Trends and Disparities in Broadband Internet Access in the United States, 2013 to 2023

Since the turn of the century, sociologists and other scholars concerned about digital inequality have most often been concerned about disparities in the quality of Internet use, not necessarily the availability of Internet access itself. However, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic laid bare the...

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Main Author: Spencer Allen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-08-01
Series:Socius
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251363238
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author Spencer Allen
author_facet Spencer Allen
author_sort Spencer Allen
collection DOAJ
description Since the turn of the century, sociologists and other scholars concerned about digital inequality have most often been concerned about disparities in the quality of Internet use, not necessarily the availability of Internet access itself. However, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic laid bare the fact that the Internet’s potential benefits to mitigating the spread of the virus were available only to those with Internet access. In this visualization, the author uses household-level data from the American Community Survey from 2013 to 2023 ( n  = 10,713,204 households) to estimate a linear probability model predicting Internet access by race/ethnicity, household educational attainment, and poverty status. The results suggest that household Internet access has increased over the past decade, but disparities still exist on all three dimensions.
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spelling doaj-art-01a8ffd148954f47b5ac75f30bc7ac2f2025-08-20T03:41:10ZengSAGE PublishingSocius2378-02312025-08-011110.1177/23780231251363238Trends and Disparities in Broadband Internet Access in the United States, 2013 to 2023Spencer Allen0University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, USASince the turn of the century, sociologists and other scholars concerned about digital inequality have most often been concerned about disparities in the quality of Internet use, not necessarily the availability of Internet access itself. However, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic laid bare the fact that the Internet’s potential benefits to mitigating the spread of the virus were available only to those with Internet access. In this visualization, the author uses household-level data from the American Community Survey from 2013 to 2023 ( n  = 10,713,204 households) to estimate a linear probability model predicting Internet access by race/ethnicity, household educational attainment, and poverty status. The results suggest that household Internet access has increased over the past decade, but disparities still exist on all three dimensions.https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251363238
spellingShingle Spencer Allen
Trends and Disparities in Broadband Internet Access in the United States, 2013 to 2023
Socius
title Trends and Disparities in Broadband Internet Access in the United States, 2013 to 2023
title_full Trends and Disparities in Broadband Internet Access in the United States, 2013 to 2023
title_fullStr Trends and Disparities in Broadband Internet Access in the United States, 2013 to 2023
title_full_unstemmed Trends and Disparities in Broadband Internet Access in the United States, 2013 to 2023
title_short Trends and Disparities in Broadband Internet Access in the United States, 2013 to 2023
title_sort trends and disparities in broadband internet access in the united states 2013 to 2023
url https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251363238
work_keys_str_mv AT spencerallen trendsanddisparitiesinbroadbandinternetaccessintheunitedstates2013to2023