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Uptime Report Research · Connectivity Data

Internet Access Statistics 2026: 8.9 Million US Households Have No Home Internet Subscription, and the Gaps Kept Closing After ACP Ended

These internet access statistics come straight from the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey: 93.2% of US households had a broadband subscription, and 8.9 million (6.7%) had no home internet subscription at all, down from 12.4 million in 2021. Mississippi (88.3%) trails every state. Gaps for seniors and low-income households narrowed again in 2024, the year the Affordable Connectivity Program ended.

93.2%of US households had broadband of any type, 2024 (2021: 90.1%)
8.9Mhouseholds with no internet subscription; 6.0 million with no access at all
9.9%of households rely on a smartphone as their only computing device
11.8%of people 65+ live without a computer and broadband, vs 4.3% of adults 18 to 64
88.3% to 95.3%state range, Mississippi to New Hampshire

We downloaded the Census Bureau’s table-based summary files for the American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates from 2021 to 2024, every wave of NTIA’s Internet Use Survey back to 1994, the FCC’s National Broadband Map availability summaries, and USAC’s county counts of Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) enrollment. Every figure below is computed from those files. The 2025 ACS 1-year release had not been published when we retrieved the data, so 2024 is the latest year with state detail.

Which states lag on home internet?

Under 90%90 to 91.4%91.5 to 92.9%93 to 94.4%94.5% or more

Alaska: 93.6% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.7 points); 17,496 households without any internet subscriptionAK93.6Maine: 92.4% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.5 points); 45,000 households without any internet subscriptionME92.4Wisconsin: 92.3% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 190,450 households without any internet subscriptionWI92.3Vermont: 92.7% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.7 points); 20,068 households without any internet subscriptionVT92.7New Hampshire: 95.3% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.4 points); 26,405 households without any internet subscriptionNH95.3Washington: 95.0% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 155,610 households without any internet subscriptionWA95.0Idaho: 92.8% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.4 points); 53,062 households without any internet subscriptionID92.8Montana: 91.5% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.7 points); 38,944 households without any internet subscriptionMT91.5North Dakota: 90.7% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.7 points); 32,034 households without any internet subscriptionND90.7Minnesota: 92.9% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 165,253 households without any internet subscriptionMN92.9Illinois: 92.9% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 356,428 households without any internet subscriptionIL92.9Michigan: 92.8% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 293,288 households without any internet subscriptionMI92.8New York: 93.1% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 532,309 households without any internet subscriptionNY93.1Massachusetts: 94.4% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 156,519 households without any internet subscriptionMA94.4Oregon: 93.7% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 108,077 households without any internet subscriptionOR93.7Nevada: 95.1% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.4 points); 59,761 households without any internet subscriptionNV95.1Wyoming: 89.9% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 1.2 points); 25,432 households without any internet subscriptionWY89.9South Dakota: 91.3% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.7 points); 32,584 households without any internet subscriptionSD91.3Iowa: 90.7% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.4 points); 122,150 households without any internet subscriptionIA90.7Indiana: 92.0% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 219,691 households without any internet subscriptionIN92.0Ohio: 92.2% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 378,015 households without any internet subscriptionOH92.2Pennsylvania: 92.1% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 413,946 households without any internet subscriptionPA92.1Connecticut: 94.0% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.4 points); 85,163 households without any internet subscriptionCT94.0Rhode Island: 93.4% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.8 points); 28,728 households without any internet subscriptionRI93.4California: 95.0% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.1 points); 679,419 households without any internet subscriptionCA95.0Utah: 94.1% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.5 points); 69,988 households without any internet subscriptionUT94.1Colorado: 94.9% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 123,747 households without any internet subscriptionCO94.9Nebraska: 91.9% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.5 points); 65,494 households without any internet subscriptionNE91.9Missouri: 91.3% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 220,031 households without any internet subscriptionMO91.3Kentucky: 90.9% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.4 points); 169,093 households without any internet subscriptionKY90.9West Virginia: 89.4% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.7 points); 77,070 households without any internet subscriptionWV89.4New Jersey: 94.8% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 180,927 households without any internet subscriptionNJ94.8Arizona: 93.6% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 188,883 households without any internet subscriptionAZ93.6New Mexico: 90.5% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.7 points); 80,159 households without any internet subscriptionNM90.5Kansas: 92.5% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.4 points); 88,617 households without any internet subscriptionKS92.5Arkansas: 90.8% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.5 points); 113,534 households without any internet subscriptionAR90.8Tennessee: 92.5% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 217,747 households without any internet subscriptionTN92.5Virginia: 92.8% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 244,550 households without any internet subscriptionVA92.8Maryland: 94.4% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 132,120 households without any internet subscriptionMD94.4Delaware: 94.3% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.6 points); 23,177 households without any internet subscriptionDE94.3Oklahoma: 92.1% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 124,603 households without any internet subscriptionOK92.1Louisiana: 90.5% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.5 points); 174,780 households without any internet subscriptionLA90.5Mississippi: 88.3% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.7 points); 136,573 households without any internet subscriptionMS88.3Alabama: 91.6% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 170,097 households without any internet subscriptionAL91.6North Carolina: 93.2% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 303,541 households without any internet subscriptionNC93.2District of Columbia: 92.5% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.5 points); 24,638 households without any internet subscriptionDC92.5Hawaii: 93.0% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.6 points); 33,998 households without any internet subscriptionHI93.0Texas: 93.7% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.2 points); 714,992 households without any internet subscriptionTX93.7Georgia: 93.4% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 274,030 households without any internet subscriptionGA93.4South Carolina: 92.9% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.3 points); 156,789 households without any internet subscriptionSC92.9Florida: 94.3% of households have a broadband subscription (2024, margin of error 0.1 points); 518,512 households without any internet subscriptionFL94.3

