Number of local journalists continues to drop, leaving gaps in coverage of local civic issues

The latest "Local Journalism Index" study from Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News finds that local journalism capacity has continued to drop in 2026. Local journalism equivalents (LJEs) are down by 81 percent since 2002, and about 70 percent of counties in the United States have less than 7.8 LJEs per 100,000 residents, which leaves most Americans "in communities that are, by any reasonable measure, severely undercovered," a release about the report states. 

Other key findings of the report are: A severe lack of coverage of education, healthcare and other civic topics; more focus on crime and sports as newsrooms have shrunk; and higher rates of loneliness in states with fewer local journalists. Also, the report states that fewer local journalists means more direct financial harm to communities, and reporting gaps are linked to other civic gaps. 

"Looking at the state-level data, we see a similar picture: Adequate local news coverage is the exception, not the norm," the release states. "It is difficult to determine to what extent new outlets are filling in the gaps." 

The losses are spread across regions and population growth is not a factor. Two of the states with the fewest number of LJE's per 100,000 are growing in population size. The five states with the fewest LJE's per 100,000 are Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, Texas and Connecticut. The five states with the most LJE's per 100,000 are Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, South Dakota and Wyoming.