Mapping the digital divide: What predicts internet access across America?

Digital infrastructure and internet access facilitate the economic,educational, social, and recreational activities that are critical tosupporting access to inclusive and equitable community participation.However, significant disparities, or digital divides, persist formany people and communities based on social, demographic, andenvironmental characteristics. This paper explores the associationsbetween socio-demographic characteristics and internet access atthe county level using geographic statistical analysis using spatialregression, specifically a spatial error model and a residual analysis.Our results highlight the spatial nature of persistent social, demographic,and environmental digital divides, particularly as they pertainto race, rurality, and education. Results suggest that currentefforts to expand access to digital opportunity continue to fallshort in lower resource communities and communities with higherrates of marginalized individuals.