How Bad Are Illinois And Iowa Roads Actually?
We live in the land of potholes.
We've all done it. You're driving along and bam a pothole that wasn't on your radar has now given your rear wheels early alignment.
And while these potholes make you curse their existence, it's actually not as bad of a problem as you think in Iowa and Illinois.
Where The Problem Roads Are
Argue the point all you want, but sets of statistics from this year show that Iowa roads especially aren't that bad.
Consumer Affairs show that 17.3% of Iowa's urban roads are in poor condition. 5.5% of rural roads aren't very good and for traffic fatalities, per 100M miles traveled, it's 1.03. The national rank in states with the worst roads is 42nd.
Meanwhile, Illinois doesn't have such luck.
Stats from Construction Coverage show that Illinois ranks 15th worst roads in America. Consumer Affairs doesn't rank them that much different, at number 19.
In Illinois, 36.9% of urban roads are in poor condition, while 7.9% of rural roads are in bad shape.
We fight potholes all the time in the Midwest and Wisconsin proves that in the statistics. They ranked 8th for worst roads, with nearly half of the state's urban roads in poor condition. Missouri (whatever region you consider it) ranks 6th and South Dakota ranks 14th.
But the Midwest also has some of the best roads in America according to the 2025 stats. The best roads in the country, evidently, are found in Indiana.
The states with the worst roads are Rhode Island and New Mexico.