Internet use, smartphone ownership, digital divides in the US: What we know

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For 25 years, Pew Research Center has tracked some of the biggest technological shifts in history.

	Subscribe to broadband at home	Have a smartphone
3/31/2000	1	NA
3/1/2001	6	NA
9/10/2001	7	NA
9/19/2001	7	NA
10/1/2001	6	NA
10/7/2001	6	NA
10/18/2001	8	NA
11/18/2001	8	NA
12/23/2001	9	NA
1/31/2002	9	NA
5/19/2002	11	NA
7/26/2002	11	NA
10/6/2002	15	NA
10/27/2002	12	NA
11/24/2002	15	NA
12/22/2002	12	NA
3/24/2003	15	NA
3/25/2003	16	NA
5/20/2003	16	NA
6/24/2003	16	NA
8/3/2003	17	NA
12/14/2003	19	NA
3/1/2004	24	NA
3/17/2004	25	NA
6/17/2004	23	NA
7/3/2004	25	NA
11/22/2004	26	NA
11/30/2004	25	NA
2/9/2005	29	NA
3/21/2005	29	NA
6/7/2005	33	NA
12/8/2005	37	NA
12/31/2005	36	NA
2/6/2006	41	NA
3/28/2006	42	NA
4/6/2006	42	NA
8/31/2006	43	NA
12/4/2006	46	NA
12/30/2006	44	NA
9/5/2007	51	NA
12/2/2007	54	NA
1/13/2008	51	NA
5/11/2008	54	NA
8/10/2008	58	NA
8/31/2008	57	NA
12/4/2008	56	NA
12/20/2008	55	NA
4/19/2009	62	NA
6/21/2009	62	NA
9/14/2009	62	NA
12/27/2009	59	NA
1/19/2010	61	NA
5/30/2010	64	NA
9/13/2010	60	NA
11/24/2010	60	NA
12/21/2010	62	NA
5/22/2011	60	35
8/26/2011	62	NA
1/8/2012	67	NA
1/15/2012	NA	39
2/19/2012	65	45
4/3/2012	66	46
8/5/2012	NA	44
9/6/2012	NA	45
9/23/2012	NA	43
11/10/2012	68	46
12/9/2012	65	45
1/6/2013	NA	51
5/19/2013	70	56
7/14/2013	NA	53
7/28/2013	NA	53
9/16/2013	NA	54
9/30/2013	70	55
10/6/2013	NA	58
1/5/2014	NA	55
1/12/2014	NA	58
1/26/2014	NA	55
12/21/2014	NA	59
4/12/2015	66	67
7/12/2015	67	68
11/15/2015	67	69
4/4/2016	70	72
5/3/2016	NA	70
11/6/2016	73	77
1/10/2018	65	77
2/7/2019	73	81
2/8/2021	77	85
9/5/2023	80	90
6/10/2024	79	91
6/18/2025	78	91

Today, most Americans subscribe to home broadband internet and own a smartphone. About four-in-ten describe their internet use as almost constant.

But use of these technologies is not universal. For instance, Americans with the lowest household incomes are far less likely than their higher-income peers to subscribe to broadband internet at home.

Below, we’ll walk through findings on technology use and digital divides from our 2025 survey:

About this research

This Pew Research Center analysis is the latest in our long-running series on technology adoption in the United States. For two decades, we’ve surveyed Americans to understand things like who subscribes to broadband – also known as high-speed internet – at home; who has a smartphone; how often people go online; and whether they rely on smartphones for internet.

Why did we do this?

The Center conducts research to inform the public, journalists and decision-makers. Technology impacts nearly every aspect of American life today, and it’s important to understand who does and doesn’t have access to it. Looking across groups helps us better understand the “digital divide.” And looking back at many years of data helps us see how people have adopted these technologies over time.

Learn more about Pew Research Center.

How did we do this?

This analysis is based on findings from the National Public Opinion Reference Survey, a Center survey of 5,022 U.S. adults. We allowed people to respond online, by mail or by phone. The survey represents the views of all U.S. adults.

The survey was conducted Feb. 5-June 18, 2025. Its overall margin of error is plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.

