DiNapoli Report Examines Broadband Availability, Access and Affordability in NYC

A new report by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli examined issues related to broadband availability, access and affordability across New York City's neighborhoods and found that despite high availability, one in four households had no cable, fiberoptic (FTTP) or digital subscriber line (DSL) internet subscription as of 2023, with the Bronx having the highest share of households without access.

"Having high-speed internet access is no longer a luxury, but a necessity," DiNapoli said. "While broadband connections exist in neighborhoods across the city, too many households still don't have a subscription. Many of New York City's lowest income families still face a digital divide that must be bridged. With affordability being one of the biggest challenges facing families, state and federal leaders should focus on measures to improve accessibility for those with the lowest incomes."

Key highlights of the report:

• The citywide share of households without broadband service ticked up slightly between 2021-2023, but was still lower than prior to the pandemic.
• As of 2023, the Bronx, with the highest share of households with income below the federal poverty level (28.9%), also had the highest share with no broadband access (36.7%) and with access using cellular data plans only (20.3%).
• Brooklyn had the second highest share of households without broadband internet (27.3%).
• The Bronx and Brooklyn faced the highest average price for monthly broadband service among the five boroughs as of 2024.
• Out of 18 city neighborhoods with the highest share of households with income below the federal poverty level, 13 also had the highest shares without broadband. Ten of these neighborhoods had the highest shares that access the internet using cellular data plans only.

Broadband availability is a measure that captures whether a household has broadband service available via a local internet service provider. Broadband internet at a speed of 25/3 Mbps or higher was available to at least 98.1% of residents in the five boroughs, as of December 2022. The rate of broadband availability citywide is much higher than the national and statewide rates, which suggests local infrastructure is less of an impediment for internet access than in other parts of the state or country.

Trends in Access

Internet access, as defined in the report, measures whether a household has internet access through a broadband service or cellular data plan. While Federal Communications Commission (FCC) data showed Internet Service Provider (ISP) broadband connections were available to nearly all of New York City as of 2023, census data showed 91.8% of households citywide had internet access that year, up from 82.5% in 2017. As of 2023, 74.9% of city households accessed the internet using broadband and 14.8% used cellular data only.

The share of city households with broadband service in 2023 was higher than in 2017 (70.8%), yet lower than in 2021 (75.5%), when the pandemic spurred demand for high-speed internet to accommodate remote work and learning at home. Responding to the elevated demand, government, the private sector and non-governmental organizations worked to improve availability where gaps existed, while state and federal level subsidies were made available to lower-income households to help pay for service.

The level of broadband access citywide in 2021 was the highest recorded since the introduction of this metric in the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey in 2013. As the pandemic subsided, however, individuals may have resumed leveraging broaband via institutional access such as at schools and libraries, or may have returned to work that was less reliant on internet access. There may also have been a decline in demand for broadband services from businesses and community groups that provided new connections, especially in the South Bronx and Brooklyn during the height of the pandemic. The 2021 to 2023 increase in the share of households without broadband in the Bronx (which accounted for 16.3% of all city households in 2021) was 4.1%, whereas changes in the share of households without broadband in the other boroughs was less than 1% each. More recently, federal pandemic-era funding to support broadband access were scaled back or discontinued, including the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). FCC data showed total ACP enrollment of almost one million households across the City, with 25% for connections in the Bronx, representing 45.8% of households in that borough.

Access, Household Incomes and Affordability

Poorer households may choose to forgo internet access altogether, use cellular service to access the internet, or leverage connections of friends, family or neighbors to access the internet when needed. The Bronx, where more than one in three households has no broadband access, has the highest share with income below the federal poverty level and the highest share accessing the internet via cellular data plans. Households without broadband access citywide in 2023 included a 5.7% share with no internet connection of any type, a significantly lower proportion than the 2019 share of 12.6%. The Bronx and Brooklyn had the highest shares of households with no internet connection of any type, just over 7%, compared to 4% in Manhattan.

Disparities in broadband internet access were seen even more clearly at the neighborhood level, with more than a third of households in seven of the ten Census-defined neighborhoods in the Bronx having no access. Three of 18 Brooklyn neighborhoods have more than a third of households without broadband access, compared to one of 13 in Queens and one of ten in Manhattan. In Staten Island's North Shore, 28% of households have no broadband access, the highest share among the borough's three neighborhoods.

Affordability is one of the key determinants of whether households purchase high-speed internet service. The boroughs face significant differences in broadband prices, with the price for service at download speeds closest to the 100 Mbps standard being highest in the Bronx and lowest in Manhattan. The average price for high speed internet as a share of median household income is over 40% the average electricity cost for households in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Out of 18 neighborhoods (one-third of the total 55) with the highest shares of households with income below the federal poverty level, 13 have some of the highest shares without broadband and include 10 with some of the highest shares that access the internet using cellular data plans only. Of these neighborhoods, seven are in the Bronx.

Policy and Fiscal Resources

Federal funds for the state from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is being spent through the State's ConnectALL office, with some funding being used to increase availability. The Broadband Act included in the state's 2021 Enacted Budget required ISPs to provide a broadband service to qualifying low-income households for $15 to $20 per month, taxes and fees included.

In August 2024, the state entered into a settlement agreement with one of the largest ISPs to offer broadband at 30 Mbps for no more than $15 per month, for four years. For years two through four, the ISP can raise the price by no more than the rate of inflation. Five of the 11 broadband providers for which FCC data was analyzed for DiNapoli's report also offer discounted broadband service at prices ranging from $20 to $35 per month for download speeds ranging from 30 Mbps to 50 Mbps, or via FTTP to qualifying subscribers.

Report
Broadband Availability, Access and Affordability in New York City

Related Reports
Economic and Policy Insights - Making Strides on Broadband Affordability
Availability, Access and Affordability: Understanding Broadband Challenges in New York State
Economic Snapshot: South Bronx

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