The Decade in Broadband: 2020 Statistics & Predictions

A data-driven series examining the state of broadband deployment in the US throughout the 2010’s, as well as a look ahead to where and how advanced deployment technologies will affect our progress looking out to the next decade. From 2010 to 2020, Americans with access to broadband internet increased from an estimated 74.5 percent to 93.5 percent. ome states have seen greater improvement in broadband availability over the last ten years than others. Montana saw the greatest improvement, with broadband availability increasing from 11% to 86% between 2010 and 2020 – a 652% growth rate. Other states seeing big gains were Vermont (412%), Arkansas (117%) and West Virginia (109%). Of course, states that started with relatively low broadband availability had more room to grow. Not surprisingly, the aforementioned states were the only four that had broadband availability of 40% or less as of 2010. Seven states, all in the densely populated eastern US (including Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts and Delaware), had broadband availability rates of 85% or greater as of 2010. Yet all but two of these states saw broadband availability increase 15% between 2010 and 2020, giving all of them 2020 availability rates of nearly 100%. In contrast, some states that started at lower availability levels had growth rates below 15% over the 10-year period. States in this category were more heavily rural, including Oregon, Utah, and Nevada, suggesting that these states may have difficulty maintaining momentum as only the most difficult areas to reach remain unserved.