Best and Worst States for Broadband in 2026: Why Ookla and BroadbandNow Rank Your State Differently

Two 2026 state broadband analyses can produce different answers because they measure different things. BroadbandNow combines availability, prices and network performance. Ookla looks at the share of Speedtest users reaching 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up. Neither report can tell you what is available at your exact address.

BroadbandNow: can you get it, and can you afford it?

BroadbandNow's report, released Aug 5, scores all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on six factors: availability, low-priced plan availability, fiber coverage, download speed, upload speed and latency.

• New Jersey ranked first for the second straight year, followed by Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
• Alaska finished last. Just 0.1% of Alaska households can buy a plan the report counts as low-priced.
• The average state's median download speed rose 25% in a year to 133.7 Mbps.
• South Carolina fell 20 spots. Its median upload of 18.6 Mbps is below the FCC's 20 Mbps upload benchmark.
• More fiber didn't guarantee a better rank. Kansas and Hawaii each have fiber at 74.6% of households but sit in the bottom five.

Ookla: how fast is it for people already online?

Ookla evaluates the share of Speedtest users reaching 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload in each state. That is a measure of tested connections, while BroadbandNow also factors in whether households can buy service and find a low-priced plan.

Same state, different answer

BroadbandNow ranks Tennessee 33rd, North Dakota 26th and Utah 24th overall, even though their network-speed results tell only part of the story. North Dakota has the fastest state median upload in BroadbandNow’s study at 78.4 Mbps, while its 30.7-point affordability gap hurts the broader score. Illinois reaches BroadbandNow’s top 10 despite a smaller fiber footprint. These examples show why a speed-only comparison and a wider access-and-price scorecard can disagree.

What it means for your address

State rankings are averages. What matters is what's wired to your street and what it costs after promo pricing ends. In rural areas, satellite is often part of the answer; see whether satellite internet is good in 2026 and Starlink myths vs reality.