Share of households with a broadband subscription of any type (cable, fiber, DSL, satellite, fixed wireless, or a cellular data plan), ACS 2024 1-year estimates. Hover a state for its margin of error and the count of households without any subscription.

The states with the lowest broadband subscription rates in 2024 were Mississippi (88.3%), West Virginia (89.4%), Wyoming (89.9%), Louisiana (90.5%). New Hampshire (95.3%), Nevada (95.1%), and California (95.0%) led. State estimates carry margins of error of 0.1 to 1.2 points, so neighbors in the ranking are often statistically tied. The largest numbers of unconnected households are in the biggest states: Texas had 714,992 households without any internet subscription and California 679,419.

Every state’s rate rose from 2021 to 2024 except Wyoming. The biggest gains came in states that started lowest: Alabama (+6.6 points), Mississippi (+6.5 points), New Mexico (+6.2 points).

Who is still offline: the gaps

HOUSEHOLD INCOMEUnder $10,000: 18.1% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.3 points)Under $10,00018.1%$10,000 to $19,999: 20.6% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.3 points)$10,000 to $19,99920.6%$20,000 to $34,999: 14.0% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.1 points)$20,000 to $34,99914.0%$35,000 to $49,999: 9.0% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.7 points)$35,000 to $49,9999.0%$50,000 to $74,999: 6.0% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.1 points)$50,000 to $74,9996.0%$75,000 or more: 2.7% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.1 points)$75,000 or more2.7%AGE (PEOPLE)Under 18: 3.4% without a broadband subscriptionUnder 183.4%18 to 64: 4.3% without a broadband subscription18 to 644.3%65 and older: 11.8% without a broadband subscription65 and older11.8%RACE AND ETHNICITY (PEOPLE)American Indian and Alaska Native: 9.0% without a broadband subscriptionAmerican Indian and Alaska Native9.0%Black: 7.0% without a broadband subscriptionBlack7.0%Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: 6.1% without a broadband subscriptionNative Hawaiian and Pacific Islander6.1%Some other race: 6.3% without a broadband subscriptionSome other race6.3%Hispanic or Latino (any race): 5.3% without a broadband subscriptionHispanic or Latino (any race)5.3%White, not Hispanic: 5.4% without a broadband subscriptionWhite, not Hispanic5.4%Two or more races: 4.5% without a broadband subscriptionTwo or more races4.5%Asian: 3.0% without a broadband subscriptionAsian3.0%WHERE HOUSEHOLDS LIVEOutside metro and micro areas: 12.0% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.3 points)Outside metro and micro areas12.0%Micropolitan areas: 9.7% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.2 points)Micropolitan areas9.7%Metropolitan areas: 6.1% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.1 points)Metropolitan areas6.1%Federal reservations and trust land: 15.3% without a broadband subscription (margin of error 0.7 points)Federal reservations and trust land15.3%All households 6.8%

Share without a broadband subscription, ACS 2024. Income and place rows are households; age and race rows are people living in households, counted as connected when the household has a computer (including a smartphone) and a broadband subscription. Red bars are at least 1.5 times the national rate. Hover for margins of error where available.

Income is the widest gap. 20.6% of households earning $10,000 to $19,999 had no broadband subscription in 2024, compared with 2.7% of households at $75,000 or more. Age is next: 11.8% of people 65 and older lived in a household without a computer and broadband, about 7.0 million people. Households on federal American Indian reservations and trust land (15.3% without broadband, margin of error 0.7 points) and households outside any metro or micro area (12.0%) also sit well above the national rate of 6.8%.

The ACS does not cross internet subscription with disability. NTIA’s Internet Use Survey does: in November 2023, someone used the internet at home in 75.2% of households headed by a person with a disability, against 86.6% of other households, a gap of 11.4 points (it was 19.0 points in 2019). NTIA’s measure (does anyone use the internet at home) runs lower than the ACS subscription measure for every group, so compare within each survey, not across them.

Is the gap closing for seniors and low-income households?

Yes, in both surveys. The table below tracks each gap in percentage points of broadband subscription, ACS 2021 to 2024. A smaller number means a narrower gap.

