Computer ownership statistics vary sharply by definition: household ownership, access at home, device type and internet use are different measures. The figures below make those distinctions explicit, covering U.S. data from 2021, teen access from 2024, European connectivity in 2023 and ITU country-average comparisons from 2020 or the latest available year.
Key Computer Ownership Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2021, 95.0% of U.S. households had at least one computer of any type.
- In 2021, 80.5% of U.S. households had a desktop or laptop.
- In 2021, 90.0% of U.S. households owned a smartphone.
- In 2021, 63.8% of U.S. households owned a tablet.
- U.S. household computer ownership rose from 84% in 2013 to 95% in 2021.
- In 2021, 98.9% of households headed by people ages 15–34 owned a computer.
- In 2021, 87.5% of households headed by people age 65 or older owned a computer.
- In 2021, 98.9% of U.S. households with children under 18 owned a computer.
- In 2021, computer ownership was 85.1% among households earning under $25,000.
- In 2021, computer ownership was 99.3% among households earning $150,000 or more.
- In 2021, 98.6% of households headed by someone with at least a bachelor’s degree owned a computer.
- In 2021, 90.5% of households with at least one member with a disability owned a computer.
- In 2021, 95.5% of urban U.S. households owned a computer, compared with 93.1% of rural households.
- In the ITU comparison for 2020 or the latest available year, 80% of households in high-income countries owned a computer.
- In the same ITU comparison, 7% of households in low-income countries owned a computer.
- In 2024, 88% of U.S. teens ages 13–17 had or could access a desktop or laptop at home.
- In 2024, 95% of U.S. teens ages 13–17 had or could access a smartphone at home.
Contents
- U.S. computer ownership levels and long-term trends
- Computer ownership by age, devices and household structure
- Computer ownership by income and education
- Computer ownership across race, disability, language and housing
- Urban-rural computer ownership and internet-access gaps
- Global computer ownership statistics by income and region
- Teen computer access and changing device patterns
U.S. Computer Ownership Levels and Long-Term Trends
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2021 uses American Community Survey 1-year estimates and measures households rather than individual owners. In 2021, 95.0% of U.S. households had at least one computer of any type, while 80.5% had a desktop or laptop.
The same report counted 90.0% of households with a smartphone and 63.8% with a tablet. Because the report includes smartphones as computing devices, “computer ownership” and “desktop-or-laptop ownership” should not be treated as interchangeable.
| U.S. household measure | 2013 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Computer ownership | 84% | 95% |
| Internet subscription | 74% | 90% |
| Broadband subscription | — | 90.1% |
Source: Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2021. The 2013–2021 comparison is not perfectly comparable because the ACS questionnaire changed in 2016; there is no 2020 estimate in this report because of COVID-19 impacts on ACS estimates.
Internet and broadband subscription are related connectivity measures, not computer ownership.
The 2021 ACS total-household estimate covered 127.545 million U.S. households. That is a reported total-household estimate, not a sample-size statistic.
Computer Ownership by Age, Devices and Household Structure
Computer ownership was high across every listed householder-age group in 2021, but device mix differed. Households headed by people ages 15–34 had 98.9% computer ownership, compared with 87.5% among households headed by someone age 65 or older.
| Householder age, U.S. | Any computer | Desktop or laptop | Smartphone | Tablet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15–34 | 98.9% | 85.3% | 97.9% | 65.4% |
| 35–44 | 98.7% | — | — | — |
| 45–64 | 96.8% | — | — | — |
| 65+ | 87.5% | 69.8% | 75.4% | 50.9% |
Source: Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2021. The Census Bureau combines desktop and laptop in that measure, and all figures are household measures.
Household composition also mattered. Households with children under 18 had 98.9% computer ownership, 88.3% desktop-or-laptop ownership, 97.3% smartphone ownership and 79.6% tablet ownership in 2021; corresponding figures for households without children under 18 were 93.4%, 77.2%, 87.0% and 57.2%.
Computer Ownership Statistics by Income and Education
Income differences were especially visible for desktop and laptop ownership. In 2021, 85.1% of households earning under $25,000 owned a computer, compared with 99.3% of households earning $150,000 or more.
| Household income, U.S., 2021 | Any computer | Desktop or laptop | Smartphone | Tablet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $25,000 | 85.1% | 56.3% | 76.7% | 40.6% |
| $150,000 or more | 99.3% | 96.3% | 97.6% | 85.3% |
Source: Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2021. Income categories are household categories, and desktop-or-laptop figures combine the two device types.
Education showed a similar pattern. Households headed by someone without a high-school diploma had 83.8% computer ownership and 51.3% desktop-or-laptop ownership, while households headed by someone with a bachelor’s degree or higher had 98.6% and 93.9%, respectively.
