Californians are more connected to the internet than ever before, but at-home access is still stratified by factors like income and race, according to a survey of 1,650 Californians conducted by the University of Southern California and the nonprofit California Emerging Technology Fund.
In an annual statewide broadband report published on Tuesday, researchers found that more than a quarter of the state’s low-income residents lack any access to the internet or are only connected via a smartphone, while higher-income households enjoy “near universal adoption.” At least 20% of the low-income households surveyed also reported going without any internet access for long periods of time, confirming the fragility of the state’s low-income connectivity strategies, researchers wrote in the report.