Gap (points) 2021 2022 2023 2024 Change
People 65+ vs 18 to 64 (broadband, people) 10.8 9.5 8.6 7.5 -3.3
Households under $20,000 vs $75,000+ 22.9 21.6 19.6 16.8 -6.1
Outside metro and micro areas vs metro 8.5 7.6 6.9 5.9 -2.6
Black vs White, not Hispanic (people) 3.3 3.1 2.4 1.5 -1.8
American Indian and Alaska Native vs White, not Hispanic 6.4 5.7 4.4 3.6 -2.8
Hispanic vs White, not Hispanic (people) 0.8 0.9 0.2 -0.2 -1.0

NTIA’s survey shows the longer arc. In 1998, someone used the internet at home in 8.4% of households headed by a person 65 or older; by 2023 it was 77.8%. The gap to households headed by 25 to 44 year olds was 29.9 points in 2010 and 10.9 points in 2023. For families under $25,000, home use rose from 45.9% in 2010 to 71.0% in 2023, while families at $100,000 or more were at 90.3% in 2023.

All householdsHouseholder 65+Householder with a disabilityFamily income under $25,000

0%20%40%60%80%100%1998200320092013201720212023All households, 1998: 26.4%All households, 2000: 41.4%All households, 2001: 50.4%All households, 2003: 54.7%All households, 2007: 61.8%All households, 2009: 68.7%All households, 2010: 71.1%All households, 2011: 71.7%All households, 2012: 74.8%All households, 2013: 74.2%All households, 2015: 73.4%All households, 2017: 78.0%All households, 2019: 79.9%All households, 2021: 81.8%All households, 2023: 84.8%Householder 65 or older, 1998: 8.4%Householder 65 or older, 2000: 17.7%Householder 65 or older, 2001: 23.6%Householder 65 or older, 2003: 29.4%Householder 65 or older, 2007: 39.1%Householder 65 or older, 2009: 46.5%Householder 65 or older, 2010: 49.6%Householder 65 or older, 2011: 51.8%Householder 65 or older, 2012: 56.8%Householder 65 or older, 2013: 55.7%Householder 65 or older, 2015: 58.4%Householder 65 or older, 2017: 64.4%Householder 65 or older, 2019: 68.8%Householder 65 or older, 2021: 73.6%Householder 65 or older, 2023: 77.8%Householder with a disability, 2009: 43.4%Householder with a disability, 2010: 46.4%Householder with a disability, 2011: 48.1%Householder with a disability, 2012: 51.5%Householder with a disability, 2013: 49.7%Householder with a disability, 2015: 53.3%Householder with a disability, 2017: 61.0%Householder with a disability, 2019: 63.6%Householder with a disability, 2021: 70.6%Householder with a disability, 2023: 75.2%Family income under $25,000, 2010: 45.9%Family income under $25,000, 2011: 45.7%Family income under $25,000, 2012: 49.4%Family income under $25,000, 2013: 48.9%Family income under $25,000, 2015: 51.3%Family income under $25,000, 2017: 58.7%Family income under $25,000, 2019: 61.2%Family income under $25,000, 2021: 66.7%Family income under $25,000, 2023: 71.0%All households 84.8%Householder 65 or older 77.8%Householder with a disability 75.2%Family income under $25,000 71.0%

Share of households where anyone uses the internet at home, NTIA Internet Use Survey (Census Current Population Survey supplement), 1998 to November 2023. The income series starts in 2010 and the disability series in 2009, the first waves with those breakdowns in NTIA’s files. Waves are irregular, so points are not evenly spaced in time.

Did ending the Affordable Connectivity Program cut access?

The ACP gave eligible low-income households up to $30 a month off internet service ($75 on qualifying Tribal lands). It stopped taking new enrollments in February 2024, April 2024 was its last fully funded month, and the FCC says the discount ended on June 1, 2024. USAC’s county file counts 23.3 million enrolled households at the February 2024 freeze. We ran two tests on the 2024 ACS, which interviewed households across all of 2024.

Test 1: did low-income households lose ground in 2024? No. Broadband subscription rose in every income band, and the lowest bands rose faster than a year earlier.

Household income 2021 2022 2023 2024 Change 2022 to 2023 Change 2023 to 2024 2024 margin
Under $10,000 75.1% 76.9% 79.1% 81.9% +2.2 +2.8 ±0.3
$10,000 to $19,999 72.4% 73.6% 76.1% 79.4% +2.5 +3.3 ±0.3
$20,000 to $34,999 81.9% 82.9% 84.3% 86.0% +1.4 +1.8 ±0.1
$35,000 to $49,999 88.5% 88.9% 89.8% 91.0% +0.9 +1.2 ±0.7
$50,000 to $74,999 92.4% 92.7% 93.5% 94.0% +0.8 +0.5 ±0.1
$75,000 or more 96.5% 96.7% 97.0% 97.3% +0.4 +0.3 ±0.1

Test 2: did states with more ACP enrollment slip? No. Across the 50 states and DC, the correlation between ACP enrollment (as a share of households) and the 2023 to 2024 change in broadband subscription was +0.53: high-enrollment states gained more, not less. The ten states with the highest enrollment rates gained 1.4 points on average, the ten lowest 0.5 points. But the same states were already gaining faster a year earlier (correlation +0.44 for 2022 to 2023), so the pattern predates the end of the program. Against the change in pace (the 2023 to 2024 gain minus the 2022 to 2023 gain), the correlation was only +0.10. Five states showed a decline, and none was larger than the combined margin of error.

