspection reports do not record excuses. A deficient bridge is deficient whether the cause is weather or neglect.
Congestion is a different failure than condition
A state can have sound bridges and still fail its drivers every morning. The Reason Foundation's congestion data make the point exactly: the average New Jersey commuter loses about 84.8 hours a year to traffic, the worst figure of any state, followed by Massachusetts at 64.4 hours and New York at 61.6 hours (Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report). New Jersey's bridges are in better federal condition than its congestion suggests. Its infrastructure failure is throughput, not structure. Those are different problems with different fixes, and a single ranking that collapsed them would mislead readers in both dense and rural states.
This is the honest tension at the center of any state infrastructure ranking. Condition-based measures favor dry, low-traffic, newer-built states and can make a congested but structurally sound state look worse than it lives. Congestion-based measures punish density regardless of maintenance quality, and would rank a well-maintained metro state below a crumbling rural one. A reader in Newark and a reader on a South Dakota farm route are describing two different infrastructures when they say the word. This ranking weights physical condition most heavily because it is the most comparable measure across all 50 states, then names congestion, cost-effectiveness, and grade so a reader can re-weight for the failure that touches their own commute.
The water and the wires: the systems below the road
Roads and bridges are visible. The infrastructure a person actually depends on more often, drinking water and broadband, is buried or strung overhead and harder to compare state by state. ASCE held drinking water at C- nationally in 2025, and the EPA reported that about 4 percent of public water systems, 6,045 of them, violated a health-based drinking water standard in a recent reporting year, while roughly 20 percent failed a monitoring or reporting requirement (ASCE, 2025; EPA National Public Water Systems Compliance Report). The highest health-based violation counts cluster in the South, but resolution rates are low across the South, Midwest, and parts of the Northeast, which is why this ranking treats water as framework context rather than a clean per-state score. The federal bridge record simply has no equal for comparability.
Broadband tells a parallel story of a rising average hiding a stubborn gap. As of December 2024, about 95 percent of U.S. homes and small businesses had access to fixed 100/20 Mbps service, up nearly a million locations in six months (FCC National Broadband Map). But the rural-urban divide widened in 32 states that year, and Washington posted one of the widest gaps in the country: 68 percent of urban users reached 100/20 Mbps against just 31 percent of rural users (FCC National Broadband Map, 2024). Alaska ranks last in affordable-broadband access by a wide margin (BroadbandNow, 2024). Independent auditors argue the FCC's maps overstate availability, putting the true unserved population millions higher than official counts (BroadbandNow, 2024). The pattern is consistent across every subsystem: the national number is improving, and the states already behind are the ones most likely to be undercounted in the improvement.
What the composite is, and what it is not
The score in this ranking is ordinal and analytical. No federal agency ranks the 50 states head to head on overall infrastructure, so the composite aggregates named, verifiable inputs: the FHWA National Bridge Inventory by way of ARTBA, the Reason Foundation's highway performance and cost-effectiveness rankings, and ASCE's state report cards where they exist. Each subscore is oriented so a fuller meter means a healthier system. Bridge condition is the share of bridges NOT rated structurally deficient. Congestion hours and deficiency shares are inverted before they enter a meter, so West Virginia's 17.8 percent deficient becomes a low bridge-condition score and Arizona's 1.26 percent becomes a near-perfect one. Every value traces to a source in the list below.
The framework pays no attention to which party governs a state. Utah, Georgia, and Wisconsin sit at the top with different politics; Alaska, California, and West Virginia sit at the bottom with different politics again. The top ten includes states from the Mountain West, the Southeast, and the Midwest. The bottom ten spans the Northeast, the Pacific, and Appalachia. If that distribution surprises a reader who expected the map to sort neatly by party or by wealth, the surprise is the point. This ranking measures what states built and kept in repair, not what they announced or which coalition governs them. California is wealthy and ranks 47th. West Virginia is poor and ranks 50th, but its highway system is climbing while richer states stall. Money spent is not the metric. Measured condition is.
