Here's every U.S. city with 5G coverage right now

Kicking off the next generation of wireless.

All of the major U.S. carriers are hard at work on their 5G strategy. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon have launched 5G networks and are aggressively expanding those networks through 2019. 5G service not only provides faster speeds but also reduced response times allowing for new services and cloud computing not previously available. For now, the major difference between LTE and 5G will be speed but as coverage continues to roll out to new areas, more services that rely on instant connectivity should become possible.

Verizon
Sprint
T-Mobile
AT&T

Verizon

Verizon is starting small with two cities deploying what it calls 5G Ultra Wideband (UWB). In short, this version of 5G uses large chunks of high-frequency bandwidth that produce very high speeds but suffer in other areas such as coverage over distance and building penetration. While coverage is dense enough in cities to be included on the list, coverage is still only available in parts of the cities outdoors.

Verizon has released a set of maps to help you pinpoint where 5G is available in your cities. This is a helpful addition but it does show off some of the main coverage weaknesses of UWB.

At this time, it is easy to be discouraged about such minimal 5G coverage but this deployment is only a start for Verizon — it has continued to regularly deploy new cities. Early tests have been positive with us seeing speeds up to 1.4 Gbps. Although these massive speeds are impressive, they probably won't hold up under a full Chicago load, but it's still exciting to see.

We're also seeing more specific expansion to places like NFL stadiums or race tracks. While great as a tech demonstration, this doesn't offer much to the customer just yet.

5G on Verizon: Everything you need to know

Verizon 5G

Ultra Wideband Service

Available at Verizon

A fast-growing millimeter wave network

High-speed downloads and a quickly expanding network make Verizon's 5G implementation of the most complete in the nation.

Sprint

Sprint is bringing its 2.5Ghz 5G to its Overland Park, KS location as well as the nearby Kansas City. They also provide 5G in seven other cities with more to follow later this year. With a good selection of 5G compatible devices such as a hotspot and several phones, Sprint's 5G network is the closest to being fully useable with good coverage density, similar to LTE, and speeds around 300Mbps in our testing.

While Sprint customers wait to see how a potential merger with T-Mobile might pan out, Sprint has moved ahead with its service upgrades and even shows its 5G coverage alongside 4G on its coverage maps to demonstrate its confidence. Sprint has also announced that it is continuing to improve its 5G footprint with expanded coverage in Kansas City, Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston.

It looks like Sprint might be one of the best options for 5G in the near future as long as the network can handle the load. Sprint is putting its 5G to work already with improvements coming to emergency services already. If nothing else, it is better than LTE so I'll take it.

Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
Houston, TX
Kansas City, KS/MO
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Phoenix, AZ
Washington, D.C.

Sprint 5G

Mid-band 5G

Available at Sprint

2.5Ghz means better coverage and stable speeds

More coverage makes Sprint's 5G network a strong option with speeds that are much faster than 4G. This 5G service will cover more people with fewer towers and fewer dropped connections.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is the last of the Big Four to offer a 5G option. T-Mobile has already built a small high-band, or millimeter wave, 5G network in parts of a few cities. T-Mobile is launched 5G on its low-band 600Mhz spectrum on December 6, 2019, and is moving towards integrating Sprint's 2.5GHz mid-band 5G network as well thanks to recent approval in court for T-Mobile and Sprint to merge. Samsung's Galaxy S20 series phones will all support both the low-band and mid-band spectrum with the larger S20 models supporting high-band as well.

600Mhz 5G is here

T-Mobile already has an interactive 5G coverage map ready to go. The OnePlus 7T 5G McLaren and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G are now available and capable of using this new low-band 5G network.

As it stands, the raw speed increases aren't anything to write home about but the coverage is promising and should be great for covering gaps in future 5G deployments with more spectrum to play with. If T-Mobile can close the deal with Sprint and combine the two networks, it will be a clear leader in 5G worldwide.

Metro by T-Mobile is also getting 5G on all of its plans with the same phones as T-Mobile. This will also be available on December 6.

High-band, millimeter wave coverage is available in parts of these cities.

Atlanta
Cleveland
Dallas
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
New York

I used T-Mobile's 5G network, and it's a whole lot like using its 4G network 5G on T-Mobile: Everything you need to know

T-Mobile 5G

Low and high-band

Available at T-Mobile

Nationwide coverage

T-Mobile is building a nationwide 5G network on low-band and high-band spectrum. It isn't charging customers any more to get on it. With T-Mobile, all you need is the phone and coverage to get 5G.

MVNO 5G

Metro by T-Mobile

Available at Metro by T-Mobile

Prepaid 5G is still 5G

Metro by T-Mobile is an MVNO with a big focus on data and that isn't changing. Like its big brother T-Mobile, all plans on Metro get 5G for no extra charge.

