Internet in Chicago, Illinois
Fiber is available at 36.6% of the 503,595 homes and businesses the FCC counts in Chicago, and wired broadband of at least 100/20 Mbps at 99.6%. 76.8% of locations have a choice of two or more wired providers at that speed; at 22.8% there is only one.1
FCC National Broadband Map, availability as of June 30, 2026 (data revised November 10, 2026), as reported by providers.
Chicago in Illinois
Chicago is wired almost everywhere and choice is common, but fiber is not. Xfinity reports service at 99.2% of the city's homes and businesses, while fiber from any provider reaches 36.6%1, well below the largest US cities that compete with it in size. The fastest change since 2022 has come on the cable side, not from new fiber.
Who wires Chicago
Wired internet of at least 100/20 Mbps is reported at 99.6% of Chicago's 503,5951 homes and businesses, as of June 30, 2026 (FCC revision of November 10, 2026). The FCC counts locations, so a high-rise is one location however many apartments it holds; the figures describe city limits as drawn for the 2020 Census.
Nearly all of that comes from three networks. Xfinity reports service at 99.2% of locations, almost entirely over cable. AT&T reports 87.4%, but offers 100/20 Mbps at only 52.4%, because much of its footprint is still DSL on copper phone lines. Astound covers about half the city, 49.6%, with cable and some fiber. The smaller names in the table, such as Zentro, Zayo and Cogent, each report service at 0.1%1 of locations or less.
| Xfinity | Fiber Cable | 99.2% | 99.2% | 2 Gbps | 22.5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | Fiber DSL Licensed wireless | 87.4% | 52.4% | 5 Gbps | 0.1% |
| T-Mobile | Licensed wireless | 86.0% | 38.1% | 100 Mbps | – |
| Verizon | Licensed wireless | 73.9% | 36.9% | 1 Gbps | – |
| Astound | Fiber Cable | 49.6% | 49.6% | 1.5 Gbps | 0.2% |
| Zentro | Fiber Licensed wireless | 0.1% | 0.1% | 2 Gbps | – |
| Google Fiber | Fixed wireless | 0.1% | 0.1% | 1 Gbps | – |
| Edge Fiber | Fixed wireless | 0.0% | 0.0% | 70 Mbps | – |
| Brightspeed | DSL | 0.0% | 0.0% | – | – |
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Share of the area's broadband serviceable locations where the provider reports service as of June 30, 2026. "Only wired option" is the share of locations where it is the single wired provider at 100/20 Mbps. Provider-reported and challengeable; speeds are advertised maximums, not measured; no prices. Satellite providers (HughesNet, Starlink, Viasat) report service at nearly every location and are left out of the table.
"Available" here means the provider told the FCC it can install service within ten business days. Residents can challenge any listing on the FCC National Broadband Map.
Fiber: a third of the city
Fiber, a network where the line runs all the way to the building, is reported at 36.6% of Chicago locations, which places the city 51st lowest1 among the 343 US cities of 100,000 or more. Among the country's biggest cities the gap is wide: Philadelphia has fiber at nearly every location, and New York and Houston at more than four in five.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. FCC file revision of November 10, 2026. Shares are of broadband serviceable locations (homes and businesses), not people.
Show the numbers
| Area | Fiber available |
|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 95.7% |
| New York | 90.3% |
| Houston | 81.9% |
| United States | 62.6% |
| Los Angeles | 51.9% |
| Illinois | 48.4% |
| Chicago | 36.6% |
| Phoenix | 31.4% |
Most Chicago fiber is AT&T's, at 32.0% of locations; Astound reports fiber at 11.2%. Where those footprints overlap, 6.6% of locations have two or more fiber networks. Growth has been slow: fiber's share rose 4.1 percentage points since June 30, 2022, from 32.5%, while Illinois as a whole went from 24.5%2 to 48.4%1. The state now has more fiber, proportionally, than its largest city.
