The most and least connected counties in Kenya
I ranked all 47 counties on one score. Nairobi comes first at 96.8 out of 100. Turkana comes last at 10.7. That gap of 86 points is the digital divide in one number.
The top five
Nairobi (96.8), Kiambu (88.5), Mombasa (78.4), Nakuru (73.2) and Uasin Gishu (68.0) lead the ranking. Four counties reach the High tier: Nairobi, Kiambu, Mombasa and Nakuru. Nairobi and Mombasa have by far the densest tower coverage. Nairobi has 4,916 cell towers per 100 km². Most counties have fewer than 100.
The bottom five
Turkana (10.7), Marsabit (13.0), Garissa (17.4), Samburu (18.0) and Wajir (18.3) sit at the bottom. In Turkana, 12.7% of people use the internet and 8.8% have electricity. I treat those two numbers as one problem. A phone with no power does not connect to anything.
Where the middle sits
24 counties land in the Medium tier and 11 in Low. 8 fall in the lowest tier. Only 15 of 47 counties reach the national internet usage figure of 35%. The rest sit below it.
Who leads on internet use
Nairobi leads on internet usage at 64.7%. Kiambu follows at 54.0% and Nyeri at 50.1%. At the other end, West Pokot sits at 9.1%. The full internet usage table covers all 47 counties.
The ranking blends four layers: internet usage (35% of the score), tower density (25%), mobile speed (25%) and electricity access (15%). I explain the weights in the post on the data, formula and limits. Every county has its own page with the full numbers, starting from the county index.
Frequently asked questions
Which county is the most connected in Kenya?
Nairobi, with a composite score of 96.8 out of 100, followed by Kiambu (88.5) and Mombasa (78.4).
Which county is the least connected in Kenya?
Turkana, with a composite score of 10.7 out of 100. Marsabit (13.0) and Garissa (17.4) follow.
Explore the data
Open the interactive map or browse all 47 counties. County data is on the data page.