Solano County

Solano County, California — key demographics (latest available U.S. Census Bureau data)

Population

• Total population (2023 estimate): ~448,000

Age

• Median age: ~37–38 years
• Under 18: ~24%
• 65 and over: ~15%

Sex

• Female: ~49–50% of population
• Male: ~50–51%

Race and ethnicity

• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): ~29%
• White alone, not Hispanic or Latino: ~34%
• Black or African American alone: ~15%
• Asian alone: ~18%
• Two or more races: ~9–10%
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: ~1–1.5%
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: ~1%

Households and families

• Households: ~150,000
• Average household size: ~2.9–3.0
• Family households: ~72–75% of all households
• Owner-occupied housing rate: ~60–63%

Notes

• Figures reflect U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates (2023) and American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year/5-year estimates; Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity and overlaps with race categories.

Solano County, CA email usage snapshot (2025)

• Estimated users: ≈325,000 adult email users (about 94% of ≈345,000 adults; total population ≈453,000).
• Age distribution of users: 18–29: ~23%; 30–49: ~36%; 50–64: ~26%; 65+: ~15% (seniors slightly underrepresented due to lower adoption).
• Gender split: ~51% women, ~49% men; usage rates are effectively equal by gender.
• Digital access trends: ~95% of households have a computer and ~92–94% have a broadband subscription; ~10–12% are smartphone‑only internet households. Email use continues shifting to mobile, especially among ages 18–49. Overall connectivity and email adoption have risen since 2020.
• Local density/connectivity facts: Population density ≈550 people per square mile. Most residents cluster along the I‑80 corridor (Vallejo–Fairfield–Vacaville), supporting robust cable and expanding fiber availability with 100+ Mbps service widely offered. Rural pockets near the Delta/Montezuma Hills have thinner wireline options and higher reliance on mobile broadband, but countywide availability of basic broadband (25/3 Mbps) is nearly universal.

Insights: Email penetration is effectively saturated among working‑age adults; growth potential centers on older adults and smartphone‑only households. Marketing and service communications should be optimized for mobile email and timed for commuters in the I‑80 corridor.

Mobile phone usage in Solano County, CA — key figures, demographics, and infrastructure, with what differs from statewide patterns

Headline estimates (2024 context, anchored to the 2020 Census population of 453,491)

• Total mobile phone users (any type): about 365,000–375,000 residents aged 12+ actively use a mobile phone.
• Smartphone users: about 330,000 (±15,000). This is derived by applying current U.S. age-specific smartphone adoption rates to Solano’s age structure.
• Mobile-only internet reliance: on the order of one in ten households countywide, higher in selected tracts (notably in parts of Vallejo and Fairfield/Suisun) than the statewide average, reflecting income, housing, and wireline gaps.

How the estimate was built

• Age-specific smartphone adoption benchmarks applied to Solano’s population structure yield:
  • Ages 12–17: ~31,700 residents; ~90% smartphone ownership ⇒ ~28,500 users
  • Ages 18–29: ~68,000; ~96% ⇒ ~65,000
  • Ages 30–49: ~127,000; ~95% ⇒ ~121,000
  • Ages 50–64: ~86,000; ~83% ⇒ ~72,000
  • Ages 65+: ~73,000; ~61% ⇒ ~44,000
  • Total smartphone users ≈ 330,000; with basic-phone users, total mobile users ≈ 365,000–375,000

Demographic breakdown and usage patterns

• Race/ethnicity mix (Solano differs from California by having a smaller Hispanic share and a substantially larger Black share):
  • Solano is roughly: ~29% Hispanic/Latino, ~34% non-Hispanic White, ~14% Black, ~17% Asian, remainder multiracial/other.
  • Smartphone ownership levels by race are broadly similar, but smartphone-dependent internet use (smartphone as the primary/only internet connection) skews higher among Black and Hispanic residents. In Solano, that translates into elevated smartphone-only reliance in parts of Vallejo and Fairfield compared with many California counties.
• Age:
  • Very high smartphone saturation among residents under 50 (>94%), strong but not universal among 50–64 (80%+), and markedly lower among 65+ (60%). This creates a pronounced age gap in app-based civic services, telehealth, and two-factor authentication uptake.
• Income and housing:
  • Median household income in Solano is near or slightly above the statewide median, but affordability pressures and multi-family housing concentrations in certain tracts correlate with higher mobile-only and prepaid usage than the countywide average.
• Military and commuter footprint:
  • Travis AFB and heavy I‑80 commuting shape usage toward robust on-the-go data demand and above-average adoption of devices/plans that prioritize coverage and hotspot capability.

Digital infrastructure and coverage (what’s on the ground)

• 5G and LTE coverage:
  • Dense, overlapping 4G/5G coverage from AT&T, Verizon, and T‑Mobile along the I‑80 corridor (Vallejo–Fairfield–Vacaville) and through Benicia, Dixon, and Suisun City.
  • Mid-band 5G is prevalent along major corridors; capacity and speeds are strongest in city centers and highway-adjacent areas.
  • Noticeably thinner coverage and capacity in low-density and agricultural zones, including parts of the Montezuma Hills/Delta (Rio Vista/Collinsville/Birds Landing) and the Suisun Marsh periphery. These pockets experience greater signal variability and indoor coverage challenges.
• Backhaul and fiber:
  • Robust fiber backhaul along I‑80 and city cores supports 5G capacity. Fiber is sparser toward the Delta, where carriers lean more on microwave backhaul and wider LTE cells, which constrains peak performance.
• Public safety and resiliency:
  • FirstNet (AT&T Band 14) coverage is established countywide with emphasis around Travis AFB and wildfire-prone interfaces. Post‑2017/2020 wildfire seasons prompted additional hardening and deployable capabilities, improving emergency coverage relative to pre‑wildfire baselines.
• Competitive environment:
  • All three national MNOs operate macro sites along I‑80, SR‑12, SR‑37, and SR‑113 with ongoing small‑cell infill in Vallejo/Fairfield/Vacaville. MVNO presence mirrors the rest of California, giving price-sensitive users broad plan choice.

