What does this measure?

The percentage of households that have access to the Internet.

Why is this important?

Access to the Internet is crucial for households to communicate, search for jobs, complete schoolwork and participate in other important activities like banking, health care access and consumer research.

How is our county doing?

In 2017-21, 89% of households in Essex County had access to the Internet, on par with the state and slightly higher than the national rate of 87%. The rate in the City of Lynn was 84%, but only 77% of residents in the City of Lawrence had Internet access in 2017-21.

How do we compare to similar counties?

Of the comparison counties, Essex and Westchester had the lowest household Internet rates in 2017-21. Middlesex and Lake were slightly higher with rates of 93% and 92% respectively.

Notes about the data

Internet access questions were not included in surveys until 2013. The multi-year figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). Data for this indicator is expected to be released annually in December.