Here’s Where People Shell Out the Most and the Least for Internet
The state that pays the most for internet access forks out more than ten times as much as the state with the lowest internet costs.

By Sherin Shibu

The price differences from state to state for internet access, a modern necessity, can be staggering. And internet access is especially needed in these pandemic times, with the rise of online school, remote work, video chatting, job searching, and gaming.

HighSpeedInternet.com released a report on how much the cost of internet varies across the US in 2020. The data analysts took information from 350,000 internet customers spanning the US, found the average monthly price for internet in each state, and then broke down those values to average price per Mbps (megabits per second). The price per Mbps better reflects the internet speed quality, according to the analysts.

The top ten most expensive states for internet access, according to the report, are Wyoming ($7.84), North Dakota ($7.57), Montana ($7.28), South Dakota ($7.17), Virginia ($6.74), Iowa ($6.34), New Mexico ($6.23), North Carolina ($5.87), Alabama ($5.82), and Nebraska ($5.43).

The least expensive states for internet access are Rhode Island ($0.63), D.C. ($0.84), Massachusetts ($1.13), Georgia ($1.65), New York ($1.72), California ($1.86), Maryland ($1.99), Kentucky ($2.00), Connecticut ($2.06), and Texas ($2.29).

Costs range widely; notice the considerable difference between Wyoming ($7.84) and Rhode Island ($0.63).

The national average cost per megabit for internet was $3.91, and the average cost of an internet plan per month in the US is $60. Since COVID-19 arrived, most states have seen an increase in average internet speed, and even some rural areas have impressive access.

States with rural areas generally tend to pay more for internet than states with more urban areas, say HighSpeedInternet.com researchers. The type of internet used can also affect costs: Fiber-optic internet and cable internet tend to have lower costs per Mbps, while DSL and satellite internet tend to cost more.
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['USA', 'Technology', 'Internet', 'Computing']