Download the FHWA NBI extracts behind PlainBridges: national-bridge-statistics.csv · high-traffic-poor-bridges.csv. National reference on statistics.

National ranking · FHWA NBI

US bridge condition rankings

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, every state is ranked by Poor-condition and Good-condition share.

IA
Highest Poor rate
19.2%
Iowa Poor
NV
Lowest Poor rate
52
States ranked

What the national ranking shows

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Iowa reports the highest Poor share among 52 jurisdictions with more than 50 bridges, at 19.16% (#1 of 52 by share, inventory #7); that is not the largest inventory. Texas holds the largest inventory at 56,729 bridges (#1 of 52 by count) at a 1.23% Poor share (share #50). This is a complete ranked set of 52 states and territories with more than 50 bridges; Nevada sits at #52 with 1.1% Poor, the lower boundary of this full list, not a shortlist cutoff.

19.16%
Iowa has the highest Poor-condition share
7.00%
Average across 52 ranked states and territories
2.7×
Leader's rate relative to that state-rate average
1.14%
#52 Nevada - bottom of this complete list

The ranking covers the 52 states and territories with more than 50 bridges on file, whose Poor shares average 7.0% (an average of state rates, not the inventory-wide share); Nevada reports the lowest at 1.1%. A bridge counts as Poor when its weakest applicable component scores 4 or below on the inspecting agency's 0-9 scale, which is a maintenance and funding signal rather than a closure order.

Who owns the national inventory

Exclusive FHWA owner-agency bands across all 623,216 public highway bridges, orthogonal to the Poor-share ranking above. Agency of record, not a condition verdict.

Inventory: FHWA NBI 2024 · last ETL August 2026

Top 10 states by Poor-condition rate

Share of each state's inventory whose lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below (states with more than 50 bridges)

  1. 1
    Iowa 19.2%
    4,544 of 23,719 bridges
  2. 2
    West Virginia 18.6%
    1,370 of 7,348 bridges
  3. 3
    South Dakota 16.4%
    963 of 5,887 bridges
  4. 4
    Maine 15.4%
    388 of 2,518 bridges
  5. 5
    Rhode Island 15.2%
    119 of 783 bridges
  6. 6
    Puerto Rico 13.9%
    332 of 2,385 bridges
  7. 7
    Pennsylvania 12.6%
    2,932 of 23,299 bridges
  8. 8
    Louisiana 11.5%
    1,458 of 12,698 bridges
  9. 9
    Michigan 11.3%
    1,281 of 11,371 bridges
  10. 10
    North Dakota 11.0%
    467 of 4,255 bridges

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory · 2024 NBI release

The bar to make the top 10: 10.98% Poor

Where the top-10 cutoff sits among all 52 ranked states by Poor-condition rate

11% Higher than most lower Poor-share than 17% of 52 states

Ranked states, banded by Poor-condition rate

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory · 2024 NBI release

The two leaderboards below rank every U.S. state with more than 50 bridges in the Federal Highway Administration's National Bridge Inventory (NBI) from two angles: the 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 in Poor condition when its lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the FHWA 0–9 scale. “Structurally deficient” is a retired federal reporting term that remains common in older reports and search queries; FHWA eliminated that status beginning with the 2018 archive. Neither label is a live unsafe-to-cross or closure decision. See our explainer for the terminology and source limits. This table reports the measured 2024 pattern without assigning causes that the NBI fields do not establish.

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.

Poor-Condition Share

Percentage of bridge records whose lowest applicable major-component rating is 4 or below.

# State Poor % Poor Count Total
1 Iowa
19.16%
4,544 23,719
2 West Virginia
18.64%
1,370 7,348
3 South Dakota
16.36%
963 5,887
4 Maine
15.41%
388 2,518
5 Rhode Island
15.20%
119 783
6 Puerto Rico
13.92%
332 2,385
7 Pennsylvania
12.58%
2,932 23,299
8 Louisiana
11.48%
1,458 12,698
9 Michigan
11.27%
1,281 11,371
10 North Dakota
10.98%
467 4,255
11 New York
9.43%
1,664 17,642
12 Illinois
9.35%
2,517 26,928
13 Missouri
8.95%
2,203 24,618
14 Massachusetts
8.88%
470 5,295
15 Nebraska
7.90%
1,217 15,398
16 Alaska
7.89%
133 1,685
17 Oklahoma
7.70%
1,764 22,917
18 New Hampshire
7.51%
191 2,542
19 Kentucky
7.37%
1,072 14,548
20 Montana
6.81%
356 5,224
21 North Carolina
6.76%
1,298 19,210
22 Hawaii
6.53%
78 1,195
23 Wisconsin
6.52%
942 14,446
24 Wyoming
6.51%
204 3,136
25 South Carolina
6.17%
586 9,490
26 Mississippi
6.03%
1,009 16,739
27 New Jersey
6.01%
410 6,827
28 California
5.91%
1,527 25,848
29 Washington
5.45%
462 8,474
30 Arkansas
5.43%
704 12,974
31 Kansas
5.26%
1,310 24,894
32 Indiana
5.22%
1,018 19,495
33 Idaho
4.90%
226 4,616
34 Colorado
4.82%
432 8,965
35 Ohio
4.74%
1,267 26,729
36 Connecticut
4.72%
206 4,365
37 Oregon
4.61%
383 8,305
38 Maryland
4.56%
250 5,484
39 New Mexico
4.51%
182 4,035
40 Minnesota
4.44%
601 13,532
41 Tennessee
4.41%
898 20,379
42 Virginia
3.39%
478 14,120
43 Alabama
3.35%
543 16,205
44 Utah
2.91%
91 3,125
45 Vermont
2.90%
83 2,862
46 Florida
2.79%
364 13,036
47 District of Columbia
1.95%
5 257
48 Georgia
1.59%
240 15,069
49 Delaware
1.26%
11 872
50 Texas
1.23%
695 56,729
51 Arizona
1.15%
99 8,573
52 Nevada
1.14%
24 2,099

