Infrastructure has a big impact on the quality of day-to-day life.
Whether you’re struggling to get around because of poor road quality, unreliable public transportation, or your neighborhood experiences frequent power outages, weak infrastructure can make everyday life more difficult.
It’s also something that varies massively from state to state.
US News & World Report compiled a ranking of states with the best and worst infrastructure, which forms part of its annual ranking of the best states to live in.
To determine the quality of each state’s infrastructure, US News & World Report examined three categories: energy, internet access, and transportation.
For energy, it calculated the average retail electricity price, power grid reliability, and renewable energy usage.
Internet access was analyzed by looking at the broadband subscription internet and access to high-speed broadband internet.
For transport, the metrics were commute time, bridge quality, road quality, and public transit usage. Each state was then ranked based on these metrics.
US News & World Report prioritized recent and standardized data from government sources to compile the ranking.
Here is the infrastructure quality of all 50 states, from worst to best.
50. West Virginia
Transportation: 49th
Energy: 49th
Internet access: 49th
49. Mississippi
Transportation: 46th
Energy: 47th
Internet access: 48th
48. Alaska
Transportation: 12th
Energy: 48th
Internet access: 47th
47. Rhode Island
Transportation: 50th
Energy: 44th
Internet access: 36th
46. Louisiana
Transportation: 48th
Energy: 38th
Internet access: 44th
45. New Mexico
Transportation: 37th
Energy: 16th
Internet access: 50th
44. Hawaii
Transportation: 28th
Energy: 50th
Internet access: 16th
43. Pennsylvania
Transportation: 47th
Energy: 36th
Internet access: 34th
42. Michigan
Transportation: 38th
Energy: 37th
Internet access: 38th
41. Maine
Transportation: 43rd
Energy: 40th
Internet access: 32nd
40. Arkansas
Transportation: 33rd
Energy: 33rd
Internet access: 41st
39. Virginia
Transportation: 34th
Energy: 28th
Internet access: 37th
38. Massachusetts
Transportation: 45th
Energy: 43rd
Internet access: 14th
37. Wisconsin
Transportation: 31st
Energy: 12th
Internet access: 42nd
36. Wyoming
Transportation: 6th
Energy: 18th
Internet access: 46th
35. Missouri
Transportation: 36th
Energy: 22nd
Internet access: 33rd
34. New York
Transportation: 32nd
Energy: 35th
Internet access: 27th
33. Montana
Transportation: 11th
Energy: 14th
Internet access: 45th
32. California
Transportation: 42nd
Energy: 46th
Internet access: 8th
31. Ohio
Transportation: 16th
Energy: 32nd
Internet access: 39th
30. Alabama
Transportation: 21st
Energy: 19th
Internet access: 40th
29. South Carolina
Transportation: 40th
Energy: 20th
Internet access: 25th
28. Kentucky
Transportation: 17th
Energy: 30th
Internet access: 30th
27. Idaho
Transportation: 20th
Energy: 9th
Internet access: 43rd
26. North Carolina
Transportation: 23rd
Energy: 26th
Internet access: 29th
25. Connecticut
Transportation: 39th
Energy: 45th
Internet access: 3rd
24. Maryland
Transportation: 44th
Energy: 29th
Internet access: 7th
23. Arizona
Transportation: 25th
Energy: 17th
Internet access: 23rd
22. Indiana
Transportation: 13th
Energy: 27th
Internet access: 26th
21. Illinois
Transportation: 29th
Energy: 15th
Internet access: 19th
20. Georgia
Transportation: 18th
Energy: 34th
Internet access: 12th
19. Oklahoma
Transportation: 19th
Energy: 11th
Internet access: 28th
18. New Hampshire
Transportation: 41st
Energy: 39th
Internet access: 1st
17. Tennessee
Transportation: 14th
Energy: 31st
Internet access: 13th
16. Texas
Transportation: 27th
Energy: 24th
Internet access: 10th
15. Iowa
Transportation: 35th
Energy: 2nd
Internet access: 35th
14. Vermont
Transportation: 1st
Energy: 42nd
Internet access: 20th
13. Delaware
Transportation: 8th
Energy: 25th
Internet access: 18th
12. New Jersey
Transportation: 15th
Energy: 41st
Internet access: 6th
11. Florida
Transportation: 22nd
Energy: 13th
Internet access: 11th
10. Colorado
Transportation: 24th
Energy: 23rd
Internet access: 5th
9. Minnesota
Transportation: 2nd
Energy: 8th
Internet access: 24th
8. Washington
Transportation: 30th
Energy: 6th
Internet access: 9th
7. North Dakota
Transportation: 7th
Energy: 5th
Internet access: 21st
6. South Dakota
Transportation: 26th
Energy: 1st
Internet access: 31st
5. Kansas
Transportation: 3rd
Energy: 10th
Internet access: 15th
4. Utah
Transportation: 10th
Energy: 21st
Internet access: 4th
3. Nebraska
Transportation: 5th
Energy: 3rd
Internet access: 22nd
2. Oregon
Transportation: 4th
Energy: 4th
Internet access: 17th
1. Nevada
Transportation: 9th
Energy: 7th
Internet access: 2nd
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