The US 5G wireless landscape is as... complicated as it is rapidly shifting these days, with AT&T's and especially Verizon's recent C-band deployments looking like the most serious threat faced by early speed leader T-Mobile since said lead became obvious in the wake of Magenta's costly Sprint acquisition.
Of course, C-band 5G, aka Verizon and AT&T's best answer to T-Mo's industry-dominating 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum, was not yet a thing stateside during the second half of last year, which makes it a little surprising to see just how much the nation's top three carriers managed to boost their average download speeds compared to H1 2021 across all the biggest US cities.
That's right, ladies and gents, it's time to show off your local patriotism or move one step closer to deciding where to relocate next based on the latest edition of the biannual RootMetrics analysis of the fastest 5G cities in America. This time around, "The Big Apple" is competing against "The City of Angels", with Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T's regional numbers combined into one grand total for each of the 109 major metropolitan markets assessed between July and December 2021.
And the big 5G winner is...
Shreveport, LA?! It's true, the third most populous city in the state of Louisiana managed to beat not only New Orleans and Baton Rouge but also New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, and... Modesto in terms of aggregate 5G median download speed, with a simply astounding score of 145.3 Mbps registered in the final six months of 2021.
The fastest US 5G cities don't all have great 5G availability scores as well.
Coincidentally (or not), Shreveport is home to the smallest population among the 109 cities tested by RootMetrics where all three major US carriers offered 5G service at the time of testing. It's arguably easier to deliver higher average download speeds to under 400,000 people than, say, the 2.7 million population of Chicago, and with a rather mediocre 60.6 percent aggregate 5G availability figure, we're not certain it's entirely fair to give Shreveport the biggest 5G regional trophy.
Instead, it might be precisely Chicago that deserves the strongest round of applause right now after ranking eight in 5G speed, with an excellent 122.5 Mbps score of its own, and first in aggregate 5G availability, at an almost ubiquitous 92 percent.
These are the US regional champions when considering both 5G speeds and 5G availability.
Otherwise put, 5G users in Chicago are not just capable of downloading stuff faster than folks in most other big US cities, also finding an actual 5G signal nearly anywhere and at any given time.
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Meanwhile, Modesto, California appears to strike an even better balance between great speeds and towering availability, ranking second overall in the former chart and fifth in the latter, with Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Houston highlighted as other standouts when it comes to the key 5G speed/5G availability combo.
But wait, where are New York and Los Angeles?
Unfortunately, nowhere near the top of the 5G speed or 5G availability hierarchies, and the same goes for Miami or Philadelphia. Basically, if you're a mobile speed junkie, this is probably not the greatest time to live in four of America's five most populous cities.
These are the H2 2021 scores for America's five biggest cities.
BUT (and this is a very important "but"), 5G speeds have risen everywhere from NYC to LA, Miami, and Philly (not to mention Chicago) between the first and second half of 2021, with a few of these improvements being absolutely outstanding in and of themselves.
At the end of the day, seeing Miami jump from a 32.7 Mbps average to 82.2 Mbps should delight the "Magic City's" population a lot more than what's ultimately a frivolous competition for the nation's top regional honors.
And these are the H1 2021 scores for the same cities.
That speed boost of almost 50 Mbps is made that much more remarkable by Miami's fast-growing 77.6 percent aggregate 5G availability score, and a similar albeit slightly less impressive situation is reported in LA, where 5G speeds and availability increased from 41.2 Mbps and 71.4 percent to 55 Mbps and 78.9 percent in the space of six months.
Bizarrely enough, New York and Philadelphia's aggregate 5G availability figures actually declined between H1 and H2 2021, and the same happened in Washington, D.C., where speeds exploded from an average of 65.2 Mbps to a bronze medal-earning 134.7 Mbps.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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