Fact: 95% of US teens have a smartphone (Pew 2024)
Nearly every U.S. teen now has a smartphone: 95% of 13- to 17-year-olds report access to one, up from 73% a decade earlier, Pew Research Center found.
Nearly every U.S. teen now has a smartphone: 95% of 13- to 17-year-olds report access to one, up from 73% a decade earlier, Pew Research Center found.
Smartphones are now a normal part of teenage life in the United States. According to Pew Research Center, 95% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they have access to a smartphone at home. That is up from 73% in 2014-15, which shows how quickly the phone went from common to nearly universal.
The same survey found that other devices are common too, but none match the phone. About 88% of teens have access to a desktop or laptop computer, 83% have access to a gaming console, and 70% have access to a tablet. In other words, the smartphone is the one device almost every teen can reach.
Access also grows with age. Among younger teens ages 13 to 14, 90% have smartphone access, while among older teens ages 15 to 17 the share rises to 98%. So by the later teen years, being without a phone is the rare exception, not the rule.
For parents, the takeaway is simple. If your teen does not have a phone yet, they are in a small minority, and if they do, they are like nearly everyone else their age. That makes the real question not whether teens have phones, but how they use them. A phone can be a tool for homework, staying in touch, and learning, or it can eat into sleep and focus. Setting clear rules early, like phone-free bedrooms at night and agreed screen-free times, helps teens get the benefits without the downsides.
The number is worth remembering the next time phone rules come up at home: the phone is no longer a special privilege for teens. It is the default, and parenting in that world means teaching balance, not pretending the device does not exist.