Fort Worth, TX Tops Labrynth's Red Tape Index 500, While Cambridge, MA and Rock Hill, SC Rank Among America's Most Bureaucratically Burdened Cities

New Analysis Reveals Stark North–South Divide in Permitting Efficiency Across the U.S.

NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a comprehensive update to its Red Tape Index 500 (RTI 500), Labrynth, an AI-native company pioneering outcomes-based, transparent artificial intelligence for regulatory modernization, has identified Fort Worth, Texas as the most efficient city in America for permitting and Cambridge, Massachusetts as the least.

The analysis, which evaluates 500 U.S. cities across multiple criteria including permit speed, transparency, digital accessibility, and year-over-year improvement, reveals that Southern and Midwestern cities dominate the top rankings while major coastal metros and smaller Eastern municipalities lag far behind.

Top 10 Most Efficient Cities for Permitting

"The data tells a clear story about American competitiveness," said Stuart Lacey, CEO of Labrynth. "Cambridge anchors research universities like MIT and Harvard, yet Fort Worth scores more than four times higher on permitting efficiency and has grown faster than any other large city in the U.S. since 2020. This isn't about resources or talent. It's about the will to modernize and build systems that serve growth, not stifle it."

Bottom 10 Cities for Permitting

At the bottom of the Index, Rock Hill, South Carolina (#490), Germantown, Maryland (#491), and Los Angeles, California (#492) stand out for high population density combined with persistently slow review times, a combination that creates major economic friction. Cambridge, Massachusetts, maintains the lowest overall score nationally, reflecting deep systemic inefficiencies in its permitting ecosystem.

Of particular concern: Los Angeles, still rebuilding after devastating fires, ranks 492nd. At a time when thousands of residents need to rebuild homes quickly, the city's permitting delays add months to recovery timelines.

"Every day a permit sits in review is a day a family waits to rebuild, a business delays hiring, or an infrastructure project stalls," added Lacey. "The cities at the bottom of our Index account for a disproportionate share of economic drag on development and growth."

Regional Patterns and Key Takeaways

• Minnesota cities lead efficiency rankings, with 4 cities in the top 10, demonstrating that cold-weather states can excel at regulatory modernization.
• Texas places 2 cities in the top 10, reinforcing the state's business-friendly reputation.
• California cities continue to cluster at the bottom, with Los Angeles (#492) and Watsonville (#493) emblematic of deep procedural backlogs.
  

Cities Turning Red Tape Into Readiness

Labrynth's AI is already helping local governments reverse these trends. Lancaster, California, which ranks mid-table in the RTI 500, has implemented AI-powered permit pre-screening and validation tools that have cut processing times by more than 40 percent in just one quarter. Similar deployments are being evaluated by municipalities nationwide and federal partners focused on clean energy and housing recovery.

Federal agencies are taking notice as well. Labrynth is working with Deep Fission, a Department of Energy-backed developer of modular nuclear reactors, to streamline the complex federal and local approvals required for clean energy infrastructure.

"The good news is that permitting efficiency is achievable," said Lacey. "Fort Worth proves it. Lancaster is proving it. Any city can transform from red tape laggard to leader with the right tools and commitment." 

Lacey continued, “The truly amazing thing is, we examined thousands of municipalities, and cities like New York and Boston did not even make the top 500. This means that for millions upon millions of Americans their home towns are making life significantly harder than it needs to be. The affordability crisis in housing, in commuting, in energy are all tied up in massive reams of red tape.”

The Full Rankings and Next Steps

The complete Red Tape Index 500 rankings are available at www.redtapeindex.com, along with detailed methodology and an interactive heat map showing regional patterns.

Cities interested in improving their rankings can:

• Submit updated permitting data for inclusion in quarterly updates
• Request a diagnostic assessment of their current processes
• Explore AI-powered tools to accelerate permit review
  

The Index will be updated quarterly, with the next release scheduled for Q1 2026 expanding to include county-level data. The cities on the RTI was derived from municipalities with populations greater than 50,000 and sufficient data to be carefully analyzed and ranked.

About Labrynth

Labrynth is the first transparent AI company purpose-built to solve regulatory bottlenecks at scale. Its outcome-based models compress permitting timelines, reduce compliance risks and unlock faster revenue for PROPEL industries and local governments. Spun out from AI and agentic innovation powerhouse Invisible Technologies, and backed by AI HoldCo platform Infinity Constellation, Labrynth blends cutting-edge AI with human expertise to build a smarter, faster, and fairer regulatory system. Learn more at www.labrynth.ai.

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Labrynth@KCSA.com

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