This map shows the percentage of individuals in Northwest communities living without internet access, paired with the percentage of households without a personal vehicle. Lack of access to internet may be an indicator of historical disinvestment in rural and Tribal communities in the Northwest. At the same time, access to personal vehicles is oftencritical for living and working in rural communities.

Rural communities have less access to affordable and reliable broadband connection than urban communities. Broadband access was commonly identified as an infrastructure priority by interviewees for CETI's Community-Defined Decarbonization project.

Across the Northwest, there are important differences in access to the internet. For example, the average percentage of individuals without access to the Internet ranges from 5.93% in Washington communities to 11.5% in Montana communities. Meanwhile, the average percentage of individuals without internet in Idaho and Oregon communities falls between the two, at 7.24% and 6.85%, respectively.

While broadband access is required to enable grid-connected buildings and energy demand management, its primary value to the interviewees was connecting communities, decreasing isolation, and increasing access to telemedicine.

Although living car-free is the most effective step individuals can take to lower their individual carbon footprint, many rural communities in the Northwest lack effective public transit options and still face high proportions of households without access to a personal vehicle.

The map is divided into census tracts, which are color-coded to show the community-level relationship between access to the Internet and access to a personal vehicle. Black lines indicate counties, and red lines indicate Tribal Lands.

The darkest green (top center square in the legend) indicates communities with high percentages of people without access to the Internet and access to a personal vehicle.

The blue (right corner square) indicates communities with high proportions of people without access to the Internet but low percentages of households without a personal vehicle, and the light green (left corner square) shows the opposite (high proportions of households without a personal vehicle but low percentages of people without access to the internet).

Lastly, the light yellow (bottom center square) shows areas that have low percentages of both households without access to a personal vehicle and people without access to the Internet.

Note: The white area between Yakima County and Franklin County is Hanford, a decommissioned nuclear production site where no one is permitted to live within 35 miles.

Click on the map to see associated data. Use the + and – buttons in the upper left to zoom in and out of different census tracts, and use the search bar in the upper right-hand corner to search for an address.