These comparisons describe associations in ACS household data. They do not establish that income or education independently caused a household to own a particular device.
Computer Ownership Across Race, Disability, Language and Housing
The Census data also show differences across household characteristics. Among the listed racial and Hispanic-origin groups, Asian-householder households had the highest reported computer ownership at 98.0% in 2021; Black, non-Hispanic-householder households had 93.2%, and Hispanic-householder households had 95.6%.
Desktop-or-laptop ownership was 89.7% among Asian-householder households and 71.7% among Black non-Hispanic-householder households. Smartphone ownership was 95.5% and 88.6%, respectively.
| Household characteristic, U.S., 2021 | Any computer | Desktop or laptop |
|---|---|---|
| At least one member with a disability | 90.5% | 71.7% |
| No disabled members | 96.7% | 83.6% |
| Limited-English-speaking household | 89.6% | — |
| Other household | 95.3% | — |
| Owner-occupied | 95.8% | 84.7% |
| Renter-occupied | 93.6% | 72.6% |
Source: Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2021. ACS defines a limited-English-speaking household by the English ability of members age 14 and older, and disability is based on household-member status.
Housing tenure differences were modest for any computer but larger for desktop-or-laptop ownership. These are descriptive household comparisons, not measures of individual ownership or evidence of a causal housing effect.
Urban-Rural Computer Ownership and Internet-Access Gaps
In 2021, urban U.S. households had 95.5% computer ownership, compared with 93.1% for rural households. Urban households also had higher desktop-or-laptop ownership at 81.5% versus 76.4%, smartphone ownership at 90.7% versus 87.1%, and tablet ownership at 64.6% versus 60.4%.
The rural broadband-subscription rate trailed the urban rate by 4 percentage points in 2021. The urban-rural broadband gap was 2 percentage points smaller in 2021 than in 2016, but broadband subscription remains a related connectivity measure rather than a computer-ownership measure.
The Census Bureau uses 2010 Census urban-rural delineations for these figures, so the categories do not necessarily reflect ongoing urbanization. For a separate European comparison, Eurostat reported internet access—not computer ownership—in 2023 for 95% of city households, 93% of households in towns and suburbs, and 91% of rural households.
Eurostat also reported laptop use to access the internet among people ages 16–74 at 60% in EU cities, 52% in towns and suburbs, and 49% in rural areas in 2023. Tablet use for internet access was 33%, 31% and 25%, respectively; these are use measures, not ownership measures.
Source: Access to internet in urban and rural areas in 2023. The EU city-to-rural internet-access gap narrowed from 9.7 percentage points in 2013 to 4.4 points in 2023.
Global Computer Ownership Statistics by Income and Region
The ITU comparison is not a single synchronized global survey. It reports country or regional averages using 2020 or the latest available data, so the years may differ between observations.
| ITU comparison group | Household computer ownership |
|---|---|
| World country averages | 46% |
| High-income countries | 80% |
| Upper-middle-income countries | 49% |
| Lower-middle-income countries | 24% |
| Low-income countries | 7% |
Regional country averages also varied: North America was 83%, Europe and Central Asia 71%, East Asia and the Pacific 42%, Latin America and the Caribbean 37%, and Sub-Saharan Africa 12%.
Source: Importance of Broadband and Computers for e-learning. These figures should be read as country-average comparisons with latest-available observations, not as a precisely synchronized worldwide household count.
Teen Computer Access and Changing Device Patterns
Pew Research Center’s 2024 survey measures whether U.S. teens ages 13–17 had or could access devices at home, not whether they personally owned them. In that survey, 88% had or could access a desktop or laptop, 95% had smartphone access, 83% had gaming-console access and 70% had tablet access.
Tablet access increased from 65% in 2023 to 70% in 2024. Desktop-or-laptop access was 91% among teens ages 15–17, compared with 85% among those ages 13–14.
| U.S. teens ages 13–17, 2024 | Home access |
|---|---|
| Desktop or laptop | 88% |
| Smartphone | 95% |
| Gaming console | 83% |
| Tablet | 70% |
Source: Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024. Results are self-reported home-access measures.
Household income remained associated with access. Desktop-or-laptop access was 93% among teens in households earning $75,000 or more, 81% in households earning $30,000–$74,999, and 78% in households earning under $30,000; tablet access was 73% in the highest band and 64% in each of the two lower bands.
Pew’s comparable trend chart placed teen desktop-or-laptop access at 87% in 2015 and 88% in 2024. Because the trend combines survey waves, access wording and fieldwork can vary by year.