-1.00+1.0+2.0+3.05%10%15%20%25%30%ACP enrollment, Feb 2024, as a share of 2023 householdsChange in broadband share, 2023 to 2024 (points)Alabama: ACP enrollment 413,668 (20.2% of households); broadband share 89.4% in 2023, 91.6% in 2024 (+2.2 points)Alaska: ACP enrollment 24,784 (9.0% of households); broadband share 93.1% in 2023, 93.6% in 2024 (+0.5 points)Arizona: ACP enrollment 522,188 (18.0% of households); broadband share 92.3% in 2023, 93.6% in 2024 (+1.2 points)Arkansas: ACP enrollment 215,017 (17.4% of households); broadband share 88.4% in 2023, 90.8% in 2024 (+2.4 points)ARCalifornia: ACP enrollment 2,945,282 (21.5% of households); broadband share 94.2% in 2023, 95.0% in 2024 (+0.8 points)Colorado: ACP enrollment 251,506 (10.4% of households); broadband share 94.5% in 2023, 94.9% in 2024 (+0.4 points)Connecticut: ACP enrollment 186,531 (12.9% of households); broadband share 92.6% in 2023, 94.0% in 2024 (+1.5 points)Delaware: ACP enrollment 52,446 (12.7% of households); broadband share 92.8% in 2023, 94.3% in 2024 (+1.5 points)District of Columbia: ACP enrollment 63,806 (19.1% of households); broadband share 92.1% in 2023, 92.5% in 2024 (+0.3 points)Florida: ACP enrollment 1,707,856 (19.0% of households); broadband share 92.9% in 2023, 94.3% in 2024 (+1.3 points)Georgia: ACP enrollment 722,473 (17.4% of households); broadband share 92.4% in 2023, 93.4% in 2024 (+1.1 points)Hawaii: ACP enrollment 60,721 (12.3% of households); broadband share 92.6% in 2023, 93.0% in 2024 (+0.4 points)Idaho: ACP enrollment 53,962 (7.4% of households); broadband share 92.8% in 2023, 92.8% in 2024 (-0.0 points)IDIllinois: ACP enrollment 704,532 (13.9% of households); broadband share 91.6% in 2023, 92.9% in 2024 (+1.3 points)Indiana: ACP enrollment 425,968 (15.5% of households); broadband share 90.8% in 2023, 92.0% in 2024 (+1.2 points)Iowa: ACP enrollment 124,054 (9.3% of households); broadband share 89.9% in 2023, 90.7% in 2024 (+0.8 points)Kansas: ACP enrollment 133,746 (11.3% of households); broadband share 91.6% in 2023, 92.5% in 2024 (+0.9 points)Kentucky: ACP enrollment 455,685 (24.6% of households); broadband share 90.1% in 2023, 90.9% in 2024 (+0.8 points)KYLouisiana: ACP enrollment 558,780 (30.5% of households); broadband share 88.0% in 2023, 90.5% in 2024 (+2.4 points)LAMaine: ACP enrollment 98,639 (16.0% of households); broadband share 91.8% in 2023, 92.4% in 2024 (+0.5 points)Maryland: ACP enrollment 287,722 (12.1% of households); broadband share 92.9% in 2023, 94.4% in 2024 (+1.5 points)Massachusetts: ACP enrollment 367,884 (13.1% of households); broadband share 93.9% in 2023, 94.4% in 2024 (+0.5 points)Michigan: ACP enrollment 941,244 (22.9% of households); broadband share 91.6% in 2023, 92.8% in 2024 (+1.2 points)Minnesota: ACP enrollment 244,916 (10.4% of households); broadband share 92.2% in 2023, 92.9% in 2024 (+0.7 points)Mississippi: ACP enrollment 244,280 (20.9% of households); broadband share 86.5% in 2023, 88.3% in 2024 (+1.8 points)Missouri: ACP enrollment 395,504 (15.5% of households); broadband share 90.7% in 2023, 91.3% in 2024 (+0.6 points)Montana: ACP enrollment 54,539 (11.5% of households); broadband share 90.9% in 2023, 91.5% in 2024 (+0.6 points)Nebraska: ACP enrollment 96,140 (11.8% of households); broadband share 92.1% in 2023, 91.9% in 2024 (-0.1 points)NENevada: ACP enrollment 276,024 (22.5% of households); broadband share 93.9% in 2023, 95.1% in 2024 (+1.2 points)New Hampshire: ACP enrollment 38,859 (6.8% of households); broadband share 93.9% in 2023, 95.3% in 2024 (+1.4 points)New Jersey: ACP enrollment 337,969 (9.6% of households); broadband share 94.0% in 2023, 94.8% in 2024 (+0.8 points)New Mexico: ACP enrollment 184,131 (21.5% of households); broadband share 88.6% in 2023, 90.5% in 2024 (+1.9 points)New York: ACP enrollment 1,792,187 (22.9% of households); broadband share 92.0% in 2023, 93.1% in 2024 (+1.1 points)NYNorth Carolina: ACP enrollment 901,394 (20.5% of households); broadband share 91.5% in 2023, 93.2% in 2024 (+1.6 points)North Dakota: ACP enrollment 17,742 (5.2% of households); broadband share 89.0% in 2023, 90.7% in 2024 (+1.7 points)NDOhio: ACP enrollment 1,157,054 (23.5% of households); broadband share 91.2% in 2023, 92.2% in 2024 (+1.1 points)OHOklahoma: ACP enrollment 351,879 (22.1% of households); broadband share 90.2% in 2023, 92.1% in 2024 (+2.0 points)Oregon: ACP enrollment 238,974 (13.6% of households); broadband share 93.3% in 2023, 93.7% in 2024 (+0.4 points)Pennsylvania: ACP enrollment 763,742 (14.3% of households); broadband share 91.0% in 2023, 92.1% in 2024 (+1.1 points)Rhode Island: ACP enrollment 83,516 (18.8% of households); broadband share 92.9% in 2023, 93.4% in 2024 (+0.6 points)South Carolina: ACP enrollment 415,680 (19.1% of households); broadband share 90.8% in 2023, 92.9% in 2024 (+2.1 points)South Dakota: ACP enrollment 24,194 (6.4% of households); broadband share 91.8% in 2023, 91.3% in 2024 (-0.5 points)SDTennessee: ACP enrollment 429,621 (14.9% of households); broadband share 91.0% in 2023, 92.5% in 2024 (+1.5 points)Texas: ACP enrollment 1,718,552 (15.3% of households); broadband share 92.5% in 2023, 93.7% in 2024 (+1.2 points)Utah: ACP enrollment 75,088 (6.4% of households); broadband share 94.1% in 2023, 94.1% in 2024 (-0.1 points)UTVermont: ACP enrollment 25,923 (9.3% of households); broadband share 92.0% in 2023, 92.7% in 2024 (+0.7 points)Virginia: ACP enrollment 470,457 (13.8% of households); broadband share 92.1% in 2023, 92.8% in 2024 (+0.7 points)Washington: ACP enrollment 358,024 (11.5% of households); broadband share 94.1% in 2023, 95.0% in 2024 (+0.8 points)West Virginia: ACP enrollment 128,571 (17.3% of households); broadband share 86.8% in 2023, 89.4% in 2024 (+2.6 points)WVWisconsin: ACP enrollment 426,733 (17.1% of households); broadband share 91.6% in 2023, 92.3% in 2024 (+0.7 points)Wyoming: ACP enrollment 21,736 (8.8% of households); broadband share 90.5% in 2023, 89.9% in 2024 (-0.6 points)WY

