US population using the internet

Starbucks locations worldwide climbing as American internet adoption climbs toward saturation. The cafe table and the laptop on it are, statistically, the same story. The Wi-Fi got cheaper. The cafe got more numerous. Both fed the other.

Starbucks stores grew from about 17,000 in 2010 to over 38,000 by 2022 as international expansion (especially in China) accelerated. US internet penetration climbed from about 78 percent in 2010 to over 92 percent by 2022 as broadband and smartphones reached the last households. Both reflect the same global infrastructure rollout of the 2010s: Wi-Fi-equipped third places becoming default work-and-meet venues for a connected workforce, with Starbucks both benefiting from and partly causing that pattern. Different infrastructures, same room.

The cafe and the network grew together. Whoever opened the laptop opened both markets.