Of the 39 fully scanned U.S. state sites we tested, 13 (33%) read above an 8th grade level. Hard text slows people down. Some give up before they find what they need. We score the text on each homepage with the Automated Readability Index (ARI). It estimates the U.S. school grade a reader needs. Another 2 had too little text on the homepage to score. They get no pass or fail. This page uses the Reading level check. It passes when the homepage text reads at or below an 8th grade level. That means an ARI score of 8.5 or lower. We need at least 100 words to score a page.
13 of 39
State sites that read above an 8th grade level
33%
Share of tested state sites that fail this check
26
Tested state sites that pass this check
42 of 51
State sites fully scanned
The 13 state sites that read above an 8th grade level
Sorted by name. Each site links to its readability report and shows its readability and overall grades from the same scan. ARI and Flesch-Kincaid (FK) are the two reading grades from that scan. Both show a U.S. school grade.
| Site | ARI | FK | Readability | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| arkansas.gov State of Arkansas |
10.1 | 9.8 | F | B |
| portal.ct.gov State of Connecticut |
9.3 | 10.1 | F | A |
| myflorida.gov State of Florida |
9.7 | 7.4 | F | B |
| kentucky.gov State of Kentucky |
10.7 | 9.5 | F | C |
| louisiana.gov State of Louisiana |
12.8 | 12.0 | F | C |
| mo.gov State of Missouri |
10.6 | 10.1 | F | B |
| nebraska.gov State of Nebraska |
9.6 | 9.9 | F | A |
| nm.gov State of New Mexico |
9.1 | 9.2 | F | A |
| ny.gov State of New York |
14.1 | 13.7 | F | A |
| nd.gov State of North Dakota |
8.8 | 8.9 | F | B |
| tn.gov State of Tennessee |
14.5 | 10.2 | F | B |
| virginia.gov State of Virginia |
9.6 | 9.5 | F | B |
| wyo.gov State of Wyoming |
8.8 | 7.8 | F | B |
About this check
Reading level is one of the readability checks. The homepage text reads at or below an 8th grade level.
Why it matters
Plain text helps people get what they need the first time. Hard text leads to more calls, more errors, and more visits.
Risk
Users struggle to understand your content.
Guidance
About this data
ScanGov scans the homepage of each county site on our county list. Scores come from the checks in the ScanGov standards. Sites were scanned between 10/2/2026 and 11/6/2026. Each site's report shows its own scan date. A site counts as fully scanned when its homepage loaded and sent us its page content. Averages, grade shares, failure rates, and ranks use fully scanned sites only. We could not fully scan 9 sites. They did not respond, blocked the scanner, or sent no page content. They appear in the table without grades, with their scan status, and are left out of every figure. Grades follow the ScanGov grade scale. Rank follows the ScanGov ranking method. The full dataset, with every county's raw results, is in the ScanGov data repository.
2 fully scanned state sites had too little text on the homepage to score. They are left out of the share.
1 fully scanned state site has no result for this check and is left out of the share.