Each dot is a state; hover any dot for its values. Labeled: the highest and lowest enrollment rates, the largest gains, and every decline. Red dots are states whose 2024 rate was below 2023 (none statistically significant). ACP enrollment: USAC county file, enrollment as of February 8, 2024. Broadband: ACS 1-year.

What the data cannot tell us: the ACS asks whether the household has internet service and of what type, not what it pays, so it cannot show households that kept service at a higher price, switched plans, or moved to a provider’s own low-income plan. About five months of 2024 interviews came before the discount ended. The share of households whose only subscription is a cellular data plan rose from 11.9% to 12.6%, in line with the rise a year earlier (11.2% to 11.9%). The 2025 ACS 1-year estimates, the first full year without the program, are the real test; the Census Bureau’s August 2026 advisory said their release date was still being determined, and they had not been published when we pulled the data. We find no effect in the 2024 data and do not claim one.

Why households stay offline

NTIA asks households where no one uses the internet at home for their main reason. In November 2023 that was 20.1 million households in NTIA’s estimate (down from 31.8 million in 2013). Cost is a minority answer and falling; lack of interest dominates, especially for seniors. NTIA’s count is larger than the ACS count of households without a subscription; the two surveys ask different questions and are not comparable. Only 2.8% of offline households said service was not available, though that share is 7.0% outside metro areas.

Main reason no one is online at home 2019 2021 2023 2023, householder 65+ 2023, income under $25,000 2023, outside metro areas
Don’t need it or not interested 60.0% 57.5% 55.7% 67.5% 58.5% 57.4%
Too expensive 18.8% 18.1% 15.4% 10.5% 17.8% 13.5%
Privacy or security concerns 2.0% 2.4% 5.3% 3.7% 2.5% 2.2%
Can use it elsewhere 2.9% 2.1% 3.8% 1.0% 1.2% 3.1%
No or inadequate computer 2.9% 2.7% 3.2% 3.3% 4.4% 5.3%
Not available in area 3.2% 3.9% 2.8% 1.9% 1.9% 7.0%

Share of households where no one uses the internet at home, NTIA Internet Use Survey. The six listed reasons sum to 86.4% of offline households in 2023; the rest gave other reasons or none.

