Built Environment – Households with No or Slow Internet
This indicator reports the percentage of households who either use dial-up as their only way of internet connection, or have internet access but don’t pay for the service, or have no internet access in their household.
Source
Source Description
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities with reliable and timely social, economic, housing, and demographic data every year. The ACS has an annual sample size of about 3.5 million addresses, with survey information collected nearly every day of the year. Data are pooled across a calendar year to produce estimates for that year. As a result, ACS estimates reflect data that have been collected over a period of time rather than for a single point in time as in the decennial census, which is conducted every 10 years and provides population counts as of April 1. The Census Bureau combines 5 consecutive years of ACS data to produce estimates for geographic areas with fewer than 65,000 residents. These 5-year estimates represent data collected over a period of 60 months. Because the ACS is based on a sample, rather than all housing units and people, ACS estimates have a degree of uncertainty associated with them, called sampling error. In general, the larger the sample, the smaller the level of sampling error. Data users should be careful in drawing conclusions about small differences between two ACS estimates because they may not be statistically different.
For more information about this source, including data collection methodology and definitions, refer to the American Community Survey data user’s website.
Methodology
Counts of households are acquired from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Data represent estimates for the 5-year period 2019-2023. Mapped data are summarized to 2023 census tract boundaries. The data on internet access are obtained from Housing Question 9 and 10 in the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) and used by CARES to calculate the rate of households with no or slow internet access. Both questions are asked at occupied housing units. The data on Question 9 show whether any member of the household has access to the internet, regardless of whether or not they pay for the service. For a response of either “Yes, without paying a cell phone company or Internet service provider” or “No access to the Internet at this house, apartment, or mobile home”, they are counted by CARES into “No or SLow Internet”. If a responder answers “Yes, by paying a cell phone company or Internet service provider”, they are asked to select the type of internet service in Question 10, including cellular data plan for a smartphone, high speed broadband, satellite, dial-up, and other service. For the person who reports dial-up with no other type of Internet subscription, they are also counted as “No or Slow Internet”. Therefore, households with no or slow internet are composed of three types of households – using dial-up only, having internet access without a subscription, and with no internet access. For more information on the data reported in the American Community Survey, please see the complete American Community Survey 2023 Subject Definitions.
Data Breakouts Available
- Population without a Computer or an Internet Subscription by Employment Status