Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

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“In the second quarter of 2009, over one in five households reported they are wireless cellular only—an increase of 16% from the past year.”

- Source: Nielsen Convergence Audit

More than one of every five US homes (22.7%) had no landline and only wireless phone service during the first half of 2009, an increase of 2.5 percentage points since the second half of 2008, according to preliminary results from the January – June 2009 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The study also found that approximately 21.1% of all US adults (about 48 million) lived in households with only wireless telephones; 21.3% of all children (nearly 16 million) lived in households with only wireless telephones.

Moreover, one of every seven American homes (14.7%) had a landline but still receives all or almost all of its calls on wireless telephones.

Similar research from The Nielsen Company found that wireless-only households make up approximately 21% of those in the US:

Wireless-Only Steadily Increasing

The CDC reports that the percentage of households that are wireless-only has been steadily increasing and rose by approximately 5 percentage points in 12 months, from 17.5% in the first six months of 2008 to 22.7% in the first six months of 2009.

The percentage of adults living in wireless-only households also has increased steadily. During the first six months of 2009, more than one of every five adults lived in wireless-only households. One year before that (during the first 6 months of 2008), one of every six adults lived in wireless-only households. During the first six months of 2006, only one of every 10 adults lived in wireless-only households.

The percentages of adults and children living without any telephone service have remained relatively unchanged over the past 3 years. Approximately 1.9% of households had no telephone service (neither wireless nor landline). More than 3 million adults (1.5%) and 1 million children (1.7%) live in these households.

Demographic Differences

Additional CDC study findings about wireless-only households from the first half of 2009:

  • More than two in three adults living only with unrelated adult roommates (68.5%) are in households with only wireless telephones. This is the highest prevalence rate among the population subgroups examined.
    Two in five adults renting their home (40.9%) had only wireless telephones. Adults renting their home are more likely than adults owning their home (12.8%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.
  • Nearly half of adults ages 25-29 (45.8%) live in households with only wireless telephones. More than one-third of adults ages 18-24 (37.6%) and approximately one-third of adults ages 30-34 (33.5%) live in households with only wireless telephones.
  • As age increases from 35 years, the percentage of adults living in households with only wireless telephones decreases: 21.5% for adults ages 35-44; 12.8% for adults ages 45-64; and 5.4% for adults ages 65+. However, the percentage of wireless-only adults within each age group has increased over time.
  • Adults living in poverty (33.0%) and adults living near poverty (26.5%) are more likely than higher income adults (18.9%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.
  • Adults living in the South (25.0%) and Midwest (21.9%) are more likely than adults living in the Northeast (14.6%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.
  • Hispanic adults (28.2%) are more likely than non-Hispanic white adults (19.7%) or non-Hispanic black adults (21.3%) to be living in households with only wireless telephones.
  • No statistically significant difference is observed between the percentage of men (22.5%) and the percentage of women (19.8%) living in households with only wireless telephones.

Demographic Distributions

In terms of percent distribution of selected demographic characteristics for adults living in households with only wireless telephones, the survey found little change over the past three years, except as related to sex, age, and employment status.

From 2006 to the first six months of 2009:

  • The proportion of women among all wireless-only adults increased from approximately 46% to 48.6%.
  • Among all wireless-only adults, the proportion of adults ages 30+ has steadily increased. In the first 6 months of 2009, the majority of wireless-only adults (57.2%) were ages 30+, up from 48.4% three years earlier.
  • The proportion of employed adults among all wireless-only adults has decreased from approximately 78% to 71.1%. Over the same time period, there was growth in the proportion of adults with an employment status other than working, keeping house, or going to school. These adults (largely unemployed or retired) made up 18.7% of wireless-only adults in the first 6 months of 2009, up from 10.3% three years earlier.

Wireless-Mostly Households

Among households with both landline and wireless telephones, 24.8% received all or almost all calls on the wireless telephones, based on data for the period July through December 2008. These wireless-mostly households make up 14.7% of all households, the study found.

The percentage of adults living in wireless-mostly households has been increasing over time. During the first six months of 2009, nearly 37 million adults (16.2%) lived in wireless-mostly households. Although this prevalence estimate was not significantly different from the estimate for the last 6 months of 2008 (15.4%), it was significantly greater than the estimate for the first 6 months of 2008 (14.4%).

For the period January – June 2009:

  • Adults working at a job or business (19.5%) and adults going to school (21.1%) were more likely to be living in wireless-mostly households than were adults keeping house (12.7%) or with another employment status such as retired or unemployed (9.0%).
  • Adults with college degrees (19.7%) were more likely to be living in wireless-mostly households than were high school graduates (13.7%) or adults with less education (12.1%).
  • Adults living with children (20.5%) were more likely than adults living alone (10.0%) or with only adult relatives (14.7%) to be living in wireless-mostly households.
  • Adults living in poverty (11.0%) and adults living near poverty (12.0%) were less likely than higher income adults (18.8%) to be living in wireless-mostly households.
  • Adults living in metropolitan areas (16.9%) were more likely to be living in wireless-mostly households than were adults living in more rural areas (13.5%).

Health Indicators vs. Phone Service

The NHIS also includes estimates for 15 key health indicators, which are released every three months. These statistics have been compiled for the period January through June 2009, by type of phone service:

  • The prevalence of binge drinking among wireless-only adults (35.3%) is nearly twice as high as the prevalence among adults living in landline households (19.3%).
  • Wireless-only adults are more likely to be current smokers than were adults living in landline households.
  • Compared with adults living in landline households, wireless-only adults were more likely to report that their health status is excellent or very good, more likely to experience serious psychological distress, and less likely to have ever been diagnosed with diabetes.
  • The percentage without health insurance coverage at the time of interview among wireless-only adults age 65 (29.4%) is more than twice as high as the percentage among adults in that age group living in landline households (13.7%).
  • Compared with adults living in landline households, wireless-only adults are more likely to have experienced financial barriers to obtaining needed health care, and they were less likely to have a usual place to go for medical care. Wireless-only adults were also less likely to have received an influenza vaccination during the previous year.
  • Wireless-only adults (48.6%) were more likely than adults living in landline households (37.1%) to have ever been tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

Nielsen Numbers Show Similar Pattern

Similar research from The Nielsen Company also showed a rise in households who have “cut the cord” by trading their traditional landlines for wireless cellular services.

The latest Nielsen Convergence Audit (pdf) – an annual survey on voice, video and data products – found that while an overwhelming majority (88%), of US households had a wireless phone in 2009, most still maintain a traditional landline at home. However, in Q209, more than one in five households (21%) reported they are wireless cellular only – an increase of 16% from the past year. This increase comes from the two-thirds of households who have dropped their landlines, as well as from young adults who started new households with just a wireless phone service.

The research also revealed an increase in mobile media device usage among a diverse set of households.

About the research: The CDC report is published as part of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Early Release Program. In May and December of each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) releases selected estimates of telephone coverage for the civilian noninstitutionalized US population based on data from NHIS, along with comparable estimates from NHIS for the previous 3 years. The estimates are based on in-person interviews that NHIS conducts continuously throughout the year to collect information on health status, health-related behaviors, and health care utilization. The survey also includes information about household telephones and whether anyone in the household has a wireless telephone. From January – June 2009, information on household telephone status was obtained for 12,447 households that included at least one civilian adult or child. These households included 23,632 civilian adults ages 18+ and 8,818 children under age 18.

The Nielsen Convergence Audit, one of the largest surveys of its kind, is an annual survey that collects more than 32,000 US online and mail respondents in attempt to better understand consumers’ attitudes and behavior toward voice, video and data products.