The FCC map points the same way. As of December 2025, 95.4% of residential units could get at least 100/20 Mbps from a wired or licensed fixed wireless provider, 98.5% in urban areas but 85.0% in rural areas and 85.6% on Tribal lands. A year earlier (December 2024) the national figure was 93.7%. That compares with 76.5% of households subscribing to cable, fiber, or DSL in 2024. Across states, 100/20 availability (December 2024) and cable, fiber, or DSL subscription (2024) moved together (correlation +0.79), and in every state and DC availability ran ahead of wired subscription, by 7.1 points in West Virginia up to 21.7 points in Iowa. The two counts use different denominators (residential units versus occupied households) and some households choose cellular or satellite service, so the difference is an upper bound on homes that could get a wired line and do not have one.

Devices: the smartphone-only household

9.9%of households have a smartphone and no other computer (2021: 9.1%), about 13.2 million households
12.6%have a cellular data plan as their only internet subscription (2021: 10.9%)
3.4%have no computer of any kind, including smartphones (2021: 5.0%)

Highest smartphone-only shares, 2024

Mississippi17.5%
Arkansas17.0%
Louisiana16.3%
Alabama15.0%
Oklahoma14.2%
Kentucky13.1%
West Virginia12.8%
Tennessee12.2%

Smartphone dependence is the quiet part of the gap. The share of households with no computer at all fell, but the share whose only device is a phone rose, and the share whose only internet subscription is a cellular plan rose faster. Mississippi (17.5%), Arkansas (17.0%), and Louisiana (16.3%) have the highest smartphone-only shares; Vermont has the lowest (5.4%). Outside metro and micro areas, 15.8% of households rely on a cellular plan alone and 12.1% have satellite service, against 12.2% and 6.1% in metro areas.

Phone-only and cellular-only homes matter to anyone hiring remote staff. Telework patterns are in our remote work statistics, and business phone service has moved to the same broadband lines, as our VoIP statistics show.

Global context: internet use worldwide

World (2025)73.6%
Low-income countries (2025)23.4%
Lower-middle-income (2025)62.9%
Upper-middle-income (2025)88.8%
High-income countries (2025)94.2%
United States (2024)94.7%
South Korea (2024)97.9%
United Kingdom (2024)95.5%
Canada (2024)94.4%
Germany (2024)93.5%

The global numbers measure something different: the share of people (not households) who used the internet in the last three months. ITU estimates about 74% of the world’s population was online in 2025, roughly 6 billion people, with 94% in high-income countries and 23% in low-income countries. The United States was at 94.7% in 2024, below South Korea (97.9%) and the United Kingdom (95.5%) and close to Canada (94.4%).

Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, retrieved through the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (series IT.NET.USER.ZS, CC BY 4.0, attributed to ITU). These figures are shown for context and are not part of our downloadable dataset.

