By the Numbers: Landlines vs. Cellphones

For the second consecutive year, more U.S. households are using cellphones rather than landlines, according to the National Health Interview Survey conducted by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, which has been tracking telephone ownership since 2004.

5

The percentage of households that had cellphones only in 2004, when telephone ownership was first tracked in the survey.

92.7

The percentage of households that had landlines in 2004, when telephone ownership was first tracked in the survey.

10

The percentage of American adults in 2017 who use smartphones as their primary online access.

52.5

The percentage of households that had cellphones only in 2017.

43.8

The percentage of households that had landlines in 2017. The highest percentage of those landlines are in the Northeast, due to higher use of bundled services that include landline services; only 39 percent of households in the Northeast are wireless only.

53

Percentage of Midwest households that are wireless only.

66.3

The percentage of people living in poverty who rely solely on cellphones for internet access.

71

The percentage of adults 30-34 that use cellphones only.

95

The percentage of Americans that own a cellphone of some kind. Of those, 77 percent own smartphones.

Source:  National Health Interview Survey, pewinternet.org