SALT LAKE CITY – Utahns enjoy a higher rate of Internet connectivity than residents of any other state in the nation.
That’s the conclusion of a recent nationwide study by analysts at Event Display, based on data compiled by the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau.
That study examined the share of households in each state with Internet connectivity, using those federal statistics. By counting fully connected homes and those with access despite having no Internet subscriptions, the study provides a fuller picture of states where residents enjoy the best connectivity.
In those terms, Utah came out on top, with 94.2 percent of homes with Internet subscriptions and another 3.19 percent with access to the World Wide Web without subscriptions.
That means that only 2.6 percent of Utah’s 1.184 million households are unable to access the Internet (roughly 30,500 homes).
In 2025, home Internet access isn’t a luxury, but the backbone of everyday life, according to Chris Trembath, a spokesman for Event Display. From applying for jobs to accessing healthcare portals, paying bills, streaming online classes or simply staying in touch, being online is now as essential as having electric service.
But U.S. federal data indicates that nearly 8 million American homes have no access to the Internet, leaving their occupants at a massive disadvantage in an increasingly digital world.
The Event Display study found that other states like Utah – which have some of the lowest percentages of homes without Internet access – tend to have strong broadband competition, higher household incomes and large urban centers where infrastructure investment is more profitable.
Many of those states also lead in fiber-optic deployment and benefit from major tech expansions that have pushed high-speed Internet connectivity deeper into suburban and rural areas.
In addition to Utah, those states include Colorado (where 3.24 percent of households lack Internet connectivity), Washington (3.48 percent), Nevada (3.56 percent) and Florida (3.98 percent).
At the other end of the digital spectrum are states like Mississippi and West Virginia, where nearly 10 percent of all households lack Internet connectivity.
Such high disconnection rates suggest extreme rural isolation and limited provider choice, according to Event Display analysts. While population has grown rapidly in many of those states, broadband expansion hasn’t kept pace, leaving many rural and low-income communities without Internet access.