The State of Broadband in Virginia, 2020

Written by the BroadbandNow team. Last updated 9/1/2020.

Virginia comes in at 15th in the nation when it comes to access to broadband internet. 91.1% of residents enjoy access to wired broadband internet speeds of 25 Mbps or faster. The western part of the state and the Delmarva Peninsula generally enjoy faster speeds than the rest of the state. Virginia’s average download speed is currently 90.7 Mbps.

The Digital Divide in Virginia

The “digital divide” is a term used to quantify the gulf between people who have reliable access to the internet and those who do not. In Virginia, when taking both access and affordability into account, the state is well above average when it comes to its citizens having access to affordable broadband.

Still, approximately 697,000 Virginians do not have access to a wired internet connection of 25 Mbps or more. There are also 608,000 Virginians who have access to only one ISP (Internet Service Provider,) leaving them no option to switch. Another 306,000 people in Virginia don’t have access to any wired internet options at all.

Our latest affordability data shows that 51.3% of Virginians have access to an affordable internet plan. This comes in just slightly lower than the national average for states, which is 51.5%.

Best-Connected Cities

Woodbridge is the best-connected city in the state of Virginia. Everyone who lives there enjoys access to broadband speeds, and 99% of residents have access to wired broadband. The next four best-connected cities are Manassas, Henrico, Fredericksburg, and Arlington.

Worst-Connected Cities

In Virginia, Norwood is the worst-connected town when it comes to broadband internet access. The next four worst-connected cities and towns are Capeville, Doe Hill, Hood, and Stevensville.

Governmental Initiatives

The government of Virginia commonly grants millions of dollars of funding to a number of broadband initiatives to better connect its residents. For example, since 2010, Wired Virginia has been awarded $8,099,979 in grants for Virginia’s Broadband Initiative. $199,044,242 was additionally awarded to other broadband infrastructure projects in Virginia. The largest single federal grant for broadband infrastructure was given to The University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development at $62,540,162.

The information above is taken from a mix of public and private datasets. More about our data here.