The U.S. Census Bureau recently released results from its “Computer and Internet Use in the United States: October 2007” survey, which includes various tables offering different ways to view Internet use in the U.S.
According to the report, 61.7 percent of households in the U.S. have access to the Internet. More than half of households, or 50.8 percent of them, have broadband connections, while 10.7 percent still have dial-up connections.
Educational attainment seems to have something to do with Internet access: 84.0 percent of householders 25 years old and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher have Internet access, with 73.9 percent having access to broadband connections and 9.9 percent with dial-up connections.
Meanwhile, 68.9 percent of householders with some college or associate’s degree have Internet connections, 49.5 percent of householders with a high school diploma have Internet access and 24.0 percent of householders with less than a high school diploma have access to the Internet at home.
The study also examines household use of the Internet by state and finds that Mississippi has the smallest percentage of individuals who live in households with Internet access, with 52.8 percent.
Alabama had 55.3 percent of its individuals living in households with Internet access, while Arkansas had 55.4 percent.
New Hampshire led the way with the highest percentage of individuals living in households with Internet access with 82.6 percent, followed by Alaska with 78.5 percent, Massachusetts with 76.3 percent and Washington with 75.7 percent.
The Northeast was the region with the highest percentage of individuals living in households with access to the Internet with 71.1 percent, followed by the West with 69.4 percent, the Midwest with 67.7 percent and the South with 63.3 percent.
With regards to where Americans connected to the Internet at the time the survey was conducted, 49.5 percent connected from home, 25.5 percent connected from work, 10.7 percent connected from school, 7.5 percent connected from public libraries, 7.4 percent connected via someone else’s computer and 1.1 percent connected from community centers. These figures are from a survey conducted in 2004.
The 2004 survey also yielded findings regarding what Internet users did online. Eleven million users took a course online, 44.9 million conducted searches about healthcare, 42.1 million searched for government services and 26.6 million searched for jobs.
The latter figure is likely significantly higher today.
Sources:
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/computer/2007.html
http://www.clickz.com/3634001
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