News deserts hit an all-time high, cutting off local information to nearly 50 million Americans

21 September 2026

The number of U.S. counties with limited access to local news challenges jumped to an all-time high this year, the latest data shows, confining tens of millions of residents with few sources to learn about issues shaping their communities or local leaders to be held accountable.

About 200 counties now have virtually no local news sources, according to the 2024 Medill State of Local News Report. That's up from 191 last year, and a threefold increase from twenty years ago. Over 50 million Americans have limited to no local news access, the report concluded.

Report author Andrew Schriner emphasized that the problem is particularly acute in predominantly rural counties, where civic information might be critical to access, but most of the local news startups have made their way to metro areas in the past five years.

Still, the rise in coverage gaps didn't emerge on every front. As 2024 closed, while local newspaper jobs shrunk and web traffic declined at major dailies, those facts coexist with a surge of innovative journalism startups in metro areas, the Medill report said.

Chief among the report's new warnings was that 250 counties had a greater than 40% chance of becoming news deserts in the next decade. These are places where no newspapers, ethnic media, public radio or digital-only news sources have roots, sometimes depriving residents their best avenues to information and their leaders the scrutiny they need to be held accountable.

Funding cuts to public broadcasting pose an exacerbating factor in the report's forecasts, since in many communities, locally run PBS stations fill the news vacuum left by newspaper print shop closings.

Some advocates warn that the precipitous decline in local reporting threatens the fabric of civic involvement as residents become awash in misinformation and uninformed about daily concerns. The Public Relations Society of America drew the connection, pointing to a formula in which "local journalism loss correlates to skepticism and uncertainty."

In simple accounting terms, the US has seen more than 25% of its local newspaper staff disappear in the past decade, with a 5% decline in just the past year. Altogether, 136 news outlets shuttered and nearly half of the nation's counties had little to no coverage.

With mounting evidence that the crisis continues to deepen, the report's authors assert that policy intervention, from tax cuts to regulatory support and funding for new entrants, may become essential to stanching the onset of coverage gaps, while offering some concrete suggestions:

Schriner and his team emphasize that nonprofits and models advancing news startups in high-risk rural areas shouldn't be denied project funds for their efforts. At some point, it becomes clear that certain investments might be made to revitalize local news, so "to be frank, this is an ideal way to do it."

Additionally, cities facing threats to local news vitality would get immense benefit from a municipal champion for investment, a point person to reach out to venture capitalists, nonprofits and federal agencies with proposals, the report added.

The report's sobering closing note was that hundreds of counties remain at "substantial risk" of becoming news deserts in the coming years, putting millions in potential danger of being left adrift, with no reliable way to learn what's remodeling their world, or to hold politicians accountable.