As of 2024, approximately 97.1 percent of the United States' population accessed the internet, up from approximately 71 percent in 2013. The United States is one of the biggest online markets worldwide. In 2024, over 331 million individuals in the country went online. Furthermore, social media apps were among the most popular category of mobile apps used in the market. Social media usage in the U.S. Social media usage in the United States has seen significant growth in recent years, amassing 300 million as of 2024. By the third quarter of 2023, internet users in the U.S. were spending around two hours on social media out of seven hours of internet usage. The most common activities among U.S. users include sending private messages and liking posts or following people, which highlights widespread engagement with social media platforms among internet users in the United States. TikTok surge in the U.S. TikTok continues to be one of the most popular social media platforms in the United States. As of July 2024, 120 million individuals or 45 percent of internet users in the country used the social network. This surge in popularity is the result of user’s high engagement with short-form videos and quick entertainment in which TikTok managed to capture users’ attention. Users in the United States spent an average of 45 hours and 37 minutes monthly in 2023.

In November 2021, it was found that Idaho had the highest online penetration rate among all the states in the U.S., as 88.6 percent of the state's population used the internet. Wisconsin and Illinois ranked second with 87.8 percent of online access in both states, while Oregon followed, with 87.4 percent.

The population share with internet access in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 1.5 percentage points. After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the internet penetration is estimated to reach 95.37 percent and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the population share with internet access of was continuously increasing over the past years.The penetration rate refers to the share of the total population having access to the internet via any means. The shown figures have been derived from survey data that has been processed to estimate missing demographics.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

By the end of 2023, the total number of broadband subscribers in the U.S. stood at 114.7 million. This was an increase of over four million subscribers compared to the previous year.

The total number of broadband internet subscribers in the United States has continuously increased from the first quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2023, and Comcast is and has been the cable provider with the most number of subscribers. In the most recent quarter, Comcast had around 32.3 million broadband subscribers.

U.S. broadband market – additional information

The number of subscribers has been growing steadily over the years; from about 73 million in the first quarter of 2011 to nearly 114 million in 2023. With more than 32 million broadband internet subscribers, Comcast is the most popular cable provider in the United States. Comcast, a market leader since early 2011, accounts for over 40 percent of all broadband internet subscriptions in the United States. With annual revenues of more than 121 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, and a market value of around 143 billion U.S. dollars, the Comcast Corporation is one of the biggest media companies in the U.S. and a leading telecommunication operator worldwide.

Charter is the second biggest cable provider in the United States, with over 30 million subscribers as of 2023. In 2016, Charter completed the acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, significantly expanding the company.

As of September 2023, it was found that 87 percent of the U.S. population with a household income of less than 30,000 U.S. dollars per year were internet users. A further 98 percent of internet users belonged to households earning between 70,000 and 99,999 U.S. dollars per year.

As of September 2023, Asian adults in the United States were the ethnic group using the internet the most. The survey also found that online usage was the lowest among black Americans.

The population share with mobile internet access in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 2.7 percentage points. After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the mobile internet penetration is estimated to reach 92.51 percent and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the population share with mobile internet access of was continuously increasing over the past years.The penetration rate refers to the share of the total population having access to the internet via a mobile broadband connection.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

As of September 2023, it was found that 98 percent of college graduates in the United States were internet users. On the contrary, 90 percent of those with a high school or less education said they were internet users.

As of January 2024, around 331.1 million people in the United States accessed the internet, making it one of the largest online markets worldwide. The country currently ranks third after China and India by the online audience size. Overview of internet usage in the United States The digital population in the United States has constantly increased in recent years. Among the most common reasons is the growing accessibility of broadband internet. A big part of the country's digital audience accesses the web via mobile phones. In 2024, the country saw an estimated 97.1 percent mobile internet user penetration. According to a 2024 survey, over 51 percent of U.S. women and 43 percent of men said it is important to them to have mobile internet access anywhere, at any time. Another 41 percent of respondents could not imagine their everyday life without the internet. Google and YouTube are the most visited websites in the country, while music, food, and drinks were the most discussed online topics. Internet usage demographics in the United States While some users can no longer imagine their life without the internet, others do not use it at all. According to 2021 data, 25 percent of U.S. adults 65 and older reported not using the internet. Despite this, online usage was strong across other age groups, especially young adults aged 18 to 49. This age group also reported the highest percentage of smartphone usage in the country as of 2023. Due to a persistent lack of connectivity in rural areas, more online users were based in urban areas of the U.S. than in the countryside.

