Just how bad is spam today? According to some recent data, it's still pretty bad. MessageLabs has gathered data based on the more than 3 billion messages scanned per day by them, and come to the conclusion that the amount of spam flowing through the Internet today still comprises the majority of all emails sent. They claim that spam accounts for more than 81% of all email, data that mirrors similar studies done over the past few years.
The amount of spam in the U.S. did seem to vary by state, though realistically it's unlikely that spammers particularly care about what region is being spammed. Some more interesting data was revealed, though, such as that some newer spam is being sent in smaller and "targeted" batches, indicating that they may be taking the stance of some phishers now and trying to custom-tailor their spam to be more appealing (or at least harder to filter).