The tightest part of the ordering is the middle, positions 11 through 15 and 41 through 44, where states cluster within a point or two and small changes in the underlying data would reshuffle them. The top five and bottom five are not close calls: the distance between Utah's C+ and Alaska's last-place highway system is not a rounding question. Readers who weight congestion over structure, or cost-effectiveness over raw condition, will reorder the middle, and the sources are named precisely so they can. What they cannot do with this data is turn a 17.8 percent deficient bridge share into a good one, or a last-place highway system into a first-place one. The extremes are settled. The argument lives in the middle, and it is an honest argument.
Share of bridges rated structurally deficient, best states, 2025 federal data
How the map has moved
The direction of travel is upward, slowly. ASCE's national grade climbed from D+ in 2013 to C- in 2021 to a record C in 2025, its best since grading began in 1998 (ASCE, 2025). The national structurally deficient bridge share fell from nearly 9 percent a decade ago to about 7 percent in the June 2025 federal data, even as more than 42,000 spans still carry the label and roughly 35 percent of all bridges need major repair or replacement (ARTBA, 2025). Much of the recent movement traces to the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, whose bridge and road formula dollars began reaching states in 2022 and 2023 and are now visible in the inspection record.
State rankings move faster than the national average, because a single state's budget priorities show up within a few cycles. In the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, Massachusetts recorded the largest single-year jump of any state, rising 23 spots from 40th to 17th, and West Virginia climbed three spots to 30th even while holding the nation's worst bridge share (Reason Foundation, 2026). Those are not statistical noise; they are the measurable result of where states chose to spend. The lesson of the top of this ranking is that condition is a choice made over years, and the lesson of the movers is that the choice can be changed.
The systems below the road are moving too, unevenly. Broadband availability at 100/20 Mbps reached about 95 percent of locations by December 2024, up nearly a million locations in six months as federal and state programs built out fiber, yet the rural-urban gap widened in 32 states in the same year (FCC National Broadband Map, 2024). Drinking water held at a C- nationally, with health-based violation resolution rates actually declining in recent EPA reporting (ASCE, 2025; EPA). The composite in this ranking is a snapshot of condition as of the 2025 federal releases and the 29th Reason report. As the next National Bridge Inventory, the next Reason edition, and the next round of ASCE state cards land, the middle of this table will reshuffle. The extremes, Utah and Arizona at the top, West Virginia and Alaska at the bottom, are unlikely to move soon.
Annual hours lost to traffic congestion per commuter, worst states
What the evidence settles
The evidence settles that American infrastructure is slowly improving, with the national structurally deficient bridge share down to about 7 percent from nearly 9 percent a decade ago and ASCE's 2025 national grade at a record C (ARTBA, 2025; ASCE, 2025). It also settles the extremes: West Virginia has the worst bridge share in the nation at 17.8 percent, Iowa the most deficient bridges by count at about 4,575, Arizona the lowest deficient share at 1.26 percent, and Utah, Georgia, and Wisconsin hold the highest state grades ASCE has ever issued.
What remains contested
What remains contested is weighting. Condition-based rankings favor dry, low-traffic, newer-built states; congestion-based rankings punish density regardless of maintenance quality; cost-effectiveness rankings, like Reason's, are argued by critics to reward low-wage, low-standard construction markets. There is also honest dispute about ASCE self-interest, since the engineers who grade infrastructure also build it, which is why this ranking anchors on federal inspection data first, and dispute over broadband maps, which independent auditors say overstate availability by millions of locations.
Questions people ask
Which state has the best infrastructure?
Utah, on this composite. Its 2025 ASCE report card grade of C+ is tied for the highest ever given a state, with roads graded B+, bridges B, and drinking water B-. Georgia and Wisconsin hold the same overall grade, and Virginia ranks first in the Reason Foundation's highway performance and cost-effectiveness rankings.
Which state has the worst bridges?
West Virginia by share: 17.8 percent of its bridges, 1,307 of 7,345, rated structurally deficient in the 2025 ARTBA analysis of federal inspection data, nearly triple the national rate of about 7 percent. Iowa has the most deficient bridges by raw count, roughly 4,575 spans.
