Since the start of August, school districts have continued to weigh the benefits and risks of returning to in-person classes. While several metro school districts have decided to start the year strictly with distance learning, they face a different challenge: disparate access to broadband internet . Even though many nonprofits, childcare centers, churches, and community centers have developed plans to help parents during these times, access to the internet is fundamental.

The statewide map below contains two layers to view where gaps may exist:

  1. Percentage of households with access to broadband internet by census tract.
  2. Percentage of the population between 5 and 19 years old by census tract.

Use the swipe bar to directly compare the two layers, and click on any Census tract to see additional data.

As you might suspect, rural areas have less access to broadband internet compared to urban areas. However, south and east Georgia seem to be more disadvantaged in their connectivity than the northern rural areas.

The second layer depicting our young population also shows how the need for this infrastructure for education is more evenly distributed, which gives the less-connected tracts a bigger challenge when it comes to virtual education.

 

 

For more maps investigating broadband in Georgia, check out the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ Georgia Broadband Deployment Initiative (GBDI) to see:

Content by Faustina Jones and Nikolai Elneser