Contents
- Household broadband use statistics: U.S. home broadband subscriptions
- U.S. broadband subscriptions by race, ethnicity and community type
- Household broadband use statistics: Irish access and connection types
- Irish broadband use by household composition and deprivation
- OECD fixed broadband coverage by speed
- Irish household internet access and reasons for non-adoption
- Sources
Household broadband use statistics: U.S. home broadband subscriptions
In a survey conducted from February 5 to June 18, 2025, 78% of U.S. adults said they subscribed to broadband at home. The measure is self-reported adult subscription, not a count of all U.S. households or a measure of connection speed.
Reported subscriptions differed by age. Among adults ages 30–49, 87% said they had home broadband, compared with 71% of adults ages 18–29. The figure was 79% among adults ages 50–64 and 70% among those 65 and older. These figures describe age groups within the adult survey population; they do not indicate why subscription rates differ.
Source: Pew Research Center, “Internet use, smartphone ownership, digital divides in the U.S.: What we know”.
U.S. broadband subscriptions by race, ethnicity and community type
The same Pew survey found differences across reported race and ethnicity categories. Home broadband subscription was reported by 81% of White adults, 71% of Black adults, and 68% of Hispanic adults. Pew’s categories define White and Black adults as people reporting only one race and not Hispanic; Hispanic adults may be of any race. The estimate for Asian adults was 86%, but Pew notes that this estimate represents English speakers only.
Subscription rates also varied by community type: 84% of suburban adults said they subscribed to broadband at home, compared with 75% of urban adults and 71% of rural adults. These are reported subscription rates, not measures of whether a broadband network is available at every address. The survey figures alone do not establish the reasons behind the differences.
Source: Pew Research Center, “Internet use, smartphone ownership, digital divides in the U.S.: What we know”. Survey conducted February 5–June 18, 2025.
Household broadband use statistics: Irish access and connection types
Ireland’s 2024 household statistics measure a different population and distinguish internet access from broadband connection type. Overall, 94% of private households with at least one occupant aged 16 or older had an internet connection. Among households that had internet access, 86% had fixed broadband, 31% had mobile broadband, and 1% had a narrowband connection.
These connection-type percentages use households with internet access as their denominator. They should not be read as shares of all Irish households, and they do not add to 100%: a household may have more than one type of connection. The 94% figure, by contrast, is the share of all households in the stated statistical population that had internet access.
Regional figures show variation in fixed broadband among connected households. In Dublin, 90% of households with internet access had fixed broadband; in the Mid-East, 89%. The corresponding figures were 78% in the Border region, 84% in the Midland, 81% in the West, 85% in the Mid-West, and 86% in both the South-East and South-West. Each percentage describes fixed broadband among households with internet access in that region, not the share of all regional households connected to the internet.
Source: Central Statistics Office Ireland, “Household Internet Connectivity, Internet Coverage and Usage in Ireland 2024”, Tables 3.1 and 3.2. Figures refer to 2024.
Irish broadband use by household composition and deprivation
Among Irish households that already had internet access, fixed broadband use varied by household composition. It was 78% for one-adult households without dependent children and 90% for two-adult households without dependent children. For households with dependent children, the reported figures were 85% for one-adult households, 90% for two-adult households, and 93% for households with three or more adults.
Area deprivation quintiles also showed a range. Fixed broadband was reported by 84% of connected households in very disadvantaged areas and 82% in disadvantaged areas. The proportion was 85% in average-deprivation areas, 88% in affluent areas, and 91% in very affluent areas.
These figures compare connection type among households with internet access; they are not internet-access rates for all households in those groups. The data show differences across the listed categories, but do not explain their causes. In particular, area deprivation categories describe the area, not an individual household’s income or circumstances.
Source: Central Statistics Office Ireland, “Household Internet Connectivity, Internet Coverage and Usage in Ireland 2024”, Table 3.2. Figures refer to 2024 and use households with internet access as the denominator.
OECD fixed broadband coverage by speed
Coverage statistics describe network availability, not whether a household subscribes. In 2023, 92.3% of total households across the OECD had access to a fixed broadband offer capable of delivering at least 30 Mbps download. For rural households, the reported OECD figure was 78.5%.
At the 100 Mbps threshold, 81.3% of total OECD households were in areas with fixed broadband networks capable of delivering that download speed. Rural coverage was 58.7%. The gap between the total-household and rural figures was therefore larger at 100 Mbps than at the 30 Mbps threshold in the reported measures.
These are OECD-wide coverage figures for 2023. They describe availability at specified speeds, rather than actual household use, subscribed packages, or achieved speeds. They are also not Ireland-only or U.S.-only estimates.
Source: OECD, “Closing Broadband Connectivity Divides for All: From Evidence to Practice”, page 25, discussion of Figure 2.1. Coverage figures refer to 2023.
Irish household internet access and reasons for non-adoption
Ireland’s 2024 figures put household internet access at 94% overall. The rate was 85% among one-adult households without dependent children, while 97% of households in Dublin had access. These are subgroup access rates among all households in each stated category, rather than fixed broadband shares among connected households.
For households without internet access, the most frequently reported reason listed was that internet was not needed: 56% reported this reason. Lack of skills was reported by 23%. Smaller shares cited equipment costs being too high (9%), access costs being too high (7%), or broadband not being available in the area (5%). Another 10% reported having access to the internet elsewhere.
The reason percentages apply only to Irish households without internet access. More than one reason could be given, so the percentages are not mutually exclusive and should not be summed to estimate a total. The results distinguish stated reasons from measures of network coverage: in particular, reported costs, skills, or lack of need are not interchangeable explanations.
Source: Central Statistics Office Ireland, “Household Internet Connectivity, Internet Coverage and Usage in Ireland 2024”, Tables 3.1 and 3.3. Figures refer to 2024.