This analysis also includes past data. The ways we’ve allowed people to respond to these surveys have evolved over the years, including in 2023 and again in 2024. For more on these shifts and how we approached them, read our mobile and broadband fact sheets and our Q&A.

Here are the questions used for this analysis, the topline and the survey methodology.

How often do Americans go online?

Screen time for kids and teens often makes headlines. At the same time, many adults spend lots of time in front of screens, too.

Nine-in-ten U.S. adults use the internet daily, including 41% who say they’re online almost constantly. This is on par with what we found in 2023 and 2024.

	Almost constantly	Several times a day	About once a day	Several times a week	Less often	Do not use	NET Daily
U.S. adults	41	43	6	3	2	4	90

By demographic groups

Vast majorities across demographic groups go online daily. But there are big differences in near-constant internet use.

Group	category	Percent
U.S. adults	all	41
Ages 18-29	age	63
30-49	age	54
50-64	age	33
65+	age	14
White	race & ethnicity	37
Black	race & ethnicity	44
Hispanic	race & ethnicity	47
Asian*	race & ethnicity	59
	income
Less than $30K	income	34
$30K-$69,999	income	38
$70K-$99,999	income	43
$100K+	income	50

Some of the largest differences are by age. A majority of adults ages 18 to 29 (63%) say they’re online almost constantly. This share falls to 14% of those 65 and older.

There are also differences by household income. Today, half of adults who live in households earning $100,000 or more annually say they’re online almost constantly. Adults with lower incomes are less likely to say this. Still, 34% of those making under $30,000 annually are online this often. We’ve seen differences by income in recent years, too.

In addition, today 59% of Asian adults are online almost constantly. Hispanic and Black adults are less likely to say this, and White adults are the least likely.

Who has home broadband internet?

We also track what kinds of internet subscriptions people have – including who subscribes to broadband.

Today, about eight-in-ten Americans say they subscribe to broadband at home. Broadband – also commonly known as high-speed internet – includes a range of ways to get online, from wireless routers to cable to satellite internet. (For more on how we defined this, read the questionnaire.)

By demographic groups

Over the years, some of the biggest and most consistent divides in home internet access have been by household income. That remains true today.

	group	Subscribe to broadband at home
U.S. adults	all	78
Ages 18-29	ages	71
30-49	ages	87
50-64	ages	79
65+	ages	70
White	race & ethnicity	81
Black	race & ethnicity	71
Hispanic	race & ethnicity	68
Asian*	race & ethnicity	86
	income
Less than $30K	income	54
$30K-$69,999	income	75
$70K-$99,999	income	88
$100K+	income	94
Urban	community type	75
Suburban	community type	84
Rural	community type	71

Americans in households making under $30,000 a year are far less likely than those with higher incomes to subscribe to home broadband. In this lowest-income group, 54% do, compared with 94% of those in the highest-income households – a 40 percentage point gap.

When it comes to the communities people live in, urban and rural Americans subscribe to home broadband at similar rates. But both groups are less likely than suburban adults to do so.

Black and Hispanic adults are also less likely than White or Asian adults to subscribe to broadband.

Changes over time

Overall, the share of Americans who subscribe to broadband has held fairly steady in the past few years. That’s also true for many demographic groups.

But between 2023 and now, it dipped slightly among young adults and Hispanic adults:

71% of those ages 18 to 29 now subscribe to broadband at home, down from 78% in 2023.
68% of Hispanic adults do, down from 75% in 2023.

For more on how these shares have changed over the past two decades, read our fact sheet on internet and broadband use.

Who has a smartphone?

Smartphones are common in America today. Vast majorities across age, income, racial and ethnic groups own one.

For example, 97% of adults under 50 and 90% of those ages 50 to 64 have a smartphone. Those 65 and older are least likely to own one, but 78% of them still do.

Read our fact sheet on mobile device use for more details.

Who relies on smartphones for internet access?

Group	category	Percent
U.S. adults	all	16
Ages 18-29	age	27
30-49	age	11
50-64	age	15
65+	age	17
White	race & ethnicity	13
Black	race & ethnicity	19
Hispanic	race & ethnicity	28
Asian*	race & ethnicity	11
	income
Less than $30K	income	34
$30K-$69,999	income	19
$70K-$99,999	income	10
$100K+	income	4