Gigabit uploads arrived over cable
The speed numbers moved far more than the fiber numbers. Service of at least 1 Gbps download and 100 Mbps upload (the FCC's 1,000/100 tier) was advertised at 32.6%2 of locations in June 2022, 55.3%3 in December 2025 and 68.4% in June 2026. The rise of 13.1 percentage points in the latest six months alone was the 19th highest1 among large cities.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2022; FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of December 31, 2025; FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Shares of broadband serviceable locations in each FCC release (latest revision of each); the small number is the change in percentage points since June 30, 2022. The FCC's count of locations is updated with each release, so shares are compared rather than counts.
Show the numbers
| Measure | June 30, 2022 | December 31, 2025 | June 30, 2026 | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gigabit (1,000/100) | 32.6% | 55.3% | 68.4% | 35.8 pts |
| Fiber available | 32.5% | 34.2% | 36.6% | 4.1 pts |
| DSL available | 66.4% | 56.4% | 58.3% | −8.1 pts |
Fiber cannot account for that: its share is far smaller than the gigabit share and grew little, so the rest is reported over other technologies, and the speed tiers point to cable. Xfinity advertises up to 2 Gbps on cable in Chicago, and the share of locations whose fastest advertised download is 2 Gbps or more went from 7.0%2 in 2022 to 62.7%1. These are advertised maximums reported to the FCC, not measured speeds.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Maximum advertised download speed (Mbps) of any wired or fixed wireless offer at the location, as reported by providers to the FCC; satellite excluded. Advertised, not measured.
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| Area | Under 25 Mbps or none | 25–99 | 100–249 | 250–499 | 500–939 | 940–1,999 | 2,000 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 36.9% | 62.7% |
| Illinois | 1.3% | 1.5% | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1.4% | 23.0% | 68.4% |
| United States | 2.4% | 1.6% | 1.8% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 31.0% | 61.0% |
More choice than the state, one wire for a fifth
Because Xfinity and Astound both run cable networks and AT&T adds fiber in places, Chicago has more wired competition than Illinois overall: 76.8% of locations can choose between two or more wired providers at 100/20 Mbps, against 56.4% statewide. The other side of that figure is 22.8% of locations with one wired option at that speed; at 22.5%1 of the city's locations, that one option is Xfinity.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Different wired providers (fiber, cable or DSL; FCC provider IDs) reporting 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up or more at the same location. Fixed wireless and satellite are not counted.
Show the numbers
| Area | None | One | Two | Three or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 0.4% | 22.8% | 55.4% | 21.4% |
| Illinois | 8.5% | 35.2% | 42.6% | 13.8% |
| United States | 7.8% | 36.6% | 44.6% | 11.1% |
That share has barely changed. Locations with two or more wired choices rose 1.7 percentage points since June 2022, the 47th lowest change among large cities. The number of wired providers reporting service fell over the same period, from 72 wired providers to 51.
5G home internet and copper
T-Mobile reports fixed wireless home internet at 86.0% of locations and Verizon at 73.9%; each offers 100/20 Mbps at a smaller share (38.1% and 36.9%). Fixed wireless offering 100/20 Mbps from any carrier went from 49.0%2 of locations in June 2022 to 60.4%1. Whether a carrier accepts a new customer at a given address is its own decision, so a reported location is not a guaranteed opening.
DSL is still reported at 58.3% of locations, down 8.1 percentage points since June 2022 and above the Illinois figure of 50.9%1.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. Share of broadband serviceable locations where at least one provider reports the technology, at any speed; a location can have several. Satellite is reported almost everywhere and is left out.
Show the numbers
| Technology | Chicago | Illinois |
|---|---|---|
| Fiber | 36.6% | 48.4% |
| Cable | 99.4% | 86.6% |
| DSL (copper) | 58.3% | 50.9% |
| Licensed fixed wireless (incl. 5G home) | 95.1% | 93.8% |
| Unlicensed fixed wireless | 0.1% | 15.3% |
What Chicago households subscribe to
The Census Bureau's survey counts households, not locations. In 2025, 92.0% of Chicago households had a broadband subscription of any kind (margin of error ±0.6 percentage points), tied for 39th lowest among large cities by point estimate, and 7.9% had none. In 2019 the no-subscription share was 16.4%, so it has roughly halved. 14.8%4 of households relied only on a cellular data plan, more than the 12.5%5 of 2019. With wired service reported almost everywhere, the remaining gap is between availability and subscription, not a missing network.
