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About two-thirds of U.S. counties have a below-average number of local journalists, per an ambitious new project aiming to illustrate "the stunning collapse in local reporting" as old business models falter and newsrooms scramble for sustainability.
Why it matters: Many American neighborhoods lack adequate news coverage for everything from school board meetings and elections to local sports and cultural events.
Driving the news: The U.S. now has 8.2 "local journalist equivalents" (LJEs) for every 100,000 people, down 75% from 2002 on average.
- That's according to the Local Journalist Index 2025 from Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News, a local journalism nonprofit.
How it works: The findings are based on Muck Rack's data about journalists and media outlets nationwide as of Q1 2025, used to show reporters "most likely covering local communities."
- Among other steps, the authors adjusted the number of overall journalists in each county to account for part-timers, plus those who work for big-city outlets but sometimes cover suburban affairs.
- The result is the "local journalist equivalent" — a metric similar to "full-time equivalent," which accounts for part-time employees when measuring the size of a workforce. (Read more about the methodology.)
Zoom in: While newsrooms in shrinking towns are certainly hurting, even some growing areas have a below-average number of local journalists.
- "For example, Fort Bend County, a suburb of Houston, and Washington County, a suburb of Portland, Oregon — both areas with rapidly growing populations — have about five LJEs per 100,000 people," per the report.
Between the lines: This isn't a purely rural phenomenon, either.
- "If you're in a big city like Los Angeles, which has a mere 3.6 LJEs per 100,000 people, your neighborhood might be covered if there's a serious crime but not much else," per the report.
- "You may get little reliable information on local candidates in many of L.A. County's cities, whether the schools in your neighborhood are improving, whether the hospital nearby has a bad mortality rate, or how inspiring people might be working to repair your playground."
The other side: The report highlights a few communities running against the trend — like Hooker County, Nebraska, where "one intrepid journalist, Gerri Peterson, covers her community so deeply that, in a county of 679 people, the Hooker County Tribune has 726 paying subscribers."
- Reality check: Although such work is admirable, not every community is so lucky as to have someone like Peterson.
What's next: "The gutting of federal funding for public broadcasters is expected to cause hundreds of local station groups to significantly scale back or shutter across the country," Axios' Sara Fischer reports.
