Broadband Internet Penetration Pegged At 82% of US Households

January 4, 2018

This article is included in these additional categories:

Demographics & Audiences | Digital | Household Income | Mobile Phone | Non-mobile Connected Devices

Fully 84% of US households now get some type of internet service at home, up 10% points over the past decade, according to a Leichtman Research Group (LRG) study. While internet service usage is only up a point over the past 5 years, the type of service used is changing.

Broadband now accounts for virtually all (98%) of home internet service. As as result, 82% of US households now have a broadband internet service, per the report, which is up from 76% in 2012.

Earlier figures from LRG indicated that the broadband subscriber market surpassed the pay-TV subscriber market in size during Q2 2017.

Along with growing use of broadband, a significantly higher share of adults are now using smartphones to access the internet. This latest study found three-quarters of adults now accessing the internet via smartphone, up from 44% in 2012. (Smartphone penetration tops 80% of adults, per recent research.)

About two-thirds of US households now have internet service at home and also access the internet via smartphone. Some 16% only get internet at home (and don’t access via smartphone), while 7% only access the internet on a smartphone, and don’t have home internet service.

Data from comScore indicates that – regardless of their incidence of broadband penetration – about 1 in 8 Americans accesses the internet solely via mobile devices.

In other highlights from the study, LRG reports that:

  • Broadband penetration is higher among households with incomes greater than $50k (91%) than among those with income below that threshold (72%);
  • More than 9 in 10 households (91%) access the internet via home service and/or on a smartphone, with that figure up from 85% in 2012; and
  • Some 85% of households features at least one laptop or desktop, with the vast majority (93%) of these households having home internet service.

About the Data: The results are based on a Leichtman Research Group survey of 1,203 adults (18+) from throughout the continental US. The telephone survey was conducted in Q4 2017 with a margin of error of +/- 2.8%.

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