Having a reliable internet connection has become even more important for people around the country trying to work from home and stay connected. However, over a quarter of Americans still don’t have access to a consistent broadband internet connection.
In a survey from the Pew Research Center, only 73 percent of Americans have a broadband connection in their home. Those numbers go down drastically in rural, uneducated households, where only 63 percent of rural households and 56 percent of households with a high school degree or less have access to internet.
Unsurprisingly, 92 percent of households making more than $75,000 a year have a reliable broadband connection, while only 56 percent of those making less than $30,000 have the same.
Broadband support in rural and poorer regions of the country has long lagged behind urban areas. Treatment of internet as a private service has come under scrutiny in the last decade as more and more livelihoods depend upon a solid internet connection. With COVID-19 forcing people to rely even more on the internet, the conversation of treating internet services as a public utility may rise to prominence.
