NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration ) reports…

Results from the latest NTIA Internet Use Survey point to significant progress toward achieving Internet for All, as 13 million more people used the Internet in the United States in 2023 compared with just two years earlier.

Some details…

• 83 percent of people ages 3 and older in the United States used the Internet in some fashion in 2023, compared with 80 percent in 2021. That’s the largest increase since the 2015-2017 period.
• These gains came in large part from segments of the population that historically have been more likely to find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide. For example, 83 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives used the Internet in 2023, up from 75 percent in 2021.
• Internet adoption also increased among those in lower-income households, from 69 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in 2023 among those in households making less than $25,000 per year (see Figure 2).
• 72 percent of people lived in households with both fixed and mobile Internet connections in 2023, up from 69 percent in 2021.
• Just 12 percent of people lived in households without any Internet connection in 2023, compared with 14 percent in 2021.
• Despite significant gains, persons in lower-income households remained considerably less likely than their higher-income counterparts to have both fixed and mobile connections and were more likely to either have no household connections or be mobile-only.
  • 80 percent of people in households making $100,000 or more per year had both fixed and mobile connections.
  • Only 54 percent of those in households making less than $25,000 had both (see Figure 3).
• Some Americans were substantially less likely to have a desktop, laptop or tablet, than others.
  • 72 percent of White non-Hispanics and 71 percent of Asians used a desktop, laptop or tablet in 2023.
  • But only 62 percent of Black Americans, 57 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives, and 54 percent of Hispanics used a desktop, laptop or tablet.
• Those same groups are also much more likely to rely entirely on a smartphone for their Internet access:
  • 25 percent of Hispanics are smartphone only users, as well as
  • 22 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives, and
  • 16 percent of Black Americans.
  • That’s compared with 12 percent each of White non-Hispanics and Asians.