How Solano’s trends diverge from California’s

• More pronounced urban–rural coverage and capacity gap: The contrast between the I‑80 corridor and Delta/agricultural zones is sharper than the average county in California, driving higher variability in user experience and a larger share of coverage-related customer churn outside city cores.
• Higher smartphone-only reliance in specific neighborhoods: While California overall has substantial wireline broadband availability, Solano shows distinct tracts—especially in Vallejo and Fairfield/Suisun—where smartphone-only connectivity is materially above the statewide share due to housing stock, affordability, and legacy cable/DSL constraints.
• Commuter-centric demand shape: Relative to most non‑Bay Area counties, Solano’s I‑80 concentration produces heavier peak-on-the-move usage profiles, with network investments more tightly aligned to commute corridors than is typical statewide.
• Public-safety emphasis: The presence of Travis AFB plus repeated wildfire events has driven above-average FirstNet utilization and resiliency investments compared with many California counties, improving priority access for first responders and spillover reliability for consumers during incidents.

Implications

• Market sizing: An addressable base of roughly 330,000 smartphone users supports strong adoption for app-based services, with nearly universal reach under age 50.
• Equity focus: Services that work well on mobile-only connections (low data footprints, robust offline modes) will reach materially more households in Vallejo and Fairfield/Suisun than traditional desktop-first approaches.
• Network planning: The biggest opportunities for user-experience gains lie in hardening/adding capacity at the rural edges (Delta/Montezuma Hills) and in dense multifamily zones where indoor coverage is challenged, while continuing small-cell densification along I‑80.

Solano County, CA social media snapshot (2023–2024)

Population baseline

• Residents: ~453,000 (ACS 2023)
• Adults 18+: ~345,000 (≈76% of population)
• Teens 13–17: ~29,000 (≈6–7% of population)
• Gender mix: roughly even male/female (ACS)

Most-used platforms among adults (local counts modeled by applying Pew Research Center 2023 U.S. adult adoption rates to Solano’s adult population; multi-platform use is common)

• YouTube: 83% of adults ≈ 286,000
• Facebook: 68% ≈ 235,000
• Instagram: 47% ≈ 162,000
• Pinterest: 35% ≈ 121,000
• TikTok: 33% ≈ 114,000
• LinkedIn: 30% ≈ 104,000
• Snapchat: 27% ≈ 93,000
• X (Twitter): 22% ≈ 76,000
• Reddit: 18% ≈ 62,000
• WhatsApp: 26% ≈ 90,000

Teens (13–17) platform use (Pew, U.S. teens; applied to Solano teen population)

• YouTube ~93% ≈ 27,000
• TikTok ~63% ≈ 18,000
• Instagram ~62% ≈ 18,000
• Snapchat ~60% ≈ 17,000

Age-group patterns (behavioral trends consistent with U.S. patterns; observed locally in suburban Northern California counties)

• 13–17: Daily short‑form video (TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat). Messaging/Stories are primary communication channels; low Facebook posting.
• 18–29: Heavy Instagram/TikTok use for local discovery (food, events, fitness). DMs for customer service; cross-posting Reels/TikToks. Snapchat remains strong for friends.
• 30–49: YouTube and Facebook dominant; Instagram for family/activities. Frequent use of Facebook Groups for schools, youth sports, buy/sell/trade.
• 50–64: Facebook leads for local news, city/county updates, and community groups; YouTube for how‑to and product research; growing Pinterest use for home/garden.
• 65+: Facebook and YouTube are primary; higher engagement with public agencies, utilities, emergency/wildfire updates.

Gender tendencies (from Pew U.S. patterns; reflected locally)

• Women: Over‑index on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest; higher participation in community/school groups and local shopping content.
• Men: Over‑index on YouTube, Reddit, X; more engagement with sports, autos, tech, and local news commentary.
• Platform parity: Instagram and TikTok usage is relatively balanced by gender among younger adults; Facebook remains slightly higher among women overall.

Local behavioral trends and use cases

• Community and public sector: Facebook is the go‑to for city, county, schools, libraries, and public safety communications; posts about road closures, outages, and wildfire season get outsized reach and shares.
• Local discovery: Instagram and TikTok drive foot traffic to restaurants, coffee shops, breweries, and Suisun Valley wineries via short‑form video, Reels, and creator partnerships.
• Video-first consumption: YouTube is the default for tutorials, product research, and event recaps across all ages; short‑form video (Reels/Shorts/TikTok) outperforms link posts for reach.
• Messaging > comments: Many residents prefer DMs on Instagram/Facebook for customer service and reservations; businesses that respond quickly see higher conversion.
• Commuter lifestyle: Residents follow local CHP, transit, and city feeds for traffic and incident updates during peak commute hours; timely, utility‑focused posts perform best.

Notes on methodology and sources

• Population and age mix: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2023.
• Platform adoption rates: Pew Research Center, Social Media Use (latest available 2023 U.S. adult and 2023 U.S. teen datasets). Local user counts are modeled by applying Pew adoption rates to Solano County’s population segments.