Introduction
Broadband is wide-bandwidth data transmission that is capable of transporting multiple signals and frequencies simultaneously, establishing itself as a staple in high speed internet. The term broadband is commonly used to refer to any kind of internet access that is high speed in contrast to things like dial-up internet that operates on legacy telephone networks. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) currently regulates what can be categorized as broadband in the United States with speed qualifiers. Minimum download speeds must be 25 Mbit/s and minimum upload speeds must be 3 Mbit/s in order to qualify as broadband. With how reliant the current world is on the internet, access to broadband internet has increasingly become something of a necessity for people, but still not everyone has access to it. Internet access has increasingly become more intertwined with other economic factors and standards of living that it has also become a subject of interest for its relation to race. County-level data will be explored to find correlations between race and broadband access.
Data
The data used in this analysis includes data retrieved from 2020 U.S. Census estimates on selected social characteristics, selected economic characteristics, and selected demographic characteristics. The data has been compiled together to show the data of each for each county in the United States. Health data was also used, which was retrieved from the University of Wisconsin’s County Health Rankings for 2021. This data contains a vast amount of data on things ranging from population race percentages to obesity for all counties in the United States.
Racial Relationships
While exploring the data and comparing the correlations between various different kinds of variables, a notable correlation was found between Asian populations and broadband access.
The above scatter plot was created by using data for the percentage of each county’s population that has broadband internet for the x-axis and data for the percentage of each county’s population being Asian for the y-axis. From this, it can be seen that there is a pattern of the percentage of Asians increasing as more of the population has broadband internet as well. The correlation coefficient for this relationship is 0.332 which shows that the relationship is positive and relatively strong as it is above 0.2.
The significant strength of the relationship between Asian populations and broadband is reinforced by comparing the relationship to the four scatter plot visualizations above. The correlation coefficient for the relationship between the percentage of a county’s population with broadband and its percentage of the population being Black is -0.288. This is the second strongest relationship seen between races and broadband access, however this relationship is a negative one. This implies that Black populations live in counties with less broadband access.
The correlation coefficient for the relationship between the percentage of a county’s population with broadband and its percentage of the population being American Indian and Alaskan Native is -0.199. This relationship is weak enough that it is socially insignificant, but it does show that this population may not be affected by broadband internet as much as others.
The correlation coefficient for the relationship between the percentage of a county’s population with broadband and its percentage of the population being Hispanic is 0.002. This relationship is very weak and no correlation can be seen.
The correlation coefficient for the relationship between the percentage of a county’s population with broadband and its percentage of the population being White is 0.216. The relationship is also relatively strong and positive so counties with more people having broadband also have more people that are White.
However, none of these other racial groups have as strong a relationship with broadband access as Asians. The percentage of the county population with broadband is likely causing the percentage of the county’s population being Asian to be affected more than the other way around. It is reasonable to surmise that counties with more broadband access are also more economically prosperous. Asian populations, and to a lesser extent White, are likely more drawn to live in counties that have more wealth and are more economically stable than in other ones. Broadband access seems to be acting as a social economic indicator as Asian populations on average have more college graduates and higher incomes in the United States than other races.
Conclusion
It is quite shocking to see how strong the relationship between the percentage of a county’s population being Asian and its percentage of the population with broadband is. It is much stronger than any other racial group, such as Black, American Indian and Native Alaskan, Hispanic, and White. Groups that have historically been underprivileged are seen as having either negative or very weak relationships with broadband access and broadband is likely more prevalent in economically prosperous locales. Since there are higher Asian populations in counties that also have more people with broadband connections, it is likely that Asians are being drawn to live in wealthier areas at a greater rate than other racial groups.
