The Worst U.S. States For Corruption

A new report has been released by the University of Chicago, highlighting levels of public sector corruption in U.S. cities and states. It was co-authored by UIC professor and political advisor Dick Simpson and is based on an analysis of public corruption statistics from the Department of Justice. There were a grand total of 19,634 public corruption convictions across the United States over the past decade with 695 public official, federal employees and government contractors convicted in 2018 alone.

The report examined the problem across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, finding that D.C. had the highest number of public corruption offences per 10,000 inhabitants between 1976 and 2018 with 16.79. That can be attributed to several factors including a comparably low population but also because it is the center of national government and hosts the Department of Justice. That means nearly all of the country's federal agencies are housed there with large numbers of government employees who can monitor and investigate potential offences.

Louisiana comes second for corruption convictions per capital with 2.62 per 10,000 inhabitants while Illinois rounds off the top-three with 1.66. Its high position is due to the high number of offences in Chicago which was once again named the most corrupt city in the country. The Illinois-Northern Judicial District recorded 1,750 public corruption convictions between 1976 and 2018 compared to second-placed Los Angeles' 1,547.