San Diego, CA, Monday, September 28, 2026 – The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) today released the 2026 State CIO Survey: The State CIO in Motion: Priorities, Pressures and Progress. The report is the 17th edition of the State CIO Survey and includes responses from 51 state and territory chief information officers on eight topics.
“With 36 gubernatorial elections this year, I suspect 2027 will bring about lots of changes in the state CIO world,” said NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson. “But one thing we know for certain is that the demands on state CIOs won’t slow down. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, demands for digital services and expansion of enterprise portfolios will continue to reshape their roles.”
That changing environment is reflected in the survey findings, with 68% of state CIOs anticipating increased turbulence and disruption in the state CIO role and organization over the next five years. Additionally, the report finds that:
- AI governance is becoming nearly universal. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of states have implemented enterprise policies and procedures for AI development and use, up from 76% in 2025. Procurement terms and contract provisions for GenAI also jumped from 41% to 61%.
- Agentic AI is where CIOs think the biggest impact is coming next. Sixty-four percent (64%) of state CIOs said agentic AI will be the most impactful emerging technology over the next 2-3 years, compared with just 14% for GenAI. Current agentic AI activity is concentrated largely in internal workflow and process automation, IT operations, application development and customer service.
- Most State CIOs identify critical infrastructure cyber protection as an area of high concern. One CIO stated, “The threat is high and the defenders are thin.” Another told us, “If your concerns are not significant, you need to pay more attention.”
- States are moving further toward the cloud. Seventy-three percent (73%) of CIOs said expanding the use of public cloud infrastructure is part of their data center plans for the next 2-3 years, while 55% plan to adopt a hybrid model combining state-owned and cloud or third-party infrastructure.
- Digital services are still struggling for dedicated funding. States are almost evenly divided: 55% have dedicated funding to advance citizen digital services while 45% do not. CIOs cited budget uncertainty, fragmented funding, one-time funding sources and demand outpacing resources among the constraints.
- Quantum remains mostly a watch-and-wait technology. Seventy-three percent (73%) of CIOs said their states are monitoring quantum computing but have taken no formal action.
- Digital accessibility support isn’t extending very far to local government yet. Only 35% of CIO organizations report assisting local governments with digital accessibility efforts, despite CIO organizations being highly involved in accessibility within state government.