97% of US adults say they use the internet, according to Pew Research Center's survey of Jan. 30 to June 18, 2026. 91% own a smartphone and 78% subscribe to broadband at home.
Nearly every American adult is online, so the interesting answers are about how they connect. Everything below comes from two Pew fact sheets, one on internet and home broadband and one on mobile phone ownership. The survey has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. Each section opens with the number, so jump to the question you came for.
How many Americans use the internet?
97% of US adults say they use the internet, per Pew's 2026 survey. The yearly series reads 93% in 2021, 95% in 2023, 96% in 2024, 96% in 2025 and 97% in 2026. Pew also notes that about half of all adults were already online when it first asked, in early 2000.
At this level there isn't much room left, and that's what I'd take away. The question for anyone trying to reach people isn't whether they're online. It's how they get there and on what screen.
How many have home broadband?
78% of US adults subscribe to broadband at home, according to Pew's 2026 figures. The recent run is 80% in 2023, 79% in 2024, 78% in 2025 and 78% in 2026. So internet use has crept up while home broadband has gone flat to slightly lower.
One caution before you quote a long trend. Pew changed how it ran this survey, moving from phone alone to web and mail in 2023, then web, mail and phone from 2024, and it warns that older phone-only years aren't perfectly comparable with recent ones.
How many own a smartphone?
91% of US adults own a smartphone in 2026, up from 35% in Pew's first survey on it in 2011. 98% own a cellphone of some kind. Set that 91% beside the 78% with home broadband and you can see which one Americans are likelier to have.
Who is smartphone-only?
16% of US adults are what Pew calls "smartphone-only" internet users in 2026. Pew means people who own a smartphone but don't subscribe to a home broadband service. It's Pew's term, so use it Pew's way: it says nothing about whether they ever touch a computer.
Here's the part you might not guess. You'd expect the over-65s to be the least phone-dependent group, and they aren't. The 2026 shares are 24% of adults aged 18-29, 14% of those aged 30-49, 12% of those aged 50-64 and 16% of those aged 65 and over. So the oldest group is more likely to be smartphone-only than either of the two middle groups, even though it's the least likely to own a smartphone at all.
Do older adults use the internet?
Yes: 89% of US adults aged 65 and over use the internet in 2026, per Pew. In 2000 the figure for that group was 14%, when adults aged 18-29 were already at 70%. Going from 14% to 89% is a rise of 75 points, though that span crosses the survey changes mentioned above, so read it as scale rather than precision.
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Smartphones lag a little behind. 79% of adults aged 65 and over own one in 2026, while 14% of that age group own a cellphone that isn't a smartphone. Among adults aged 18-29 and 30-49, it's 97% with a smartphone. Among those aged 50-64 it's 91%, with another 6% on a cellphone that isn't a smartphone.
How does it all look by age?
| Age | Use the internet, 2000 (%) | Use the internet, 2026 (%) | Own a smartphone, 2026 (%) | Smartphone-only, 2026 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 70 | 99 | 97 | 24 |
| 30-49 | 61 | 99 | 97 | 14 |
| 50-64 | 46 | 98 | 91 | 12 |
| 65+ | 14 | 89 | 79 | 16 |
Internet use comes from Pew's internet and broadband fact sheet; smartphone ownership and smartphone-only shares come from its mobile fact sheet.
What this means for how you build your site
My verdict: stop asking whether your customers are online. In 2026, 97% of US adults say they are, and that includes 89% of those aged 65 and over. What differs is the connection. 91% own a smartphone, 78% subscribe to home broadband, and 16% have the first without the second. So if what you publish only works on a big screen, you're making a real slice of people work harder to read it. My guide on writing for people reading on a phone goes into that. Being online isn't the same as paying attention, so use these figures as a picture of who you could reach, nothing more.
What can't these Pew numbers tell you?
How many hours people spend online, or which apps they use, because these pages don't say. Whether people buy or earn online. Anything about the UK or the rest of the world, since these are US adults only. And Pew's estimates for Asian adults cover English speakers only. For how Americans behave once they're on social platforms, my round-up of social media usage figures picks up where this page stops.
Quick answers
Is internet use still rising in the US?
Slowly. Pew has it at 96% in 2025 and 97% in 2026.
How common are smartphones among American adults?
91% own one in 2026, up from 35% in 2011, per Pew.
What does smartphone-only mean?
It's Pew's label for adults who own a smartphone but don't subscribe to home broadband: 16% of US adults in 2026.
