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US Average Scores | Percent of cities with the best coverage | Best coverage by state | Best coverage by city
Nationwide Average Coverage Scores
Below are the average coverage scores from over 11,000 cities for all 4 major providers. Coverage scores are based on a comparison of other providers in the area. This score allows us to take into account the fact that it’s far easier to cover large urban areas.
Winner: Verizon
#2: T-Mobile
#3: AT&T
#4: Sprint
Number of Cities With Best Coverage
The story is similar when you look at how many cities each provider won in terms of coverage. This data is for all cities where we have reliable data; urban and rural areas are weighted equally in the third column below.
| Provider | Average Score | Percent of Cities with Top Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Verizon | 91.1 | 52% |
| T-Mobile | 84.4 | 20% |
| AT&T | 83.8 | 22% |
| Sprint | 74.9 | 5% |
Verizon has the best coverage in over half of cities in the US. Despite lower average scores than T-Mobile, AT&T has a few more cities with superior coverage. Small providers (i wireless, U.S. cellular, nTelos, etc.) won about 1% of cities, but these providers often use the larger providers’ networks.
Best Coverage by State
Nationwide figures are important if you travel often, but if you mostly stay in one or two states you can find the best provider by state by looking below. The table below shows the percent of cities the provider has the best coverage in.
| State | AT&T | Sprint | T-Mobile | Verizon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 26% | 4% | 24% | 46% |
| Alaska | 71% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Arizona | 24% | 19% | 24% | 30% |
| Arkansas | 44% | 8% | 12% | 37% |
| California | 26% | 20% | 27% | 26% |
| Colorado | 22% | 22% | 23% | 30% |
| Connecticut | 21% | 22% | 26% | 30% |
| Delaware | 21% | 19% | 18% | 42% |
| District of Columbia | 25% | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| Florida | 25% | 20% | 26% | 29% |
| Georgia | 24% | 13% | 20% | 43% |
| Hawaii | 22% | 21% | 28% | 29% |
| Idaho | 24% | 14% | 24% | 39% |
| Illinois | 26% | 21% | 22% | 31% |
| Indiana | 32% | 17% | 14% | 38% |
| Iowa | 12% | 12% | 8% | 40% |
| Kansas | 22% | 20% | 23% | 34% |
| Kentucky | 43% | 10% | 16% | 31% |
| Louisiana | 45% | 13% | 16% | 26% |
| Maine | 25% | 7% | 5% | 57% |
| Maryland | 25% | 20% | 24% | 31% |
| Massachusetts | 23% | 21% | 27% | 29% |
| Michigan | 19% | 24% | 22% | 36% |
| Minnesota | 21% | 17% | 25% | 37% |
| Mississippi | 34% | 15% | 21% | 25% |
| Missouri | 37% | 16% | 17% | 30% |
| Montana | 14% | 0% | 0% | 86% |
| Nebraska | 19% | 23% | 5% | 42% |
| Nevada | 23% | 17% | 29% | 31% |
| New Hampshire | 26% | 6% | 18% | 51% |
| New Jersey | 25% | 21% | 26% | 28% |
| New Mexico | 25% | 18% | 28% | 29% |
| New York | 26% | 18% | 22% | 34% |
| North Carolina | 22% | 14% | 21% | 43% |
| North Dakota | 16% | 11% | 21% | 53% |
| Ohio | 22% | 18% | 18% | 41% |
| Oklahoma | 43% | 17% | 20% | 20% |
| Oregon | 24% | 15% | 21% | 39% |
| Pennsylvania | 28% | 17% | 22% | 34% |
| Rhode Island | 20% | 23% | 28% | 29% |
| South Carolina | 23% | 16% | 28% | 33% |
| South Dakota | 36% | 10% | 8% | 46% |
| Tennessee | 23% | 14% | 17% | 46% |
| Texas | 29% | 19% | 25% | 26% |
| Utah | 21% | 19% | 31% | 29% |
| Vermont | 12% | 14% | 0% | 75% |
| Virginia | 20% | 20% | 13% | 42% |
| Washington | 21% | 17% | 28% | 35% |
| West Virginia | 48% | 15% | 6% | 28% |
| Wisconsin | 23% | 18% | 14% | 38% |
| Wyoming | 41% | 0% | 18% | 41% |
So while Verizon might have the best coverage overall and in most states, there are a few exceptions.
- T-Mobile has the best coverage in California and Utah.
- AT&T has the best coverage in Texas, Missouri, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alaska, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia
- Verizon has the best coverage in all other states.
Best Coverage by City
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