Home Internet Maps: 2017 American Community Survey 5 Year Estimates

A series of interactive maps to visualize home internet access, covering more than 65,000 occupied Census tracts in the fifty states and the District of Columbia. On the base maps, NDIA calculated and mapped two crucial data points from census data: 1) What percentage of households in each Census tract had no home internet access at all in 2017 — not even mobile internet or dial-up connections?  2) What percentage of households in each Census tract had “Broadband such as cable, fiber optic or DSL” in 2017?

The maps are based on new Census data released on Dec 6, 2018 as part of the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates. For the first time, the 2017 ACS includes computer ownership and internet access information for local Census tracts. (Note: The Census uses the term “internet access” to refer to actual household connections, not just availability.) Now that the Census has made its tract-level household internet data public, small communities, city neighborhoods, rural and tribal areas can all get a much better picture of broadband access and adoption among their residents.