A new fact sheet from the Pubic Policy Institute of California (PPIC) found that a record-high 96 percent of Californians had access to internet, including satellite, at home in 2023 — up from 92 percent in 2019.
Increases were especially strong among groups that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, were far less likely to have a strong internet connection at home at a time when schools were quickly pivoting to online instruction.
“Access increased most among historically marginalized communities: 95 percent of Black households had internet, up from 88 percent in 2019; increases were similar among Latino, low-income, and rural households, as well as households headed by non-college graduates,” according to researchers.
Access to devices also increased across the board. The share of California households with a desktop, laptop or other device not including mobile phones increased from 87 percent in 2019 to 89 percent in 2023, and access increased between 4 to 6 percentage points among Black, Latino and low-income households.
However, PPIC found that even with widespread distribution of devices in schools during the pandemic, households with school-aged children saw only a modest increase in access during that time period, from 93 percent to 94 percent.
Additionally, while more households have access to the internet, fewer California households have broadband/high-speed internet access (84 percent, the same as it was in 2019), and gaps between racial/ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic groups are greater.
“Black (83 percent), Latino (80 percent), and low-income (77 percent) households have the lowest levels of high-speed access, and each saw only small increases of 1 or 2 percentage points since 2019,” the fact sheet states. “About 5 percent of Black, Latino, low-income, and non-college-degree households have no internet at all.”
Perhaps the most disappointing finding was that no gains in broadband access have been made among rural, low-income and non-college-degree households since 2019, with just 71 percent, 77 percent and 80 percent, respectively, having such access at home. PPIC noted that these groups have also only made incremental progress in gaining access to internet-compatible devices since 2019, with 82–84 percent of each group reporting device access.
Shifting state and federal investments may put future growth in access less likely. Although the pandemic spurred multiple federal- and state-level investments in availability, affordability and adoption — three crucial aspects to universal digital access — programs from that era are now closing down.
Among them, federal monthly subsidies for household internet and funds to assist libraries and schools in supporting students ceased operations in 2024, as well as any funding tied to the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
“At the state level, Senate Bill 156 (2021) provided $6 billion to expand broadband access, including $3 billion to create an open-access middle-mile network (infrastructure that connects global and local networks), $2 billion to expand the last-mile network (connecting to businesses and homes), and $750 million to help local governments complete last-mile projects,” according to the fact sheet. “Most of this funding comes from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. This resource will also be sunsetting in the next 18 months; the money had to be encumbered by December 2024 and must be spent by December 2026.”
As of the date the fact sheet was published, the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, which provides $42 billion for digital equity planning, expanding infrastructure and increasing broadband use and adoption is still operating, and California has been allocated approximately $2 billion based on its share of unserved locations.
