Digital Divide Underscores Inequity in Urban North Carolina

There are 45,000 households in Charlotte (NC) without a subscription to broadband Internet. Unlike rural swaths of the state, the city is rich in infrastructure and competition from service providers. Across North Carolina, about 20% of homes have no Internet subscription, but in certain urban neighborhoods, that number is more than doubled.

The pandemic brought this Internet divide into stark focus. In rural communities, Internet providers haven't installed the lines needed to connect to high-speed service. More than 75,000 students fall in those holes, state Department of Public Instruction officials estimate. The urban problem looks far different. Internet providers have laid the infrastructure, but the average monthly cost of $60 is too steep for some. Research shows that people of color are less likely to have Internet access than their white counterparts. State public instruction leaders estimate that about 290,000 students live in homes without a subscription to Internet service. And roughly 70,000 live in a home without access to a computer.