AT&T

AT&T certainly has one of the most impressive lists of cities with available 5G coverage. AT&T has launched the majority of its 5G network for business use. AT&T started with millimeter wave, or mmWave before the more recent release of the Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G alongside its low-band 850Mhz deployment for consumers.

If you're on AT&T and you want to access 5G, you'll need either the Unlimited Elite or Unlimited Extra plan. 5G low-band is available to AT&T customers in ten cities so far. While there will likely be some improvement over LTE using this 850Mhz 5G, it's not going to hit the super-fast speeds we've seen with millimeter-wave. Still, the 850Mhz deployment should have much better coverage than mmWave and be faster than 4G LTE. AT&T also has some coverage maps but note that the maps show projected coverage for February 2020.

See the maps on AT&T's 5G page.

Low-band coverage is available in these areas.

Atlantic City, NJ
Albany, GA
Albany, NY
Athens, GA
Bakersfield, CA
Baltimore, MD
Beaverhead County, MT
Birmingham, AL
Binghamton, NY
Bridgeport, CN
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Chattooga County, GA
Cincinatti, OH
Columbus, OH
Dayton, OH
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI
Erie, PA
Flint, MI
Frederick, MD
Gila, AZ
Hamilton, OH
Hartford, CT
Hunterdon County, NJ
Indianapolis, IN
Kalamazoo, MI
Kansas City, MO
Lancaster, PA
La Cruces, NM
Las Vegas, NV
Liberty, GA
Lincoln County, MT
Long Branch, NJ
Louisville, KY
Los Angeles, CA
Macon, GA
Madera County, CA
Madison County, VA
Milwaukee, MN
Modesto, CA
Mono County, CA
New Bedford, MA
New Brunswick, NJ
New Haven, CT
New York City, NY
Newago, MI
Northeast, PA
Ocean City, NJ
Orange County, NY
Oxnard, CA
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Providence, RI
Provo, UT
Raleigh County, WV
Rochester, NY
Ross County, OH
Salem, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
San Luis Obispo, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Rosa, CA
Spokane, WA
Springfield, OH
St. Louis, MO
State College, PA
Sussex County, NJ
Utica-Rome, NY
Vallejo, CA
Washington D.C.
Whitfield County, GA
Wichita, KS
Wilmington, DE
Worcester, MA
Worth, GA
York, PA

AT&T has added a section to its phone specifications called "5G Evolution Capable." This stat doesn't say anything about whether a phone is 5G capable and only refers to modern 4G LTE as 5Ge service is actually 4G LTE Advanced. Every other carrier calls this LTE, LTE-A, or LTE Plus.

AT&T's fastest millimeter-wave 5G is still being built, but for now, it is only accessible to business accounts and it's impossible to tell precisely which areas in the city are covered.

Millimeter-wave 5G for business

Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Baltimore, MD
Charlotte, NC
Cleveland, OH
Dallas, TX
Detroit, MI
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Jacksonville, FL
King of Prussia, PA
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Louisville, KY
Menlo Park, CA
Miami, FL
Miami Gardens, FL
Nashville, TN
New Orleans, LA
New York City, NY
Oakland, CA
Ocean City, MD
Oklahoma City, OK
Orlando, FL
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Raleigh, NC
Redwood City, CA
San Antonio, TX
San Bruno, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Waco, TX
West Hollywood, CA

5G on AT&T Wireless: Everything you need to know

AT&T 5G

Coverage 5G

Available at AT&T

5G in ten cities

AT&T's high-band 5G is still moving along but for consumers, 850Mhz low-band 5G is available today in a few cities. Grab an unlimited plan and the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G to get connected.

5G devices are becoming more capable with advancements in 5G modems such as the newer X55 modem from Qualcomm that has replaced the X50 as the most capable 5G chip.

5G is one of the more exciting things to happen to wireless networking in years and has the same exciting feeling that the move to 3G had. If you are a wireless enthusiast and want an easy way to see how 5G is shaping up worldwide, Ookla, the company famous for its internet speed test, has a map showing new locations as providers send them in.

Verizon 5G

Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G

From $46/mo. at Verizon

Fast, smooth, and cutting edge.

Adding 5G to the Note lines makes the Galaxy Note 10+ 5g one of the best phones to get work done on the go. You also get the great S-Pen and great display.

Sprint 5G

OnePlus 7 Pro 5G

From $20/mo. at Sprint

Only the best hardware

OnePlus brings one of the best Android experiences to Sprint with 5G support. Add in a notch-free 90hz screen with a great battery for a great phone.

Update, March 2020: New AT&T markets added.

Here's every U.S. city with 5G coverage right now