Pew poll finds that about 58 percent of rural Americans say lack of access to broadband is a problem - Entrepreneur Generations

Pew Research Center chart; click on the image to enlarge it.

It's been long known that lack of access to reliable, affordable high-speed internet hurts rural areas, but a Pew Researcher Center survey quantifies it: 24 percent of rural adults surveyed say access to high-speed internet is a major problem in their local community, 34 percent say it's a minor problem. Altogether, that means about 58 percent of rural Americans are worried about lack of access to broadband, according to the survey, which was conducted Feb. 26-March 11.

"Concerns about access to high-speed internet are shared by rural residents from various economic backgrounds. For example, 20 percent of rural adults whose household income is less than $30,000 a year say access to high speed internet is a major problem, but so do 23 percent of rural residents living in households earning $75,000 or more annually," Monica Anderson reports for Pew. "These sentiments are also similar between rural adults who have a bachelor’s or advanced degree and those with lower levels of educational attainment."

Rural adults ages 50-64 were more likely to think lack of access was a problem than other age groups. And 31 percent of non-white rural respondents believed lack of access to broadband was a problem compared to 21 percent of their white counterparts, Anderson reports.

"Beyond lower home broadband adoption rates, adults in rural areas also are less likely to own mobile devices or to use the internet. While around two-thirds of rural Americans have a smartphone, those shares rise to around eight-in-ten among those living in cities (83 percent) or the suburbs (78 percent), according to Center data," Anderson reports. "At the same time, some rural Americans do not use the internet in any capacity: 22 percent of adults living in a rural area say they never go online, a share that is more than double that among urban or suburban residents."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2NyYJAV Pew poll finds that about 58 percent of rural Americans say lack of access to broadband is a problem - Entrepreneur Generations

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