The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provides eligible households with a subsidy toward their internet bill. While ACP is a valuable step toward digital equity for many households, we must help eligible households take advantage of ACP and guide Congress to renew the funding.
The Main Source: USAC Enrollment and Claims Tracker
The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) collects and publishes data about ACP enrollment and the total dollars claimed by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). They report enrollment and total funding claimed by ISPs per state, congressional district, county, and zip code, as well as verification methods by zip code. The format of each dataset they provide is an Excel spreadsheet.
⚡Why use this tool?
This dataset provided by USAC is the definitive source of ACP data, and all the rest of the tools are more user-friendly presentations of this data or combinations of this data with other sources. If you want to go straight to the source and create your own analysis or visualization of the data, this is where you should start.
Another reason you might need to go to this source is that currently none of the other tools include statistics on how enrollments are verified (using National Verifier, school, Lifeline, or another means), so if you are researching the breakdown of how folks are getting verified and enrolled in your area, we recommend using this USAC dataset.
This information can be beneficial in identifying the most effective ACP enrollment methods in your area. It can also highlight methods that have not been attempted yet, which could potentially reach new individuals. For example, many NDIA affiliates have noted that the easiest way to enroll people is to use eligibility for a free or reduced school lunch program, so you may want to investigate how many folks are using this verification method in your area.
The following tools and dashboards incorporate USAC Enrollment and Claims Tracker data in much more user-friendly ways, so we recommend using one of these for all other needs.
Digital Progress’ ACP Congressional Map
This map allows you to find the number of ACP-enrolled households by state or congressional district. It enables you to compare the number of enrolled households to the total number of households, and provides a percentage. What differentiates it from other tools in this comparison is that it does not compare enrollment to an estimate of eligibility but rather compares it to the total number of households, eligible or not.
⚡Why use this tool?
This tool’s clear focus on states and congressional districts makes it easy to quickly find enrollment data at those levels. We recommend using this tool to educate and inform federal policymakers about how vital ACP is in your state. For example, in Michigan’s District 8, approximately 25 percent of households are currently enrolled in ACP. If Congress fails to take action on ACP, it would directly impact one in four of those community members. This kind of information is vital for your representative to know! This tool can also serve as a quick reference for state digital equity staff who need a snapshot of ACP enrollment.
Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s (ILSR) ACP Dashboard
This tool presents several unique data points about ACP enrollment and funding:
- ACP enrollment by state, zip code, and congressional district
- Summary of total ACP enrollments and dollars claimed across all Republican congressional districts and Democrat congressional districts
- Estimates of ACP monthly spending by state, zip code, congressional district
- Estimates of ACP eligibility by state, zip code, and congressional district
- Breakdown of enrollments by service type (mobile broadband, fixed broadband, or fixed wireless/satellite)
- Highest and lowest enrolled out of 30 metropolitan areas
- Predictions of when ACP funding will run out
ILSR estimates eligible households based on the proportion of households 200 percent below the poverty threshold or enrollment in other government assistance programs. Their maps then directly compare the number of households enrolled in ACP with their estimate of eligible households.
The dashboard also shows several visualizations, such as how much ACP funding has been used versus how much is left and projections of when ACP funding might run out.
⚡Why use this tool?
Because it compares eligible households and actual enrollment, this tool can help local practitioners demonstrate the gap in their community in grant-writing processes. This strategy especially benefits those applying for the second round of ACP outreach grants.
ILSR’s charts show three compelling scenarios for when funds may run out – if enrollments stopped growing at 18.4 or 20.4 million households versus if enrollments continue to increase without limit. The earliest estimate shows that funding could run out by April or May 2024 if enrollments continue to increase steadily. Local, regional, and state advocates can leverage these predictions to demonstrate to policymakers the urgency of renewing ACP funding.
The Benton Institute’s ACP Enrollment Performance Tool
Similar to some of the others, this tool allows you to track ACP enrollment by zip code in the continental United States*, including the number of enrolled households, an estimate of eligible households, and the total number of households. However, it also introduces a predicted enrollment estimate for each zip code.
There is an important difference between the estimate of eligible households and the prediction of enrollment included in this tool. The eligibility estimate relies on the proportions of households in the zip code that meet any of the criteria for ACP, much like the ILSR’s or EducationSuperHighway’s tool. The predicted enrollment comes from a statistical model that considers other factors that may influence ACP enrollments beyond the eligibility criteria, such as the presence of anchor institutions and population density in the zip code.
Another key feature of this tool is that it creates a heat map across the US by categorizing each zip code into one of five performance categories based on how actual enrollment compares to the predictive model. A zip code is a high performer if there are more actual enrollments than predicted and a lower performer if there are fewer enrollments than predicted.
It also includes demographic information such as the percentage of residents age 65 and older and the percentage of households making less than $15,000 in annual income. They also have other digital equity indicators, such as the percentage of households with wireline broadband, households with cellular data only, and households without a computer.
⚡Why use this tool?
The performance categories make this tool an excellent means of comparing high- and low-performance geographies. Local practitioners and state digital equity staff looking to create an ACP outreach strategy can use the performance categories to identify low-performing and high-performing areas.
EducationSuperHighway ACP Enrollment Dashboard
EducationSuperHighway’s dashboard also uses a map of the United States, comparing eligibility and actual enrollment per state. However, something unique to this tool is that it highlights states with a governor who has made ACP a priority. Additionally, by clicking on a state, you can see a fact sheet of the actual enrollment versus eligible households, how it compares to the national average, a chart of enrollment growth over time, and a table of enrollments by city. This tool also reveals that the FCC rejects around 45 percent of ACP applications, which may help you see what outreach methods are working or not.
⚡Why use this tool?
Because of the emphasis on statewide enrollment and eligibility, this is an excellent tool for state digital equity staff to determine how the state is doing compared to the national average and whether or not the governor has made it a priority. The chart shows the growth rate of enrollments over time, which makes it helpful in comparing whether statewide outreach or awareness programs significantly impacted enrollments. Another valuable feature for local practitioners is the breakdown by city for each state with the number of unreached households (based on their estimate of eligibility), which they can use to understand and demonstrate the gap.
USASpending.gov
USASpending.gov is an excellent resource for tracking where the ACP-obligated funds go and which ISPs are benefitting the most from the program. Use the search bar to filter for “Affordable Connectivity Program.” You can also filter by fiscal year and by state. After searching, you can see the recipients of ACP awards under the “Direct Payments” tab on the right. You can see the total amount awarded to a recipient by clicking its name.
The other aspects of this tool that could be useful are the Time and Map features. The Time feature shows the ACP spending by year, quarter, or month, and the Map shows state, county, and congressional district spending. However, data for counties and congressional districts are very sparse. Under “Categories,” you can select “Spending by Recipient” to get the total amount obligated to different ISPs.
⚡Why use this tool?
This tool allows you to see the ISPs benefiting most from ACP in your state. This breakdown could help you identify potential ISP partners who could strengthen advocacy or outreach efforts based on those ISPs that have been benefiting most from the program and those with significant market share in your area.
*As of the time of this posting, the Benton dashboard does not include data for Hawaii, Alaska, or US territories.