Which state has the best bridges?
Arizona, with the lowest structurally deficient share of any state at 1.26 percent in the 2025 ARTBA analysis, followed by Texas at 1.39 percent and Nevada at 1.40 percent. Texas keeps its share that low while operating the largest bridge inventory in the country, 56,951 spans.
Is U.S. infrastructure getting better or worse?
Measurably better on the headline numbers. The national share of structurally deficient bridges fell to about 7 percent in 2025 from nearly 9 percent a decade earlier, and ASCE's 2025 national grade of C is the best it has issued since grading began in 1998. Drinking water held at C- and roads improved from D to D+.
Why do some rich states rank so low?
Because condition and congestion are different failures. California and New York pair high spending per mile with rough urban pavement and heavy congestion, ranking 49th and near the bottom in the Reason Foundation's 29th report, and California's own ASCE section graded it a C- in December 2025. Money spent is not the metric here; measured condition is.
How is this ranking calculated?
It is an ordinal composite of named federal and third-party data: the FHWA National Bridge Inventory through ARTBA, the Reason Foundation's highway performance and cost-effectiveness rankings, and ASCE state report cards where they exist. Every subscore is oriented so higher means healthier, bad metrics like deficient-bridge share and congestion hours are inverted, and party and spending are deliberately ignored.
Sources
- ASCE, 2025 Infrastructure Report Card (national and state cards) https://infrastructurereportcard.org/
- ASCE, Report Card Gives U.S. Infrastructure Highest-Ever C Grade, 2025 https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/society-news/article/2025/03/25/asce-report-card-gives-us-infrastructure-highest-ever-c-grade
- ASCE, Utah's Infrastructure Receives C+ Grade, 2025 https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/society-news/article/2025/05/29/utah-civil-engineers-release-report-card
- ASCE, California's Infrastructure Graded a C-, December 2025 https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/society-news/article/2025/12/03/asce-california-section-releases-infrastructure-report-card
- ARTBA, 2025 Bridge Report (FHWA National Bridge Inventory analysis) https://artbabridgereport.org/reports/2025-ARTBA-Bridge-Report.pdf
- ARTBA Bridge Report, West Virginia state profile https://artbabridgereport.org/state/profile/WV
- ARTBA Bridge Report, Texas state profile https://artbabridgereport.org/state/profile/TX
- FHWA, Bridge Condition by Highway System, National Bridge Inventory 2025 https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/no10/condition25.cfm
- Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report https://reason.org/highway-report/29th-annual-highway-report/
- Reason Foundation, 29th Annual Highway Report: Summary of findings and rankings https://reason.org/highway-report/29th-annual-highway-report/executive-summary/
- Reason Foundation, 28th Annual Highway Report: Structurally Deficient Bridges https://reason.org/highway-report/28th-annual-highway-report/structurally-deficient-bridges/
- FCC, Broadband Data Collection Shows Access to High-Speed Internet Is Expanding, May 2025 https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/blog/2025/05/20/broadband-data-collection-shows-access-high-speed-internet-services
- FCC National Broadband Map https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/
- BroadbandNow, Best and Worst States for Broadband, 2024 https://broadbandnow.com/research/best-states-with-internet-coverage-and-speed/2024
- EPA, Providing Safe Drinking Water in America: National Public Water Systems Compliance Report https://www.epa.gov/compliance/providing-safe-drinking-water-america-national-public-water-systems-compliance-report
- Boston Globe, Rhode Island ranks sixth-worst in the nation for bridges in poor condition, May 2026 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/05/metro/rhode-island-bridges-poor-condition/
Parker, T. E. (2026). States Ranked by Infrastructure Condition. US Political Rank. https://uspoliticalrank.com/rankings/states-by-infrastructure<iframe src="https://uspoliticalrank.com/embed/states-by-infrastructure" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #ddd;border-radius:8px" title="States Ranked by Infrastructure Condition" loading="lazy"></iframe>Keep reading
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