(Update at end of story.) More than half (52%) of U.S. adults live in households with cellphones but no landline telephones, according to the latest GfK MRI Survey of the American Consumer. This represents a doubling of no-landline-telephone-households since 2010, when it was 26%.

Percentage of Americans with no Landline Phones (by Age)

71% | Millennial (born from 1977 to 1994) household
55% | Generation X (born 1965 to 1976) household
40% | Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964)
23% | 65+ years old

Percentage of Americans with no Landline Phones (by Ethnicity)

67% | Hispanic or Latino
54% | Asian Americans
51% | Whites
50% | African Americans

The recurring history of new-fangled phones

Changes in how people’s phones connect to phone wires are a part of the history of the telephone. Here is a 1930s-era movie-theater public service announcement that taught people how to use their rotary dial phones.

Clarification: The research does not take into consideration that nearly 77 percent of American homes have broadband connection to the internet. These connections can support telephones using voice over internet protocol devices (VOIP). The statistics in the article refer to traditional phone service vs. wireless service.

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