Technology

Fixed broadband speeds are getting faster — what’s fastest in your city?

Comcast’s Xfinity is the fastest ISP nationwide, CenturyLink the slowest.

Sep 7, 2017, 12:00 PM UTC

Rani Molla was a senior correspondent at Vox and has been focusing her reporting on the future of work. She has covered business and technology for more than a decade — often in charts — including at Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

Fixed broadband speeds are getting faster, thanks to infrastructure upgrades that are allowing internet service providers to offer faster and cheaper packages.

The average U.S. fixed broadband download speed was 64.17 Mbps (15th in the world) in the first half of 2017, while the average upload speed was 22.79 Mbps (24th in the world), according to data released today from internet speed test company Ookla. That’s up from a 54.97 Mbps download speed and an upload speed of 18.88 Mbps last year.

For this report, Ookla measured internet speeds from 111 million tests initiated by 26 million unique users.

Of the ISPs, Comcast’s Xfinity had the fastest national Speed Score — a single metric that factors in low-end, median and top performance for upload and download rates across a carrier’s network — while CenturyLink had the slowest.

Broadband speeds are getting more important as internet connectivity becomes more integral to daily life and to the overall economy. Web giants like Google and Facebook as well as media companies like Netflix and Hulu rely on fast internet speeds to do business.

The Ookla report also looked for the fastest internet providers in 100 U.S. cities.

City’s where fiber internet connections are available, like Google Fiber in Charlotte and Atlanta, have the fastest average download and upload speeds.

