State By State: The Fastest And Slowest US Internet

Maryland has the fastest average internet speed and Alaska the slowest, according to a new analysis of internet speeds in the 50 states done by PCMag.com using data from Ookla Speedtest (which is owned by PCMag’s parent company, Ziff Davis).

- Sascha Segan

Overall, the fastest internet is found in densely populated Eastern states: Maryland. New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island were the top five.

What they all have in common in our data-backed analysis is broad availability of cable or fiber internet: Comcast cable in Maryland; Comcast, Verizon, and Optimum in New Jersey; and Comcast, Cox and Optimum in Connecticut, for instance. While these states have rural areas, such as northeast Connecticut and western Maryland, the rural areas are close enough to other populated areas that internet providers are still able to run lines into smaller towns.

New York, California and Texas all rated highly, balancing those large states’ high-tech cities with their lower-speed rural regions.