Five-Year Trends for Computer and Internet Use

The Census Bureau released the 2013-2017 American Community Survey (ACS) five-year estimates. Data on Internet subscription rates:

• Low broadband internet subscription rates were found in many counties in the upper Plains, the Southwest and South. The desert states of Arizona and New Mexico, south Texas, the lower Mississippi through Southern Alabama and some areas of the Piedmont of Georgia, the Carolinas and Southern Virginia were notable for containing many counties with low broadband internet subscription rates, although there were exceptions throughout.
• Some of the counties with the highest broadband internet subscription rates and lowest broadband internet subscription rates were in the South. Of the 21 counties with populations of at least 10,000 and broadband internet subscription rates at or above 90 percent, 12 were in the South, four were in the Midwest, four in the West, and one in the Northeast. Conversely, of the 24 counties with broadband internet subscription rates at or below 45 percent and populations of at least 10,000, 21 were in the South, two were in the West, and one was in the Midwest.
• Rural areas were not the only places with low broadband internet subscription rates. In some large cities, central counties lagged some of the surrounding counties. In the Chicago metropolitan area, the household broadband internet subscription rate was 77 percent for Cook County and 92 percent for nearby Kendall County. Los Angeles’ broadband internet subscription rate of 80 percent was lower than the 88 percent rate in Orange County next door. In the Washington, DC metro area, the broadband internet subscription rate was 78 percent in the District of Columbia, but 93 percent in suburban Loudoun County, Va.
• Lack of internet in rural areas was also notable for Native Americans, who had a 67 percent broadband internet subscription rate, compared with an 82 percent rate for non-Native American individuals. Native Americans living on American Indian land had a rate of 53 percent. 

The Rural Effect

The Census Bureau compared the broadband internet subscription rates for households in 704 completely rural counties with the households in counties that were “mostly rural,” and those that were “mostly urban.” (See the blog: “Rurality Matters.”)

• The average “completely rural” county had a household broadband internet subscription rate of 65 percent, 67 percent in “mostly rural” counties, and compared with a rate of 75 percent for “mostly urban” counties.
• Of counties with broadband internet subscription rates of 80 percent or more, 13 percent were “mostly rural” or “completely rural.” Of counties with broadband internet subscription rates of 60 percent or below, 88 percent were “mostly rural” or “completely rural.”
• In addition to rural context, median household income for a county was also associated with broadband internet subscription rates. In the average county where the median household income was below $50,000, roughly 65 percent of households had broadband internet subscriptions. In the average county with median incomes of $50,000 and over, more than 76 percent of households had broadband internet subscriptions.
• When taken together, median household income and rural context each had an association with household broadband internet subscription rates. In “mostly urban” counties with median household incomes of $50,000 and over, the average broadband internet subscription rate was roughly 80 percent, while in “completely rural” counties with the similar median incomes, the average broadband internet subscription rate was only 71 percent. “Mostly urban” counties with median household incomes below $50,000, on the other hand, only reported average broadband internet subscription rates of 70 percent while “completely rural” counties with similar median incomes had average broadband internet subscription rates of just 62 percent.
• Counties with high broadband internet subscription rates were found in “mostly urban” counties across the country, but especially on the Pacific coast and the Northeast. Some of the highest broadband internet subscription levels occurred in “mostly urban” counties outside the District of Columbia, Denver and Atlanta.
• Focusing on counties with populations of at least 10,000, there were 21 counties in which 90 percent or more of households had broadband internet subscriptions. All but one (Morgan County, Utah) were classified as “mostly urban” counties.
• 20 of the 24 counties with populations above 10,000 with the lowest level of home broadband internet subscriptions were classified as “mostly rural” or “completely rural.”
• The lowest broadband internet subscription rate was in Telfair County, Ga., with a broadband internet subscription rate of 25 percent. Telfair County, Ga., is classified as “mostly urban.”