The full state table

State Households, 2024 Broadband, 2024 Margin (pts) Change since 2021 (pts) No internet subscription Cellular plan only Smartphone-only 100/20 Mbps available, Dec 2025 ACP enrollment rate, Feb 2024
Mississippi 1,176,690 88.3% ±0.7 +6.5 136,573 15.4% 17.5% 95.2% 20.9%
West Virginia 740,840 89.4% ±0.7 +4.4 77,070 12.3% 12.8% 83.2% 17.3%
Wyoming 256,289 89.9% ±1.2 -0.4 25,432 11.0% 10.9% 84.8% 8.8%
Louisiana 1,848,965 90.5% ±0.5 +5.0 174,780 16.1% 16.3% 90.9% 30.5%
New Mexico 856,970 90.5% ±0.7 +6.2 80,159 13.5% 11.7% 91.3% 21.5%
North Dakota 349,705 90.7% ±0.7 +2.7 32,034 9.4% 9.8% 99.8% 5.2%
Iowa 1,343,422 90.7% ±0.4 +2.4 122,150 13.4% 11.6% 96.2% 9.3%
Arkansas 1,246,754 90.8% ±0.5 +5.2 113,534 15.3% 17.0% 90.5% 17.4%
Kentucky 1,865,456 90.9% ±0.4 +3.8 169,093 13.5% 13.1% 92.1% 24.6%
South Dakota 382,302 91.3% ±0.7 +3.3 32,584 10.0% 9.7% 95.9% 6.4%
Missouri 2,563,244 91.3% ±0.3 +2.8 220,031 13.9% 11.6% 93.8% 15.5%
Montana 468,981 91.5% ±0.7 +2.7 38,944 12.8% 8.7% 84.5% 11.5%
Alabama 2,059,528 91.6% ±0.3 +6.6 170,097 15.1% 15.0% 90.8% 20.2%
Nebraska 824,012 91.9% ±0.5 +2.2 65,494 11.3% 10.0% 95.6% 11.8%
Indiana 2,775,637 92.0% ±0.3 +2.7 219,691 13.8% 11.9% 96.1% 15.5%
Pennsylvania 5,361,724 92.1% ±0.2 +3.3 413,946 13.4% 9.3% 96.5% 14.3%
Oklahoma 1,603,748 92.1% ±0.3 +4.3 124,603 15.7% 14.2% 93.8% 22.1%
Ohio 4,929,322 92.2% ±0.2 +3.3 378,015 12.0% 11.2% 95.9% 23.5%
Wisconsin 2,535,198 92.3% ±0.3 +2.7 190,450 11.6% 9.6% 90.6% 17.1%
Maine 615,235 92.4% ±0.5 +2.6 45,000 9.9% 8.8% 92.7% 16.0%
District of Columbia 329,687 92.5% ±0.5 +2.3 24,638 10.2% 6.1% 99.9% 19.1%
Tennessee 2,928,765 92.5% ±0.3 +4.5 217,747 12.1% 12.2% 97.7% 14.9%
Kansas 1,204,374 92.5% ±0.4 +2.7 88,617 12.4% 10.8% 95.8% 11.3%
Vermont 285,548 92.7% ±0.7 +3.5 20,068 9.3% 5.4% 91.4% 9.3%
Idaho 751,181 92.8% ±0.4 +2.3 53,062 12.2% 8.8% 88.8% 7.4%
Virginia 3,449,307 92.8% ±0.3 +2.2 244,550 12.1% 8.4% 93.7% 13.8%
Michigan 4,131,281 92.8% ±0.2 +2.8 293,288 14.3% 10.7% 94.2% 22.9%
Minnesota 2,363,442 92.9% ±0.3 +1.6 165,253 12.0% 7.9% 97.0% 10.4%
South Carolina 2,222,890 92.9% ±0.3 +5.2 156,789 12.5% 11.3% 97.2% 19.1%
Illinois 5,105,448 92.9% ±0.2 +3.2 356,428 14.0% 10.2% 97.1% 13.9%
Hawaii 493,151 93.0% ±0.6 +1.7 33,998 11.4% 8.4% 96.9% 12.3%
New York 7,828,074 93.1% ±0.2 +2.7 532,309 13.4% 9.4% 97.8% 22.9%
North Carolina 4,496,359 93.2% ±0.3 +4.3 303,541 11.6% 10.2% 94.4% 20.5%
Georgia 4,220,732 93.4% ±0.3 +3.5 274,030 12.2% 10.2% 96.6% 17.4%
Rhode Island 448,318 93.4% ±0.8 +2.7 28,728 13.9% 9.6% 97.6% 18.8%
Arizona 2,982,475 93.6% ±0.3 +2.1 188,883 13.1% 8.8% 92.4% 18.0%
Alaska 274,045 93.6% ±0.7 +2.9 17,496 17.4% 10.6% 80.3% 9.0%
Oregon 1,744,270 93.7% ±0.3 +2.1 108,077 11.1% 7.5% 94.4% 13.6%
Texas 11,449,769 93.7% ±0.2 +3.5 714,992 13.3% 11.5% 95.5% 15.3%
Connecticut 1,455,235 94.0% ±0.4 +1.9 85,163 11.2% 7.8% 98.4% 12.9%
Utah 1,184,428 94.1% ±0.5 +0.6 69,988 8.9% 5.8% 97.0% 6.4%
Florida 9,141,675 94.3% ±0.1 +3.8 518,512 12.5% 9.0% 96.6% 19.0%
Delaware 412,304 94.3% ±0.6 +2.4 23,177 11.9% 7.5% 98.8% 12.7%
Massachusetts 2,829,804 94.4% ±0.3 +2.2 156,519 10.9% 7.5% 99.4% 13.1%
Maryland 2,401,394 94.4% ±0.3 +2.6 132,120 11.4% 6.6% 98.8% 12.1%
New Jersey 3,543,944 94.8% ±0.2 +2.9 180,927 11.5% 7.8% 98.8% 9.6%
Colorado 2,479,892 94.9% ±0.2 +1.9 123,747 10.1% 6.8% 94.9% 10.4%
Washington 3,168,080 95.0% ±0.2 +1.5 155,610 10.5% 6.8% 92.9% 11.5%
California 13,797,638 95.0% ±0.1 +2.1 679,419 12.0% 8.6% 96.5% 21.5%
Nevada 1,238,925 95.1% ±0.4 +4.6 59,761 13.6% 10.2% 94.3% 22.5%
New Hampshire 570,689 95.3% ±0.4 +2.9 26,405 8.8% 6.0% 98.0% 6.8%

Sorted from lowest broadband share. Broadband, subscription, and device columns: ACS 1-year. Availability: FCC National Broadband Map, residential units served by wired or licensed fixed wireless at 100/20 Mbps or faster. ACP enrollment rate: USAC enrollments as of February 8, 2024, divided by ACS 2023 households.

What this means for MSPs

Plan for the phone-only user. About one household in ten has no computer other than a smartphone, and about one in eight relies on a cellular plan alone. For clients with field staff, seasonal hires, or customers in Mississippi, Arkansas, or rural areas, test portals, MFA enrollment, and onboarding flows on a phone over a cellular connection.

Remote-work eligibility is a broadband question. When a client hires remote staff in a low-subscription state or outside metro areas, add a home connectivity check to onboarding (fixed service type, upload speed, backup option).

Rural sites need a second path. FCC data shows rural 100/20 availability at 85.0%, against 98.5% urban. For rural branch offices, budget a failover link (fixed wireless, satellite, or cellular) and treat it like the UPS: our power outage statistics show the same rural exposure on the electrical side.

