Map Description

This color-coded map of the United States, including Puerto Rico (shown as a separate inset), shows how well each of the 52 jurisdictions (all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico) protects the rights of people who work with service dogs. Each jurisdiction has both a color shade and a fill pattern based on its overall letter grade. Green with a solid fill indicates an A grade, light teal with horizontal lines indicates a B, amber with diagonal lines indicates a C, orange with a crosshatch pattern indicates a D and dark red with a dot pattern indicates an F. 

The two highest-ranked jurisdictions are California and Alaska, both earning an A-minus. A cluster of B-grades appear across parts of the West and Midwest, including Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska, and Kentucky. Much of the central and southern United States falls in the C and D range, shown in amber and orange. The darkest red, indicating an F grade, is concentrated in the Deep South and includes Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Wyoming. Puerto Rico, shown as a separate labeled box outside the continental map, also received an F grade. Washington D.C. is represented by a small dot near the mid-Atlantic coast and received a C-plus.

Overall, the map skews amber and orange across the middle of the country, with green limited to the coasts and a few interior states, and dark red concentrated in the South.

Distribution Chart Description

The bar chart shows how the 52 jurisdictions are distributed across the letter grades, showing only the grades that were received, from A-minus to F. An accessible data table listing each grade and its jurisdiction count is provided below the bar chart.

The tallest bar belongs to C-minus, which was the most common grade, received by 13 jurisdictions. C-plus was the second most common, received by 12 jurisdictions. Together, grades in the C range account for 25 of the 52 jurisdictions evaluated, making C the modal performance band. Grades in the B range were earned by 9 jurisdictions, with the majority receiving a B-minus or B-plus rather than a straight B. Only 2 jurisdictions earned a grade in the A range and both received an A-minus. No jurisdiction received an A or A-plus. At the lower end, 5 jurisdictions received a D-plus and 5 received a straight D, while 3 earned a D-minus. Five jurisdictions received a grade of F. In total, 16 of 52 jurisdictions, nearly one in three, received a grade of D or F. The national average was a C.

Rankings Graph Description

This table lists all 52 jurisdictions in order from highest to lowest overall grade, along with individual grades in each of the five categories evaluated. An accessible version of this graph is located below. The table has 8 columns. The first column, labeled “#” contains the numerical rank of each jurisdiction from 1 to 52, where 1 is the highest performing and 52 is the lowest. The second column is labeled “Jurisdiction” and lists the name of each state or jurisdiction. The next column is labeled “Overall” and contains the overall grade for each state. The fourth through eighth columns are labeled, “Law Strength”, “Complaint & Enforcement”, “Public Awareness & Outreach”, “Transparency & Reporting”, and “Lived Experience” and each column contains the grade the state received in that category.

Click here to download the following chart in Excel.