South and west dominate wireless-only households

Cord-cutters are more likely to live in the rural south and west, according to a new poll. Image from the PEW Research Center

Today, 90 million adults and 33 million children live in households with wireless-only access to phone service according to the Centers for Disease Control. That adds up to 39.4% of U.S. households with no terrestrial phone line — a huge upswing from the 26.6% living wireless measured by the Pew Reserach center in 2010. While it shouldn’t come as a shock that the number of wireless-only households are growing — where they’re growing fastest does ring some bells for researchers. Rural regions of the south and west are cutting the cord the fastest, outpacing the urban metros of the east.

A separate report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics found Idaho has the highest population of wireless-only households. More than 50 percent of adults in Idaho live in wireless-only households. Idaho is followed by Mississippi and Arkansas where 49.4 and 49 percent of adults live in homes without a landline-phone.

Of those living in wireless-only households, the vast majority are young adults and poor. Of adults ages 18-24, 54.3 percent live in wireless only households. Of adults 25-29 the percentage goes up to 65.6 percent, and for 30 to 34 year-olds it’s 59.9 percent. Among all adults living in poverty, 54.7 percent live in wireless-only households.

Where are you most likely to find a landline phone? New Jersey, where 78.9 percent of households have a wired connection.

H/T Bridget Shirvell