Here are three headlines from the latest study of the number of journalists serving communities across the country. They come from the 2026 Local Journalism Index compiled by Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News. (Acknowledgement: I serve on Rebuild’s advisory board but was not involved with this study.)
*The number of local journalists in the United States per 100,000 residents has declined from an average of 40 per 100,000 in 2002 to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2026. The 7.8 figure also signifies a decline from 8.2 local journalists per 100,000 in 2025. (You can read about their methodology here.)
*About 70% of U.S. counties are below the national average. That translates into an estimated 209 million Americans.
*This year’s survey, which Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News conducted in the first quarter of 2026, showed significant gaps in coverage of local issues. In 77% of counties, there was no mention of a local community in education articles. Similarly, no local health coverage was found in 76% of counties. What’s more, 82% of counties had no local transportation coverage.
Think how just those three subjects — education, health care, and transportation — affect our lives. The decisions that local school boards make. The breadth of access to doctors, clinics, and hospitals, and the quality of such care. The latest traffic reports and information about transportation construction. Each is essential knowledge for citizens and their wellbeing. The lack of reporting about them impacts our daily lives.
The Bush Institute’s recent video interview with George Washington University professor Danny Hayes likewise underscores the personal cost of the decline in local journalism. His research explores the connection between loneliness and news deserts.
“One of the most striking findings in the paper I think is that we find that this connection between the local news environment and loneliness is strongest in states as they become more rural,” Hayes says. “And the logic of that is that in rural communities, local news plays a more important role in holding the community together.”
The importance of local journalism to citizens, communities, and ultimately our democracy is why the Bush Institute has been publishing case studies on how local newsrooms empower citizens. We’ve been examining how both for-profit and non-profit models sustain themselves.
One strategy some local for-profit newspapers have employed is attracting philanthropic support for particular reporting areas. The Dallas Morning News, for example, created an Education Lab with support from local foundations and supporters. The News contains editorial control, citizens receive regular reporting about education from pre-K through college in the nation’s ninth-largest city, and foundations strengthen the civic health of their community.
Similarly, the Seattle Times uses philanthropic dollars to underwrite coverage aimed at curbing transportation gridlock. The newspaper also receives foundation support for reporting on mental health issues, along with other topics.
After listening to citizens, the nonprofit Fort Worth Report made local education reporting one of its top priorities. Chalkbeat, another nonprofit operation, specializes in education reporting in New York City, Chicago, Newark, Detroit and several more communities and states. These focused newsrooms underscore that not every news organization needs to cover the waterfront.
Elsewhere, some states are adopting or debating policies aimed at bolstering local journalism. Among the concepts is using tax credits to bolster subscriptions and offering small businesses tax credits for advertising in local papers.
The fact that the number of local journalists is declining, alongside “news deserts” emerging where communities have no local news source, is a problem for our democracy. Finding strategies that sustain the work of professional journalism, where reporters are trained to hear all sides of a topic, are steeped in knowledge about their beats, and help their communities address problems, ultimately strengthens our democracy.
