Report: Average Number of TVs in U.S. Homes Declining

WASHINGTON—More people are dropping the number of TVs they have in their house, with more than ever saying they don’t need one at all according to the “Residential Energy Consumption Survey” from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Since the last study was held in 2009, the average number of televisions used in American homes has dropped from 2.6 per household to 2.3. The number of homes that used three or more TVs dropped from 44 percent to 39 percent in that time span, and more homes (2.6 percent) say they are not using a TV at all; this is the first time in the nearly 20 years of the survey that number was more than 1.3 percent.

One of the key findings in the report is how the energy use of electronic devices varies by age. Younger households have been found to have a lower concentration of televisions per person and a higher concentration of portable devices, like laptops or smart phones. Televisions and television peripherals like cable boxes, digital video recorders and video game consoles are still the most widely used, but EIA has revised its questions for this survey to include new technology like tablets.

EIA conducted the survey on more than 5,600 households. The full report is available here.