FCC’s New Broadband Subsidy Hits Sweet Spot for Lower-Income People of Color’s Internet Bill Needs

According to a new Morning Consult poll, 27 percent of Black, Hispanic and other non-white adults who make less than $50,000 annually said they have missed at least one internet bill payment since January 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak started spreading in the United States, compared to 16 percent of lower-income white adults. At the same time, nearly half of lower-income people of color (49 percent) said they have at least some concern about paying their at-home internet bill over the next few months, 10 percentage points higher than the share of lower-income white people who said the same. Overall, 30 percent of adults who make less than $50,000 a year said they pay between $51 and $75 each month for internet services, and another 28 percent said they pay between $26 and $50 — meaning qualifying households (no more than 135 percent of U.S. poverty guidelines, as well as free-and-reduced lunch participants, Pell Grant recipients and those who suffered an income loss due to COVID-19) could have most if not all of their bill covered by the FCC’s new subsidy, assuming they end up receiving the maximum amount of $50. Those payment breakdowns are similar among both white and non-white households in the same income bracket. Since January 2020, a third of adults (34 percent) said they’ve seen their at-home internet bill amount change. Among those who saw their charges change, 62 percent said it was because their service provider increased prices, including 79 percent of white lower-income adults and 60 percent of lower-income people of color. Nearly 1 in 5 lower-income people of color (19 percent) said their bill total changed because they upgraded their service.

So far, awareness of the Federal Communications Commission's emergency internet subsidy program remains low, although it’s higher among non-white, lower-income adults: Among all adults, 23 percent said they have heard “a lot” or “some” about the new broadband benefit program, including 17 percent of lower-income adults. Among the lower-income group, awareness jumps 12 points for people of color, with 29 percent saying they’ve heard “a lot” or “some” about the new subsidy.