City broadband speeds and fastest ISP providers

City, state	Average city download speed (Mbps)	Average city upload speed (Mbps)	Fastest ISP	Fastest ISP Speed Score*
Charlotte, NC	102.53	59.02	Google Fiber	224
Atlanta, GA	94.08	49.61	Google Fiber	220.7
Detroit, MI	60.09	28.23	Rocket Fiber	217.6
Durham, NC	82.83	27.87	AT&T Internet	209.4
San Francisco, CA	104.53	41.8	Sonic	208.5
Austin, TX	115.54	62.36	Google Fiber	199.9
Seattle, WA	92.61	49.57	Wave G	195
Raleigh, NC	87.13	34.59	Google Fiber	192
Kansas City, MO	131.39	117.44	Google Fiber	170.1
Oakland, CA	66.95	21.07	Webpass	149.1
Greensboro, NC	86.53	32.48	North State	139.3
Indianapolis, IN	58.87	18.58	MetroNet	126.5
Miami, FL	66	33.1	Webpass	124.4
Lincoln, NE	53.71	24.15	Allo	117.1
Irvine, CA	89.38	34.66	AT&T Internet	114.3
Winston-Salem, NC	89.12	38.06	AT&T Internet	109.7
New York, NY	83.67	40.55	RCN	101.5
Aurora, CO	85.04	14.99	Xfinity	91.8
Minneapolis, MN	65.51	46.22	US Internet	87.7
Colorado Springs, CO	70.09	10.25	Xfinity	86.9
Washington, DC	78.83	31.91	RCN	84.7
Albuquerque, NM	67.75	9.96	Xfinity	83.1
Plano, TX	69.99	37.04	AT&T Internet	82.5
Nashville, TN	88.91	38.98	AT&T Internet	81.9
Chicago, IL	67.26	22.98	RCN	81.7
Lubbock, TX	92.42	18.77	Suddenlink	81.6
Scottsdale, AZ	85.92	42.49	Cox	80.5
Denver, CO	70.39	22.32	Xfinity	79.7
Houston, TX	71.94	23.81	Suddenlink	78.9
Boston, MA	82.26	22.99	Xfinity	77.8
Irving, TX	76.84	33.33	AT&T Internet	77.8
Garland, TX	72.29	28.57	Spectrum	76.2
Portland, OR	75.41	24.11	Xfinity	76.2
Chesapeake, VA	76.43	45.22	Verizon Fios	75.9
Virginia Beach, VA	72.66	39.15	Verizon Fios	75.6
Anchorage, AK	69.76	13.64	GCI	74.7
North Las Vegas, NV	81.88	14.72	Cox	74.6
Henderson, NV	82.34	15.96	Cox	74.2
Corpus Christi, TX	62.18	11.14	Grande Communications	74.1
Los Angeles, CA	73.29	16.41	Spectrum	73.7
Anaheim, CA	69.68	17.19	Spectrum	73.5
Baltimore, MD	66.68	9.86	Xfinity	73.5
Sacramento, CA	65.63	17.13	Xfinity	73.5
Stockton, CA	67.63	12.4	Xfinity	73.5
San Antonio, TX	82.13	31.49	Spectrum	73.1
Dallas, TX	81.22	39.66	AT&T Internet	72.6
San Jose, CA	78.58	20.85	Xfinity	72.6
Boise, ID	55.31	8.09	Cable ONE	72.5
Jersey City, NJ	84.64	53.46	Xfinity	72.4
St Paul, MN	58.29	22.14	Xfinity	71.7
Arlington, TX	64.57	15.4	Spectrum	71
Chula Vista, CA	74.72	27.92	Cox	71
Philadelphia, PA	78.71	40.78	Xfinity	70.8
Las Vegas, NV	80.32	17.98	Cox	70.7
Orlando, FL	66.96	29.72	Spectrum	70.7
Pittsburgh, PA	68.49	37.85	Xfinity	70.7
Chandler, AZ	78.6	26.8	Cox	70.3
Newark, NJ	73.08	46.79	Verizon Fios	69.9
Phoenix, AZ	69.56	24.43	Cox	69.7
Gilbert, AZ	73.8	15.89	Cox	69.5
Oklahoma City, OK	78.4	19.78	Cox	68.6
Fresno, CA	60.89	10.12	Xfinity	68.3
Honolulu, HI	70.03	17.48	Spectrum	67.8
Richmond, VA	73.87	45	Verizon Fios	67.8
Fremont, CA	66.87	13.55	Xfinity	66.3
Lexington, KY	65.66	14.23	Spectrum	65.8
San Diego, CA	66.97	20.73	Cox	65.1
Louisville, KY	71.03	24.42	Spectrum	65
Mesa, AZ	66	13.74	Cox	64.9
Santa Ana, CA	63.2	12.29	Spectrum	64.6
Bakersfield, CA	66.62	14.83	Spectrum	64.3
San Bernardino, CA	69.96	17.43	Spectrum	63.6
Tucson, AZ	53.31	8.69	Cox	62.3
Glendale, AZ	53.93	12.79	Cox	61.9
Fort Worth, TX	63.2	28.54	Frontier	61.5
Tulsa, OK	62.12	13.85	Cox	61
St. Louis, MO	71.16	27.36	AT&T Internet	60.6
Baton Rouge, LA	61.34	19.11	Cox	60.5
Norfolk, VA	63.27	13.28	Cox	60.4
New Orleans, LA	59.75	12.82	Cox	59.1
Jacksonville, FL	64.81	17.29	AT&T Internet	58.8
Hialeah, FL	52.84	18.6	AT&T Internet	57.7
Tampa, FL	61.24	32.36	Spectrum	57.5
Riverside, CA	53.69	12.67	Spectrum	57.4
Long Beach, CA	55.51	32.55	Spectrum	54.3
Fort Wayne, IN	42.87	25.84	Xfinity	54.1
Omaha, NE	57.82	17.78	Cox	54
Wichita, KS	57.49	11.24	Cox	53.6
Reno, NV	48.37	7.65	Spectrum	53.1
St. Petersburg, FL	62.02	17.33	Spectrum	51.2
Columbus, OH	47.98	9.28	WOW!	46.4
Madison, WI	45.7	10.96	Spectrum	41.1
Cincinnati, OH	42.84	14.58	Spectrum	38.7
Memphis, TN	40.2	12.99	Xfinity	37.4
Laredo, TX	26.89	4.5	Spectrum	35.1
Cleveland, OH	40.16	11.69	Spectrum	35
El Paso, TX	37.83	10.92	Spectrum	34.6
Milwaukee, WI	35.77	9.27	Spectrum	31.9
Toledo, OH	31.85	6.72	Buckeye CableSystem	31
Buffalo, NY	32.56	9.48	Spectrum	30.6