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026; Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year detailed tables. Availability is a share of locations as of June 30, 2026 (FCC); subscriptions are a share of households from the American Community Survey, 2025 (whiskers: 90% margin of error). Different units and dates: read the gap as a sign, not an exact number.
Show the numbers
| Measure | Share | MOE |
|---|---|---|
| Wired 100/20 Mbps available (FCC, share of locations) | 99.6% | |
| Households subscribing to cable, fiber or DSL (Census) | 74.1% | ±1.0 |
| Households relying only on a cellular data plan | 14.8% | ±0.8 |
| Households with no internet subscription | 7.9% | ±0.6 |
Chicago beside its suburbs and peers
Low fiber is not only a Chicago pattern. In the larger suburbs, Naperville, Joliet, Elgin and Aurora all report less fiber than the city.
| Area | Fiber available | Gigabit (1,000/100) | Two or more wired choices | Fiber networks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago, Illinois | 36.6% | 68.4% | 76.8% | 4 |
| Aurora, Illinois | 41.1% | 99.7% | 47.0% | 4 |
| Naperville, Illinois | 18.0% | 95.7% | 95.5% | 6 |
| Joliet, Illinois | 27.8% | 82.7% | 36.6% | 3 |
| Elgin, Illinois | 27.3% | 89.8% | 93.5% | 3 |
| Illinois | 48.4% | 79.0% | 56.4% | 82 |
| United States | 62.6% | 72.3% | 55.6% | 1,485 |
Source: FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026. FCC file revision of November 10, 2026. Shares are of broadband serviceable locations (homes and businesses), not people.
The Illinois page maps every county, including Cook County.
Questions and answers
What internet providers are available in Chicago?
Three companies report wired service at scale: Xfinity (99.2% of locations, mostly cable), AT&T (87.4%, a mix of fiber, DSL and fixed wireless) and Astound (49.6%, cable and some fiber). T-Mobile (86.0%) and Verizon (73.9%1) report 5G or LTE home internet. These are shares of locations as of June 30, 2026.
Is fiber internet available in Chicago?
At 36.6% of locations inside the city limits, as of June 30, 2026, against 48.4% for Illinois and 62.6% nationally. AT&T reports fiber at 32.0% of locations and Astound at 11.2%; 6.6%1 have two or more fiber networks.
How many internet providers does Chicago have?
5 wired providers report service somewhere in the city, down from 72 in June 2022, but apart from Xfinity, AT&T and Astound, each reports service at 0.1% of locations or less. At a typical address, 76.8% of locations have two or more wired providers offering 100/20 Mbps and 21.4%1 have three or more.
Checking one address in Chicago
The figures on this page describe the whole area. Which providers report service at a single home or apartment is shown only on the FCC's own map: search the address at broadbandmap.fcc.gov. If a provider is listed there but cannot actually connect you within ten business days, or the location is missing or misplaced, the map has a button to file a challenge; providers must respond, and corrections flow into later releases. Prices and plans are not part of the FCC data: each provider must show them on its broadband facts label at the point of sale.
More on internet in Illinois
The state picture, county by county: internet in Illinois. Other large cities in the state: Aurora, Naperville, Joliet, Rockford, Elgin, Springfield and Peoria. Compare Chicago with any other city or state in the comparison tool.
Sources
- FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2026; Availability as of June 30, 2026; released November 10, 2026. broadbandmap.fcc.gov
- FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of June 30, 2022; Availability as of June 30, 2022; released May 10, 2024. broadbandmap.fcc.gov
- FCC, National Broadband Map, data as of December 31, 2025; Availability as of December 31, 2025; released November 3, 2026. broadbandmap.fcc.gov
- Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year detailed tables; 2025 (calendar-year sample); released October 29, 2026. api.census.gov
- Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019 1-year detailed tables; 2019. api.census.gov
Margins of error (±) are at the 90% confidence level. A difference is called significant only when it passes the Census Bureau's test at that level. How every figure is built: methodology. Found an error? Write to [email protected]; corrections are listed on the updates page.