When you’re planning to move—whether it’s down the street or across the country—your list of priorities is long and varied. And for many Americans, good cell phone coverage is one of their must-haves. In fact, we surveyed 750 Americans and found that 95% of people say it's important to have excellent cell service coverage at a new home.
Is cell phone service one of your must-haves? And what does the best cell phone coverage look like across the country? We talked to Americans and surveyed 5G coverage to find out.
Moving decisions: Cell service factors heavily
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a total of 27.3 million Americans—about 8.6% percent—moved in 2021. That’s a lot of people looking for a new place to live and evaluating cell phone and internet services in their new neighborhood.
Our survey found that cell service factors into over half of Americans' decision to move to a certain location. In fact, cell service outranked proximity to work in new mover priorities, with 57% of Americans citing it as a motivating factor for moving.
But how important is it to compare cell phone coverage at a new home? For a majority of Americans (73%), network coverage is very important. Movers don’t want to relocate and find themselves with one bar of service and not able to connect to their friends and family.
- Nearly all Americans surveyed (95%) say it's important to have excellent cell service coverage at a new home.
- Only 5% of Americans were neutral on coverage or considered it not important.
We also found that movers are good at making sure their new home has solid network coverage before moving in. Over half of our respondents (54%) said they make it a habit to check the cell phone service in their new location. This is especially helpful if they move to one of the nation’s 5G capitals.
Cell phone coverage in current home
How do Americans feel about coverage in their current home? Many actually feel pretty good: 85% of respondents said the quality of cell service is either “good” or “excellent” at their current home. Fewer respondents—slightly over 1 in 10—reported having mediocre cell service at their current home.
The majority of respondents were also willing to switch carriers in the event of a move. If their new home had poor-quality cell service, nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) would switch cell service providers.
So which carrier offers the best coverage? In an August 2022 report, WhistleOut found that T-Mobile had the best 5G coverage in the U.S. with 54% of the country covered. AT&T and Verizon, the other Big Three providers, lag behind with 30% and 13% coverage, respectively. In terms of 4G LTE coverage, Verizon reigns supreme with 70% nationwide coverage, followed by AT&T (68%) and T-Mobile (62%).
Moving for a lower cost of living
A recent survey from our friends at Move.org found that 45% of Americans moved for a lower cost of living, to include cell phone service and coverage. With telecom companies dividing up coverage maps in the U.S., moving may be one of the only ways to get a less expensive provider with better network coverage that fits your needs.
Our survey also found that over a third of movers prioritize access to high-speed internet and good cell service in their new home. In fact, cell phone coverage is the third most important factor for movers, ranking above cost of living and proximity to work for most Americans.
How to check phone coverage in your area
If you’re planning a move, give yourself a head start and check the coverage maps first to know you’ve chosen the right place for your next home. We also have a guide with interactive cell phone coverage maps for all four U.S. networks so you can see what’s really feasible in your area.
To see whether a particular carrier plan has strong coverage in your specific area:
- Head to our cell phone page and input your location information.
- Select any plan preferences (e.g., data, phone, number of lines, network, etc.) and hit the search button.
- Check out the available plans and carrier options for your area.
- Sort the results by carrier.
- Pick “Map” and click to activate the interactive map.
- Zoom around and toggle on the various carriers to compare and contrast 5G cellular coverage.
Methodology
We surveyed 750 Americans about their moving habits and priorities. These results are post-stratified.
Alex Kerai
Consumer Trends Reporter
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