Understanding Digital Equity 

Digital Equity, as defined by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA),  is the condition where all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity to fully participate in our society, democracy and economy. Achieving digital equity is essential  for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services.  

The goal is to create  a world where everyone who wants to: 

These three parameters – access, devices, and skills – are crucial for digital equity.  To achieve this,  we need to identify who doesn’t have access to these resources 

Current State of Digital Equity in Wisconsin 

According to the 2022 American Community Survey (Table 1) , 227,378 Wisconsin households lacked an internet subscription, and 128,117 households did not have a device to connect to the internet. These households are the focus of digital equity efforts. Understanding why these households lack access to the internet or devices is key to addressing digital equity.  

Table 1. Computer and Internet Use in Wisconsin, 2022 

Category	Number of households	Percent of households
Total Wisconsin Households	2,491,121	100%
One of more types of computing devices	2,363,004	94.9%
Desktop or laptop	1,992,883	80%
Smartphone	2,233,701	89.7%
Tablet or portable wireless computer	1,528,509	61.4%
Other	46,018	1.8%
No computer	128,117	5.1%
Households with a computer	2,310,196	92.7%
With dial up subscription alone	6,887	0.3%
With a broadband internet subscription	2,177,511	87.4%
Without an internet subscription	227,378	9.1%

Income and Internet Access 

To further understand the issue, we can look at household income data from the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS 1-year estimates). Table 2 outlines data from 227,378 households in six ranges of household income. Households with lower incomes are more likely to lack internet subscriptions. For example, more than one fourth of all households with income under $20,000 annually do not have internet access.  This percentage decreases as household income increases, highlighting the role of income in digital equity.   

Table 2. Household Income and Internet Subscription, Wisconsin 2022  

Annual Household Income	Total Households in Wisconsin	Households Without an Internet Subscription	Percent of Households Without an Internet Subscription
Less than $10,000	115,058	29,222	25.4
$10,000 to $19,999	167,685	43,787	26.1
$20,000 to $34,999	278,794	51,382	18.4
$35,000 to $49,999	298,456	33,405	11.2
$50,000 to $74,999	451,930	31,145	6.9
$75,000+	1,179,198	38,437	3.3
Total	2,491,121	227,378	9.1%

As the first two rows of the table clearly indicate, slightly more than one-fourth of all households with an income under $20,000 annually do not have internet access.  In fact, households with an income under $35,000 annually have an average of 22.2% without an internet subscription.  The percent without an internet subscription then drops as household income increases, clearly showing that income is a factor in digital equity.  

Chart 1. Household Income and Internet Subscription, Wisconsin 2022  

The Role of Affordability 

Wisconsin had 426,733 households signed up for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to subsidize a portion of their monthly broadband bill. This program provided a discount of $30 a month to qualifying households and $75 a month to qualifying households on tribal lands. However, funding for this program expired at the end of May, 2024. In late July 2024, John Horrigan of the Benton Institute published results from a nationwide survey of 2,535 households with incomes of under $50,000 annually who were about to lose ACP funding. The survey was conducted in April 2024 while the ACP was winding down.  

Horrigan found:  

• Nearly half of ACP households surveyed reported that they might cut off service or choose a cheaper,lower quality plan without the ACP subsidy. Specifically: 

• 13 percent of ACP households said they would disconnect their home service without ACP subsidies. That is approximately 3 million households. 

• 36 percent (or 8.3 million households) said they would downgrade to a cheaper or slower plan. 

This underscores the importance of affordability in achieving digital equity. 

Digital Skills 

Affordability is not the only factor preventing us from achieving digital equity. Digital skills are also crucial, and the most difficult component to measure. Information on digital skills among people is more difficult to obtain.  That is partly because there is such a broad range of digital skills. Although a five-year-old report, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development conducted a worldwide analysis that categorized digital skills into levels. Their takeaway was that one in three U.S. workers lacked digital skills.  

While conducting focus groups in 2023, I head from over 100 rural seniors (aged 60+) and learned that 40 percent of those whom I interviewed had no digital skills. Anecdotally, the 60-69 age group had the highest percentage of digital skills and then this really drops off sharply after age 75.  

But getting back to the central premise of our article, why does digital equity matter? Digital equity matters because it provides an equal opportunity for all people – whether rural or urban, from whatever socioeconomic background, wherever they are located or whatever ethnicity they are to fully participate in having digital resources. 

For households unable to sustainably afford that monthly broadband bill, or that lack digital skills to be able to connect to the internet, this digital exclusion carries high societal and economic costs. It diminishes the opportunity for individuals to achieve economic success, educational advancement, positive health outcomes, social inclusion, and civic engagement.  

Consider employment and economic growth. Think of how critical that can be to an individual seeking employment, or better employment. Additionally, think of the value of having a digitally skilled employees in your community. The National Skills Coalition report “Closing the Digital Skill Divide” (February 2023) points out that 92% of all jobs in the United States now require people to have at least basic digital skills. Those who qualify for jobs that require even one digital skill can earn an average of 23 percent more than those working in jobs requiring no digital skills — an increase, they estimate of $8,000 per year for an individual worker.  

Without home internet, how is employment and economic growth achievable for that individual?  There is also a loss to your community’s workforce and economic development. By not having well-qualified employees, companies must spend more time and effort training.  

Digital Equity in Education 

During the covid-19 pandemic, the switch to virtual education left many students isolated with either no broadband service or unreliable technology. In rural areas especially, many families lived without reliable internet access, making virtual education particularly challenging. Digital homework assignments are on the rise. The National School Boards Association reports that pre-pandemic, they were being informed by the Federal Communications Commission that 70% of teachers were assigning online homework to students.  Digital equity means making sure that all students have access to the technology they need for academic growth. This means identifying when students have limited access to technology, whether at school or at home, and helping them secure reliable technology.  

But digital equity in education isn’t limited to things like laptops and internet access. It also means ensuring that students have opportunities to learn and practice digital skills. Rita Fennelly-Atkinson, the Director of Micro-credentials at Digital Promise  says “in my experience, the most powerful disruptors of systemic educational inequity include equipping learners with digital literacy skills and broadband access.”  

How You Can Begin Addressing Digital Equity in Your Community 

Digital equity is about creating the conditions for long-lasting meaningful change to ensure a sustainable future. You can start or join the digital equity efforts in your community in many ways –

• volunteering to teach digital skills classes;
• showing people how to use the devices they own;
• work with others to develop a digital inclusion planning team, or;
• join an existing community broadband team on digital inclusion. 

Tips for building a planning team: The team should include representatives from libraries, economic development, education, local government, health care, workforce development and anyone concerned about improving broadband and digital equity in their community.  To add to your team building, consider how the team will engage with and recruit representation from targeted populations (covered populations) right from the start! Those covered populations include veterans, low-income, rural inhabitants, people with disabilities, people aged 60+, racial minorities and incarcerated individuals.

A team provides insight and direction, prioritizes needs and proposes solutions.  Give your team a relevant name “the Digital Inclusion Team of …” to build group identity.

RESOURCE: Organizing for Community Broadband Planning contains resources to help you consider who you invite to your core team.

Tips for building community engagement: Community engagement produces not only better results, but it also produces more engaged community members. Don’t just jump to a survey as your only option – consider the right tool for the level of engagement you are seeking and the audience’s needs.

RESOURCE: Community Engagement in Broadband and Digital Equity Planning contains resources to help you find the right community engagement tools for your situation: 

Community Engagement in Broadband and Digital Equity Planning