As of 2024, 99 percent of adults in the United States between 18 and 49 years were internet users, making it the age group with the highest level of internet penetration in the country. A further share of 97 percent of adults using the internet were between 18 and 29 years old. Mobile internet usage Mobile internet usage continues to surge in the United States, with 96.2 percent of internet users accessing the web via phones as of the third quarter of 2023. In April 2024, YouTube's mobile app led with a 74 percent audience reach, while TikTok topped weekly engagement among social apps. Mobile apps and privacy Mobile apps became an essential part of mobile users, this high usage raised new concerns about data privacy. By June 2023, three in four internet users supported data localization to protect their information. Additionally, As of September 2024, 13.5 percent of paid iOS apps stated that they collected user data, with 88 percent of this data used to enhance app functionality.

This statistic presents the internet connection usage in the United States in 2018, sorted by type. During the survey period, it was found that 85.1 percent of the total U.S. households had a broadband internet subscription of any type at home. Furthermore, 75.7 percent of households also hat a cellular data plan and 11.6 percent only subscribed to cellular online service with no other type of internet.

As of September 2023, 96 percent of female individuals in the United States said they used the internet. This percentage is higher than that of their male counterparts, 93 percent.

In 2019, 90.4 percent of households in Colorado used a broadband internet connection at home. Washington, Utah, and Colorado were the only three states with over 90 percent of households having a broadband connection at home.

As of September 2023, During the survey period, it was found that 90 percent of the population living in rural communities were internet users. Overall, 93 percent of the adult U.S. population accessed the internet.

As of January 2024, more than 80 percent of South Americans had access to the internet, whereas the same could be said for 70.2 percent of the Caribbean population. Mobile devices represented the largest shares of internet access across Latin America throughout 2023.

As of February 2025, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates ed the ranking of countries with the highest internet penetration rate, all recording 99 percent. The worldwide internet penetration rate as of October 2024 was 67.5 percent. Most connected regions According to the most recent observations, Northern Europe ranked first among global regions by internet penetration rate. The share of the population accessing the internet in this region was over 97 percent. Northern America ranked second, followed by Western Europe. Overall, the internet reach was higher than 80 percent across all European regions, as well as Northern and Southern parts of America. Unconnected populations Despite having the biggest online audiences worldwide, India and China are also the markets with the highest number of individuals not connected to the web. Regarding the share of population without internet access in worldwide markets, North Korea ranks first, as the internet in the country remains blocked for most of the general public as of April 2024. Central African Republic had 89.4 percent of its population unconnected, followed by Burundi, with 88.7 percent.

According to United States census data, 91.2 percent of all U.S. households reported having some form internet subscription in 2022. This was up from 90.3 percent of households in 2021.

As of the first month of 2024, more than nine out of 10 people living in the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Antigua & Barbuda, and Chile were online, putting the countries in the top position regarding internet access in Latin America. Meanwhile, more than 85 percent of the populations of Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil Guyana, and Jamaica were online. On the other hand, less than half of the population of Haiti had access to the internet. Overall, the internet penetration rate in Latin America stood at 74.63 percent. Growth in mobile connectivity… With investments in 4G infrastructure forecast to reach around 211.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2030, the improvement of mobile connectivity is radically changing the picture of access to the internet in Latin America and the Caribbean. One of the best examples is Peru, where the gap between urban and rural areas has greatly diminished in 2021, making its online audiences the fifth largest on the continent in 2023. …at an unequal rate Despite the improvements, Latin America and the Caribbean still face an enormous gap in internet access: the internet penetration rate in the subregion of South America was 80.6 percent in 2023, while only 68.4 percent of people in the Caribbean had access to the web. Despite its investments in mobile connectivity, most of the web traffic in Venezuela still originated from desktop devices in 2023, and only 70.9 Ecuadorians had access to mobile internet in 2023.

As of February 2025, Northern Europe ranked first by the internet penetration rate, with over 97.9 percent of its population using the internet. Western Europe followed, with 95.1 percent. Overall, the global average internet penetration rate was roughly 67.9 percent. Global internet use The ongoing development of telecommunication networks and infrastructure has directly impacted internet penetration on a global scale. Thanks to advancing mobile technology and the continuous modernization of previously less-developed regions, the number of internet users worldwide has been on the rise in recent years, reaching 5.45 billion as of July 2024. In the world-wide-web, Google's Chrome still holds the largest market share for internet browsers, roughly 65.2 percent of the total market as of August 2024, followed by Apple's Safari at nearly 19 percent. Majority of global internet users are in Asia Asia has the most extensive internet user base – more than an estimated 2.9 billion internet users in this region alone – with East Asia accounting for most of this share. Despite this region's large volume of internet users, Asia is far from being a leader regarding online penetration. Eastern Asia, for instance, had an online penetration rate of 75.3 percent as of April 2023.