IMLS Indicators Workbook: Economic Status and Broadband Availability and Adoption

The IMLS Indicators Workbook was assembled in 2020 to provide state and county-level information about selected indicators of economic status, broadband availability, and broadband adoption.

Purpose: The workbook provides information about states and counties in support of the IMLS CARES Act Grants for Museums and Libraries Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Coverage: One tab provides statistics about the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territory of Puerto Rico. A second tab provides the same statistics for 3,220 counties and county equivalents in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territory of Puerto Rico.

Content: Data include estimates and margins of error for: four economic indicators (poverty and unemployment rates, percent without health insurance and percent who received SNAP); three indicators of broadband adoption (percent without a home computer, percent without home Internet and percent with a home broadband connection); and three indicators of broadband availability (number of providers, cost per month, and percent of population for whom broadband is available). For more information, see the User’s Guide: IMLS Indicators Workbook: Economic Status and Broadband Availability and Adoption (PDF 706 KB).

Frequency: This is a single-release data product with no current plans for future releases. 

Methods: Statistics were compiled from multiple sources including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), and broadbandnow.com, a private (commercial) provider that aggregates data from FCC form 471 filings by broadband providers. These methods are more fully described in the User’s Guide: IMLS Indicators Workbook: Economic Status and Broadband Availability and Adoption (PDF 706 KB).

Use: This workbook is useful to potential applicants responding to the IMLS CARES Act Grants for Museums and Libraries Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Researchers, journalists, the public, local practitioners, and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels can use these data for planning, evaluation, and policy making.

• IMLS Indicators Workbook (XLS, 544 KB)
• User's Guide (PDF, 1.44 MB)