America’s infrastructure, long the butt of jokes and the subject of political wrangling that seemed to go nowhere, has just received its best grade ever in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ annual Infrastructure Report Card.
Unfortunately, that grade is still just a C.
That mediocre grade comes despite trillions of dollars thrown at America’s roads, bridges, ports and airports in the past few years, plus wide-ranging efforts in many states to establish a roster of “shovel ready” sites to attract business. Decades of neglect does not simply vanish overnight. And in some states, listed below, they have barely made a dent in their infrastructure problems.
Infrastructure is one of the most important aspects of a state’s competitiveness, according to CNBC’s 2025 America’s Top States for Business study. It is the second most cited selling point in state economic development marketing pitches, after the purported strength of the state’s economy.
To measure how the states are delivering on their infrastructure pitches, the CNBC study considers the condition of roads, bridges and water systems, and the reliability of the power grid. We also evaluate ports, airports, and rail lines. We measure broadband connectivity and computing power, the availability of shovel ready sites for development, sustainability, and — because so many states tout their central location — the population within 500 miles.
Under this year’s methodology, the Infrastructure category is worth 16.2% of a state’s overall competitiveness score.
In these ten states, infrastructure remains among the nation’s weakest.
Click here to see the Top 10 List and read the full article: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/worst-infrastructure-americas-top-states-for-business.html