Oklahoma and Utah Lead in Growing Landline Independence

New data from the CDC identifies more than a quarter of home in some states as "wireless-only."

Most trend spotters noticed the rise in mobile phones replacing landlines years ago, but now some interesting regional numbers on the phase are in, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control. In a state-by-state breakdown, Oklahoma and Utah led the country in wireless dominance, where more than one in four households are wireless only.

According to the CDC, these states, along with Nebraska, Arkansas, and Idaho lead the nation in shunning landlines, with 23.2, 22.6 and 22.1 percent of the population in each state, respectively. Although the more rural nature of all the top states might seem to indicate that cell phones are more practical here (or landlines less available) than in more urban areas, Nebraska neighbor South Dakota defies that assumption by finding its way onto the opposite end of the spectrum, with only 6.4 percent of households classified as wireless only.

The most landline-dependant states are Vermont (5.1 percent), Connecticut (5.6), Delaware (5.7), South Dakota (6.4), and Rhode Island (7.9). On the whole, the national average has also risen, from 13.6 percent in 2007 to 16.1 percent in the first half of 2008.

The CDC commissioned the study because many other health surveys typically use landlines only, making the number of wireless-only users a concern to the organization.