Local journalism has been around for as long as anyone can remember. As part of the technological world we live in, we are constantly evolving to the current trends, even if it means certain aspects of the time are left behind.

Unfortunately, local journalism is one aspect that falls victim to this new era.

Examining this issue beyond the surface reveals that it goes further than one specific domain, rather the industry as a whole.

Using data from Muck Rack, we can measure how each county and state compare in the number of Local Journalist Equivalents, or LJE.

Back in 2002, the US had an average of around 40 local journalists per 100,000 residents.

Today? That number is down to 8.2 LJE per 100,000.

Even with the sharp decline from 2002, the majority of Americans today live in an area that is below the current average of 8.2 LJE. This includes 217 million people across 2/3 of counties.

And this isn’t an issue of just rural and remote counties being short-staffed. While over 1,000 counties have less than one full-time local journalist, (which is alarming on its own), the rate per capita did not vary greatly across population sizes. There are also several counties bigger than 100,000 with less than one LJE. Hunterdon and Warren in New Jersey being two that fall under that criteria.

With the aforementioned average being 8.2 per 100,000, counties under 5000 had 7.4 per 100,000. Amazingly, counties with over 1 million residents had 6.1 per 100,000. Both of these being lower than the already-small national average.

Moreover, in cities and counties with huge populations a majority of them were short-changed on local journalists. Of the 48 counties with over 1 million residents, only 14 of them were above the national average. The Bronx in NYC for example, has only 2.9 LJE per 100,000. Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, Las Vegas, Queens, NY all fall below the national average.

Even in faster-growing countries and regions, the number of journalists is often still below average. Fort Bend Country, and Washington County, growing suburbs of Houston and Portland respectively, have less than 5 LJE per 100,000. Usually, a growing population would mean more readers and advertising revenue. Now, there is more news, but not enough resources to cover it all.

So what still works in today’s world? In Vermont, the state with the most LJE, has gone the nonprofit route, as well as less private equity control. In order to have a sustainable local economy, there needs to be more support and focus on providing a local ecosystem, with less focus on mainstream and popularity.