Survey Says: 96 Percent of U.S. Households Have Phone Service

WASHINGTON: Ninety-six percent of U.S. households had phone service as of July 2010, according to the latest numbers from those who count. The Federal Communications Commission issued it’s latest phone subscriber survey using Census Bureau statistics. The FCC folks found phone penetration to be at 96 percent, up 0.3 percent from July of 2009. The estimate includes cell phones. Cell-phone only households are not broken out in the report.

Findings:

  • The telephone penetration rate for households in income categories below $15,000 was at or below 94.6 percent, while the rate for households in income categories over $50,000 was at least 97.9 percent.
  • Among the states, the penetration rates ranged from a low of 93 percent to a high of 99 percent
  • Penetration rates ranged from 93.2 percent for households headed by a person under 25 to at least 96.1 percent for households headed by a person over 55.
  • Households with one person had a penetration rate of 94.1 percent, compared to a rate of 96.9 percent for households with four or five persons.
  • The penetration rate for unemployed adults was 95.4 percent, while the rate for employed adults was 96.8 percent.

The full report is available at fcc.gov.