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
74.8%
11,278 15,069
2 Arizona
63.5%
5,440 8,573
3 Ohio
61.0%
16,319 26,729
4 Florida
59.5%
7,763 13,036
5 Nevada
58.3%
1,223 2,099
6 Minnesota
56.7%
7,667 13,532
7 Mississippi
55.1%
9,228 16,739
8 Nebraska
52.9%
8,149 15,398
9 Kansas
52.5%
13,060 24,894
10 Vermont
52.1%
1,491 2,862
11 New Hampshire
51.6%
1,312 2,542
12 Texas
51.4%
29,129 56,729
13 Wisconsin
51.0%
7,368 14,446
14 Washington
50.1%
4,246 8,474
15 Arkansas
45.8%
5,940 12,974
16 Illinois
45.6%
12,289 26,928
17 California
45.6%
11,798 25,848
18 Alaska
45.6%
768 1,685
19 North Carolina
43.8%
8,421 19,210
20 Tennessee
42.5%
8,664 20,379
21 North Dakota
42.3%
1,800 4,255
22 Indiana
42.2%
8,224 19,495
23 Oklahoma
42.0%
9,620 22,917
24 Delaware
40.5%
353 872
25 South Carolina
38.9%
3,690 9,490
26 Iowa
38.8%
9,213 23,719
27 Louisiana
38.7%
4,919 12,698
28 Missouri
37.6%
9,263 24,618
29 Hawaii
37.2%
445 1,195
30 Alabama
37.0%
5,993 16,205
31 Colorado
35.7%
3,197 8,965
32 New York
35.4%
6,247 17,642
33 New Mexico
35.0%
1,414 4,035
34 District of Columbia
34.6%
89 257
35 Pennsylvania
34.0%
7,915 23,299
36 South Dakota
33.8%
1,992 5,887
37 Michigan
33.7%
3,836 11,371
38 Oregon
33.3%
2,766 8,305
39 Virginia
33.0%
4,660 14,120
40 Maryland
32.3%
1,771 5,484
41 Montana
31.5%
1,646 5,224
42 Wyoming
30.1%
943 3,136
43 Idaho
29.5%
1,363 4,616
44 Connecticut
27.8%
1,213 4,365
45 Kentucky
26.6%
3,866 14,548
46 New Jersey
25.4%
1,731 6,827
47 West Virginia
25.2%
1,855 7,348
48 Massachusetts
25.1%
1,331 5,295
49 Maine
24.9%
626 2,518
50 Rhode Island
22.9%
179 783
51 Utah
22.2%
693 3,125
52 Puerto Rico
17.9%
428 2,385

Note: Rankings include states with more than 50 bridges. A bridge is in Poor condition when its lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 scale. The Good-condition ranking requires the lowest applicable rating to be 7 or above. Source: FHWA NBI.

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory (NBI) State-level NBI aggregates - Poor-condition and Good-condition shares by state · 2024 FHWA NBI updated annually with state DOT inspection data. Rankings exclude states with fewer than 50 bridges to avoid small-sample artifacts.

What to do with this

Use the Poor-share board to pick a state, then open its inventory.

  • Iowa reports the highest Poor share on this board; open its state profile next. Iowa profile
  • Compare any two states on the same NBI condition measures. State compare
  • Look up a specific structure by NBI identity or feature carried. Bridge lookup

Rankings cover jurisdictions with more than 50 bridges. Poor condition is an inventory category, not a live crossing-safety verdict.

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. State Poor and Good shares on this page are computed from the same NBI extract shown in the tables; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2024 NBI release. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.