For these New Yorkers, the technology is out of reach. More than a quarter of some of New York's lowest-income households report no Internet subscriptions.
And for others, the ability to connect to the digital realm exists only in the palm of their hand — 8 percent in the state rely solely on a smartphone. Without a computer at home, they are left to the capabilities of a handheld device and often the whims of a cellular data connection.
The Times Union analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data to reveal these deserts of accessibility and opportunity.
The barrier to access comes in many forms: the family with no household computer, the school child with no Internet subscription or the older generation left behind. But beyond issues of household access, opportunities become scarcer in a world that revolves around the web. Wider gaps are reported for the unemployed, steepening the climb out of poverty and into the workforce.
The data reveals New York has not been a leader in closing these gaps. In fact, it was one of the states with the least progress in expanding high-speed Internet subscriptions in households in recent years.
The divide is encapsulated by the counties where about a quarter of households report no Internet subscriptions, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
In the same counties, only about half of households reported modern, high-speed broadband Internet subscriptions compared to 80 percent of Saratoga County.
Poverty draws some of the sharpest divides for Internet subscriptions. The barrier to both overall household Internet and high speeds is divided along the lines of income.
More than a quarter of one of the lowest income bracket households reported no Internet subscriptions.
Meanwhile, digital disparities pose barriers to the unemployed attempting to enter the workforce. Unemployed New Yorkers face higher rates of lack of household computer and Internet subscription access than employed people.
As technology progressed and Internet speeds soared, the data shows the older generations were left behind.
Older New Yorkers are much less likely to have a computer and an Internet subscription — about 11 percent of those 65 and older reported no computer in the household compared to 2 percent to 3 percent in other age groups.
New York is not leading the way in bridging digital disparities. The state ranks about the middle of the pack by rate of no household computer in the U.S.
The Census Bureau has collected data on computers and Internet in households since 2013 as part of the 2008 Broadband Improvement Act.
But how have things changed since then?
While New York had a higher percentage of high-speed Internet in households than most states in 2013, the state expanded access to broadband subscriptions at one of the slowest rates of growth in the U.S.
New York was about level with the national average for broadband Internet subscriptions in 2021, sitting 0.3 percent above the nation's rate of 90.1 percent.
Utah leads the country with 94 percent of households reporting broadband Internet subscriptions. States like Washington, Colorado and California come in close behind.
To become a leading state on bridging digital divide disparities, New York has a longer way to go.
©2022 the Times Union, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
