Understanding the Potential Reach of the Affordable Connectivity Program

Broadband connectivity is vital for work, school, health care, and living in the 21st century, yet is out of reach for millions. The Affordable Connectivity Program is the nation’s largest broadband affordability program. Households in the program can receive a discount of up to $30 per month on residential or mobile internet service (or up to $75 per month for households on Tribal lands), in addition to a one-time discount of up to $100 for a computer or tablet. 

In order to better understand the need for the Affordable Connectivity Program, we analyzed nationally representative data on broadband access collected by the U.S. Census Bureau from 2015-2019 to provide an initial estimate of the size of the population eligible for the program and to describe the demographic characteristics of the population who currently lack broadband internet access. 

Eligible households include those under 200% of the Federal Poverty Line or those above that line but who receive any of a variety of public benefits. We find that across the country, an estimated 48.6 million households are eligible for the ACP, including 10.3 million households without high-speed internet and 11.3 million households without any internet or broadband.