Local news statistics.

Published by NewsUSA · Updated November 6, 2026

These figures come from the research organizations that publish them: Northwestern University's Medill Local News Initiative, Pew Research Center, Gallup and the Reuters Institute. Each line links to its source, and the sources box at the end gives the date each page was read. When you quote a number, cite the original source. This page is published by NewsUSA, which places feature stories on US news sites.

Newspapers

• More than 5,400 newspapers remain in the US. The same database also counts close to 700 stand-alone digital sites, more than 850 network-operated digital sites, more than 650 ethnic and foreign-language organizations and more than 340 public broadcasters. (Medill, 2025)
• Close to 3,500 newspapers have vanished since 2005, "leaving one in every four Americans with limited access to a local print newspaper." (Medill, 2025)
• 148 newspapers vanished in the past year through closures or mergers, "a little more than two each week." Medill also reports that more than 130 papers shut down in the past year. (Medill, 2025)
• 1.6 newspapers for every 100,000 Americans today, down from 3 in 2005. (Medill, 2025)

News deserts

• 212 counties have no local news source, up from 206 a year earlier. (Medill, 2025)
• 1,525 more counties have only one local news source, "typically a weekly newspaper." (Medill, 2025)
• One in seven Americans, almost 50 million people, "live with limited or no access to local news." (Medill, 2025)

Digital-only local news

• 695 stand-alone digital news outlets, up from 662 a year earlier. (Medill, 2025)
• 853 sites run across 52 different networks. (Medill, 2025)
• Less than 10% of digital-only news outlets are in counties the USDA designates as rural. (Medill, 2025)
• 42% of US adults get local news at least sometimes from other online-only sources, meaning sources that publish only online and are not in Pew's other categories, up from 15% in 2018. (Pew Research Center, 2026)

Newspaper jobs

• 91,550 people worked across all occupations in the newspaper industry in 2024 (Bureau of Labor Statistics data), 7% fewer than in 2023. (Medill, 2025)
• More than 270,000 newspaper jobs have vanished since 2005, "a loss of more than 75%." (Medill, 2025)

Trust

• 71% of Americans say their local news organizations do well at reporting news accurately, and 68% say they cover the most important stories. (Pew Research Center, 2024)
• Of the news brands the Reuters Institute asks about, local ones are trusted most: "The most trusted news brands continue to be local television outlets and regional or local newspapers." (Reuters Institute, 2026)
• 25% of Americans trust news overall, down 5 points and the lowest since the survey began tracking US trust in 2015. (Reuters Institute, 2026)
• 33% of US adults have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of confidence in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly, up from 28% a year earlier. Gallup and the Reuters Institute ask different questions, so their figures are not one series. (Gallup, 2026)

How Americans get local news

• 34% prefer television for local news, down from 41% in 2018. 28% prefer a news website or app, 20% social media, 8% a print newspaper and 8% radio. (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• 68% of people who get news from a local daily newspaper get it mainly online, up from 43% in 2018. 30% mainly read the print edition. (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• 21% of Americans follow local news very closely, down from 37% in 2016. (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• 52% get local news at least sometimes from online forums or discussion groups, up from 38% in 2018. (Pew Research Center, 2026)

Paying for local news

• 12% paid or gave money to a local news source in the past year. 88% did not. (Pew Research Center, 2026)
• 50% of those who did not pay say the main reason is that they can find plenty of local news for free. 29% are not interested enough, and 10% say it is too expensive. (Pew Research Center, 2026)

What this means for a company's story

Local audiences are spread across television, websites, social media and print, so no single outlet reaches everyone. Most people who read a local daily newspaper now read it online. And local television and newspapers are the most trusted of the news brands the Reuters Institute asks about in the US.

For how a company's story gets onto local news sites, see how to get your brand on local news sites.

How to cite this page

Cite the original source for each figure; the links above go to it. To cite this collection: NewsUSA, "Local news statistics," trynewsusa.com/local-news-statistics, updated November 6, 2026.

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