National ranking · FHWA NBI

US bridge condition rankings

Every state ranked by structurally deficient and poor-condition rate, drawn from the same federal inspection records — so you can see where bridge repair needs concentrate.

IA
Highest SD rate
20.0%
Iowa deficient
NV
Lowest SD rate
53
States ranked
20.01%
Highest state rate — Iowa, 4,153 deficient bridges
6.57%
Average across the 53 ranked states
3.0×
Iowa's deficiency rate is 3.0× the 53-state average

Top 10 states by structurally deficient rate

Share of each state's inventory the FHWA flags structurally deficient (states with 50+ bridges)

% structurally deficient

What this shows Iowa leads at 20.01% structurally deficient. Older Northeastern and Appalachian inventories cluster at the top; newer Sun Belt and mountain-west stock sits well below.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory As of 2024 NBI release

The two leaderboards below rank every U.S. state with at least 50 bridges in the Federal Highway Administration's National Bridge Inventory (NBI) from two angles: the structurally deficient (poor condition) rate on the left, and the best overall condition rate on the right. Reading them side by side shows both where the repair backlog concentrates and which states keep the largest share of their bridges in good shape.

A bridge is classified as structurally deficient (the term FHWA now reports as poor condition) when at least one of its primary load-carrying elements (deck, superstructure, or substructure) is rated 4 or below on the FHWA 0–9 scale. It is a repair-priority flag used to allocate Highway Bridge Program funding under MAP-21 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, not an unsafe-to-cross flag. See our explainer for the full definition. Older industrial and Farm Belt states (Iowa, Pennsylvania, West Virginia) tend to rank highest because their bridge stock skews old, with average build years that predate the modern federal inspection regime. Sun Belt and mountain-west states (Nevada, Arizona, Texas) sit lower because their highway bridges are mostly post-1980 reinforced-concrete spans built to higher seismic and corrosion-resistance standards.

We exclude states with fewer than 50 bridges to avoid small-sample artifacts where a single replacement project can swing the percentage by 5+ points. The District of Columbia and U.S. territories that report into NBI are included. Counts and percentages reflect the most recent annual NBI release.

Structurally Deficient Rate

Percentage of bridges rated structurally deficient (SD). These bridges need repair or replacement.

# State SD % SD Count Total
1 Iowa 20.01% 4,153 20,753
2 South Dakota 16.24% 959 5,905
3 West Virginia 16.02% 1,230 7,679
4 Guam 15.25% 9 59
5 Maine 13.23% 102 771
6 Puerto Rico 11.98% 286 2,387
7 Louisiana 11.00% 1,397 12,699
8 North Dakota 10.84% 460 4,242
9 Pennsylvania 10.50% 1,561 14,867
10 Alaska 10.12% 92 909
11 Michigan 8.92% 106 1,188
12 Missouri 8.53% 2,104 24,654
13 Massachusetts 7.96% 423 5,314
14 Illinois 7.88% 2,186 27,743
15 Nebraska 7.73% 1,204 15,571
16 Rhode Island 7.69% 6 78
17 New Mexico 7.61% 28 368
18 Oklahoma 7.50% 1,705 22,733
19 New Hampshire 7.08% 180 2,542
20 Kentucky 7.06% 1,027 14,554
21 New York 6.90% 1,320 19,132
22 Montana 6.70% 343 5,122
23 Hawaii 6.47% 78 1,206
24 North Carolina 6.16% 1,165 18,901
25 Wisconsin 6.13% 911 14,851
26 South Carolina 6.10% 329 5,396
27 Mississippi 5.92% 996 16,823
28 Idaho 5.51% 96 1,742
29 Wyoming 5.41% 172 3,181
30 Kansas 5.25% 1,253 23,867
31 Indiana 4.94% 920 18,630
32 Washington 4.81% 424 8,808
33 Arkansas 4.71% 261 5,544
34 California 4.60% 1,244 27,040
35 New Jersey 4.59% 312 6,796
36 Ohio 4.54% 1,214 26,753
37 Oregon 4.46% 371 8,310
38 Colorado 4.32% 387 8,965
39 Maryland 4.27% 236 5,527
40 Tennessee 3.97% 811 20,426
41 Connecticut 3.95% 169 4,277
42 Minnesota 3.63% 435 11,969
43 Alabama 3.35% 451 13,471
44 Virginia 3.03% 428 14,122
45 Florida 2.75% 355 12,892
46 Vermont 2.62% 77 2,936
47 Utah 2.43% 76 3,126
48 Georgia 1.49% 226 15,216
49 Arizona 1.44% 81 5,640
50 District of Columbia 1.26% 2 159
51 Delaware 1.25% 11 878
52 Texas 1.13% 642 56,740
53 Nevada 1.07% 23 2,152

