Pew Study: Wealthier Americans Use Internet More

Wealthier households are more likely to use the Internet, according to a new Pew study.

The "digital divide" is still real, even though broadband Internet has been widely available for over ten years. The study found that while 95% of households earning $75,000 or more use the Internet in some way, just 57% of households earning $30,000 or less do so.

The numbers are even starker when it comes to broadband access in the home: 87% of users in the income top bracket have Internet in their homes, but just 40% of the lowest bracket do. Even in the next-lowest income bracket, consisting of households earning $30,000 to $49,000 per year, only 64% of households have Internet at home.

Users belonging to different income brackets also use the Internet differently. Of the highest earners, 74% use the web to get their news, whereas 34% of the lowest earners do. Unsurprisingly, higher income users also own more gadgets.

Such statistics may give fuel to net neutrality advocates, who could argue that these numbers already show that poorer people cannot afford the same access to the Internet as their richer counterparts. The FCC published their plan to initiate a national broadband plan to bring high-speed Internet to those who cannot access it readily earlier this year.

Comments

[MikeyJaii]

04:27 PM on 12/21/2010

Maybe because they depend on the internet more? Mainly of course for business talks and the wealthy can afford the gadgets...

[ResearchtheFacts]

06:56 PM on 11/26/2010

Wow, these stats are staggering if true.  Hard to imagine 40% of americans not having access to the internet on a regular basis.   That would be approx. 100 million americans.  To hit it from a ball park figure.  How is this possible, in the freakin information age?

[Nick Bonney]

01:06 AM on 11/27/2010

NO stats hold absolute truth unless an entire populations data is received and even that has it's own flaws. Statistical significance, yes. But you have to realize that all sampling methods are indeed flawed.

[edejan]

12:15 AM on 11/28/2010

Remember, we're a third world country now.

[Angelus2007]

06:44 PM on 11/26/2010

While this makes perfect sense. I wonder how much of this has to do with the ability of lower incomes to pay monthly internet fees, or how much has this has to do with those in lower income brackets to buy and/or replace a computer. It is easier for many people to affrod $29.99 a month than to come up with a few hundred bucks at one time to buy a computer.

[Lordcron]

05:27 AM on 11/25/2010

I want to be the guy who get's paid to come up with these useless statistics.

[Torak Nor]

09:46 PM on 11/24/2010

The study also found that most porn was downloaded by men.

[CDRUSNret]

05:30 PM on 11/24/2010

This required a study?