Which U.S. cities have the best 4G download speeds?
The United States is so large that 4G speeds across the nation vary substantially depending on where you’re testing, but it’s no surprise that 4G speeds across cities differ wildly, too. In a new test performed in 35 major metropolitan areas around the United States from July to September, Open Signal was able to determine that Minneapolis, Minnesota holds the crown for fastest 4G speeds in the US.
The average 4G download connection was measured at 21.5Mbps; that’s twice as fast as the LTE speeds of Las Vegas (11.65Mbps), which was the slowest among the cities tested. Open Signal notes that cities in the Midwest out-performed some of the larger cities, with Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis all clocking at the top of the charts. In fact, the only non-Midwest city to make the top five was Seattle, Washington. Here’s a quick peek.
35 US Cities Ranked By 4G Download Speed
- Minneapolis – 21.5Mbps
- Detroit – 20.77Mbps
- Seattle – 19.06Mbps
- Chicago – 18.19Mbps
- St. Louis – 18.08Mbps
- Boston – 18.02Mbps
- San Francisco – 18.02Mbps
- Atlanta – 17.94Mbps
- Philadelphia – 17.6Mbps
- Indianapolis – 17.49Mbps
- Pittsburgh – 17.16Mbps
- Portland – 16.91Mbps
- San Jose – 16.89Mbps
- San Diego – 16.68Mbps
- Miami – 16.58Mbps
- Sacramento – 16.57Mbps
- Kansas City – 16.44Mbps
- New York City – 16.68Mbps
- Cincinnati – 16.31Mbps
- Colombus – 16.13Mbps
- Los Angeles – 16.02Mbps
- Orlando – 15.91Mbps
- Tampa – 15.97Mbps
- Baltimore – 15.18Mbps
- Washington DC – 14.9Mbps
- Nashville – 14.63Mbps
- Phoenix – 14.21Mbps
- Riverside – 14.2Mbps
- Dallas – 14.13Mbps
- Houston – 13.89Mbps
- Austin – 13.43Mbps
- Charlotte – 13.28Mbps
- Denver – 13.27Mbps
- San Antonio – 12.42Mbps
- Las Vegas – 11.65Mbps
According to Open Signal, the national 4G download average is around 13.98Mbps, so 29 out of 35 cities on the list outperformed this standard. However, when compared to the global standard for 4G speeds, 21 out of the 35 cities were below the global download average of 16.6Mbps.