Best Overall Condition

States with the highest share of bridges rated in good condition (every major element 7 or above on the 0–9 scale).

# State Good % Good Count Total
1 Georgia 63.0% 9,580 15,216
2 Arizona 55.8% 3,148 5,640
3 Minnesota 55.0% 6,580 11,969
4 Mississippi 52.3% 8,797 16,823
5 Ohio 50.3% 13,446 26,753
6 Kansas 50.2% 11,979 23,867
7 Nebraska 50.1% 7,807 15,571
8 Vermont 48.0% 1,409 2,936
9 Nevada 46.1% 992 2,152
10 New Hampshire 43.0% 1,092 2,542
11 Washington 42.4% 3,734 8,808
12 Alaska 42.0% 382 909
13 Texas 41.9% 23,781 56,740
14 Arkansas 41.8% 2,317 5,544
15 Wisconsin 41.3% 6,130 14,851
16 Illinois 41.2% 11,426 27,743
17 North Dakota 39.7% 1,685 4,242
18 Florida 38.8% 5,007 12,892
19 Oklahoma 38.2% 8,693 22,733
20 Tennessee 38.0% 7,762 20,426
21 Pennsylvania 37.4% 5,564 14,867
22 Guam 37.3% 22 59
23 Hawaii 37.0% 446 1,206
24 Iowa 36.5% 7,582 20,753
25 Louisiana 36.2% 4,603 12,699
26 Indiana 36.1% 6,733 18,630
27 North Carolina 35.8% 6,773 18,901
28 Alabama 35.0% 4,721 13,471
29 South Carolina 34.8% 1,876 5,396
30 Missouri 34.5% 8,506 24,654
31 New Mexico 34.2% 126 368
32 Idaho 33.3% 580 1,742
33 California 32.5% 8,777 27,040
34 Colorado 32.0% 2,865 8,965
35 South Dakota 31.9% 1,885 5,905
36 Oregon 31.5% 2,621 8,310
37 Delaware 29.5% 259 878
38 Virginia 28.4% 4,016 14,122
39 Michigan 28.4% 337 1,188
40 Montana 28.3% 1,447 5,122
41 Rhode Island 28.2% 22 78
42 New York 26.5% 5,061 19,132
43 Wyoming 26.2% 833 3,181
44 Maryland 25.9% 1,432 5,527
45 Massachusetts 24.9% 1,323 5,314
46 Connecticut 24.0% 1,025 4,277
47 Kentucky 23.9% 3,472 14,554
48 Maine 22.4% 173 771
49 West Virginia 22.4% 1,717 7,679
50 New Jersey 17.1% 1,159 6,796
51 Utah 16.7% 521 3,126
52 District of Columbia 15.1% 24 159
53 Puerto Rico 14.1% 336 2,387

Note: Rankings include states with 50+ bridges. A bridge counts as structurally deficient (poor condition) when at least one key element (deck, superstructure, or substructure) is rated 4 or below on the 0–9 scale — the same criterion FHWA uses to report bridges in poor condition. The best-condition ranking counts bridges with every key element rated 7 or above. Source: FHWA NBI.

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory (NBI) State-level NBI aggregates — % structurally deficient + % poor by state · 2026 FHWA NBI updated annually with state DOT inspection data. Rankings exclude states with fewer than 50 bridges to avoid small-sample artifacts.