Since the Emergency Broadband Benefit launched in May 2021, enrollment has grown steadily. By the end of June, 3.1 million households had enrolled, a figure that rose to 7.4 million by the beginning of November. Analysis of the geography of this growth shows that it was not evenly distributed. South Florida, Detroit, Chicago, and New York City have all seen very strong growth in enrollment since June. In the Los Angeles area, more than 100,000 additional households have signed up since then. At the same time, the general pattern of enrollment indicates that places most in need of the Emergency Broadband Benefit (that is, those with low home broadband adoption rates) have the highest rates of households signing up for the benefit.

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) posts enrollment data by 3-digit zip code, which are often sizable geographic areas. Early analysis of zip 3 data showed a number of places—such as Puerto Rico, New Orleans, and Detroit—had high rates of enrollment. Others—such as parts of Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta—had high absolute numbers of people signing up for the benefit.

Comparing enrollment figures in June to those in November for the same zip 3 areas shows where growth has outpaced the average and where it has not. For this analysis, the focus will be on the top 55 zip 3 area codes in terms of Emergency Broadband Benefit enrollment. In these 55 zip 3 areas, some 2.5 million households have signed up according to USAC’s November data, or 34% of all Emergency Broadband Benefit sign-ups. Between June and November, enrollment grew from 967,710 for these 55 places to 2,496,395 – an increase of 158%. The table below shows change in enrollment for the top 15 3-digit zip codes.

Table 1: Change in Emergency Broadband Benefit Program enrollment from June to November

Miami and places adjacent to it have experienced the strongest enrollment growth. The data for some large cities have also shown significant increases since June. Three boroughs in New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan) have growth rates in excess of 200%, Cook County in Illinois (which includes Chicago), parts of Los Angeles, and Houston all have exhibited strong growth.

Another emphasis in the June analysis was the penetration of Emergency Broadband Benefit enrollment, that is, the share of all households who have signed up in various zip 3 areas. The June analysis showed that in places such as Puerto Rico and New Orleans close to 10% of all households had signed up, with 6%-7% ranges for Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The table below shows results for the top 15 zip 3 areas (excluding Puerto Rico) in the November data. For this analysis, the top 55 zip 3 area codes in enrollment had an estimated 10.3% of households had enrolled in the program.

Table 2: Places with greatest share of households enrolled in the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program

Table 2 shows that South Texas counties, New York (the Bronx), and the Detroit area have high growth rights in sign-ups since June and a high share of overall households who have enrolled. Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Los Angeles have growth rates around or above average since June and also exceed the norm in terms of share of homes signing up for the subsidy. Finally, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Baltimore, and Lafayette Parish all have a share of homes that have signed up for the Emergency Broadband Benefit that exceeds the figure for the group of 55 zip 3’s. But that is partly because they were fast out of the EBB starting gate. Their growth rates from June to November were below the 158% figure for the top 55 zip 3 area codes.

Finally, Table 3 combines results for several metro areas whose zip 3 results were part of the top 55 zip 3’s for Emergency Broadband Benefit enrollment. These results do not necessarily encompass either the metro area of the place listed or the city proper. Los Angeles is a good example. The figures below are for three zip 3 areas for Los Angeles, which include most of the city, part of Los Angeles County east of the city, and a part (approximately 30%) of San Bernadino County. The numbers for New York City are only for the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

Table 3: Change in Emergency Broadband Benefit enrollment in large metros

As the table shows, New York and the Los Angeles over 250,000 more households enrolled in the program from June to November. Miami and Detroit had large increases as well.

Puerto Rico is a bit of a special case in this analysis. The three zip 3 areas in Puerto Rico have more than 300,000 enrollees, or about one-quarter of all households on the island. Residents of Puerto Rico have a high take rate for the Lifeline program, with over 50% of eligible households taking advantage of Lifeline compared to a 16% rate for households in the 50 states. It seems likely that many Puerto Ricans are using the Emergency Broadband Benefit to upgrade their existing Lifeline service. It is also possible that, with the well-established presence of Lifeline carriers in Puerto Rico, marketing efforts for the Emergency Broadband Benefit have paid off.

One pattern emerges across the urban and metro places in the set of 55 zip 3s: there is a correlation between broadband adoption in those areas and the percent of households that have signed up for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. Places with low broadband adoption rates—such as Detroit, Cleveland, or Milwaukee—have the highest share of homes that have signed up for the benefit.[1] Put differently, the Emergency Broadband Benefit is reaching people in the places that have the most people in need.

Outreach to eligible populations may matter too. Concerted efforts to boost Emergency Broadband Benefit enrollment may be having an impact. In September, the California Emerging Technology Fund called for more Emergency Broadband Benefit outreach and has worked to spread the word. In New York, the city government and other stakeholders have touted a plan to address the city’s digital divide using the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program.

As the FCC transitions the Emergency Broadband Benefit to the Affordable Connectivity Plan, this data and other research offer some guidance.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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