Don’t assume affordability programs will cover clients’ staff. The ACP is gone and the 2024 data shows no collapse, but the full-year effect will not be visible until the 2025 survey. Lifeline remains the federal low-income program.

Frequently asked questions

How many US households do not have internet access?

In the 2024 American Community Survey, 8.9 million US households (6.7%) had no internet subscription. Of those, 6.0 million had no internet access at all and 2.8 million had access without paying for a subscription. In 2021 the number without a subscription was 12.4 million.

What percentage of US households have broadband?

93.2% of US households had a broadband subscription of some type in 2024, up from 90.1% in 2021. That count includes cellular data plans; 76.5% had a cable, fiber, or DSL subscription.

Which states have the lowest internet access?

Mississippi (88.3%), West Virginia (89.4%), Wyoming (89.9%), and Louisiana (90.5%) had the lowest broadband subscription rates in 2024. New Hampshire was highest at 95.3%.

Is the digital divide growing or shrinking?

Shrinking on every gap we measured. From 2021 to 2024 the broadband gap between people 65 and older and adults 18 to 64 narrowed from 10.8 to 7.5 points, and the gap between households under $20,000 and those at $75,000 or more narrowed from 22.9 to 16.8 points.

Did internet access drop after the Affordable Connectivity Program ended?

Not in the 2024 Census data. Broadband subscription among households under $10,000 rose 2.8 points from 2023 to 2024, more than the 2.2-point rise a year earlier, and states with the most ACP enrollment did not fall behind. The 2025 survey, the first full year after the program, has not been released.

What percentage of the world uses the internet?

About 74% of the world’s population used the internet in 2025, according to ITU estimates published through the World Bank. In high-income countries it was 94%, and in low-income countries 23%.

Download the data. us-internet-access-by-state-2021-2024.csv (CSV). Licensed under CC BY 4.0: free to reuse with attribution to The Uptime Report.

Methodology

Sources. (1) US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates, table-based summary files for 2021 to 2024, tables B28001 (types of computers), B28002 (internet subscriptions), B28004 (income by subscription), B28005 (age by computer and subscription), and B28009A to I (race and ethnicity by computer and subscription). (2) NTIA Data Explorer, analyze-table CSV, NTIA Internet Use Survey (Current Population Survey Computer and Internet Use Supplement), waves November 1994 to November 2023. (3) FCC National Broadband Map, fixed broadband summary by geography type, December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2025 filings. (4) USAC, ACP enrollments by county as of February 8, 2024. (5) World Bank World Development Indicators, IT.NET.USER.ZS (ITU data). All retrieved October 15, 2026.

Definitions. “Broadband subscription” is ACS B28002 line 4 (broadband of any type, including cellular data plans) divided by all households. “No internet subscription” is internet access without a subscription plus no internet access (B28002 lines 12 and 13). Smartphone-only is B28001 line 6. For age and race (B28005, B28009), a person counts as connected if the household has a computer, which in the ACS includes smartphones and tablets, and a broadband subscription. Place rows use ACS geographic components: in a metropolitan statistical area, in a micropolitan area, and outside any metro or micro area; urban and rural components are not published in the 2024 1-year tables. NTIA figures are the share of households where anyone uses the internet at home, by the householder’s characteristics (family income for income). FCC availability is the share of residential units with service at 100/20 Mbps or faster from wired or licensed fixed wireless technologies, which excludes satellite and unlicensed fixed wireless.

Calculations. Margins of error for proportions use the Census Bureau’s formula for derived proportions at 90% confidence. The ACP correlation is a Pearson correlation across 50 states and DC between enrollment (USAC county counts summed by state, excluding records outside the 50 states and DC) divided by ACS 2023 households, and the 2023 to 2024 change in broadband share.

Limitations. The ACS and NTIA surveys ask different questions and their levels are not comparable. ACS 1-year estimates for small groups (for example, federal reservations) carry wide margins of error. FCC availability counts residential units, including vacant ones, while ACS counts occupied households. The 2025 ACS 1-year estimates had not been released at retrieval. ITU figures are shown for context only, are not included in our CSV, and remain attributed to ITU.

Not advice. This is an analysis of public data, not guidance for any specific network or hiring decision.

Cite as:The Uptime Report. "Internet Access Statistics 2026: 8.9 Million US Households Have No Home Internet Subscription, and the Gaps Kept Closing After ACP Ended." October 2026. https://theuptimereport.com/internet-access-statistics/

References

  1. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year table-based summary files (2021 to 2024). Accessed October 2026.
  2. NTIA Data Explorer, Internet Use Survey. Accessed October 2026.
  3. FCC National Broadband Map, nationwide data downloads. Accessed October 2026.
  4. USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker. Accessed October 2026.
  5. FCC, Affordable Connectivity Program. Accessed October 2026.
  6. USAC, Affordable Connectivity Program. Accessed October 2026.
  7. World Bank, Individuals using the Internet (% of population), source ITU. Accessed October 2026.
  8. ITU, Facts and Figures 2025: Internet use. Accessed October 2026.
  9. US Census Bureau, 2025 ACS release media advisory. Accessed October 2026.

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