Digital divide persists, according to new survey
60 percent of American adults subscribe to broadband at home, says a new survey from the Pew Research Centers Internet and American Life Project. This figure is down from 63 percent in the April 2009 survey.
Across the board, numbers are slightly lower than those found in the last Pew survey in April, which did not include Spanish interviews. Indeed, the survey still shows a persistent digital divide: Hispanics, blacks, seniors, rural residents, and those making less that $30,000 a year are much less likely to have a broadband connection than their counterparts.
47 percent of rural dwellers use broadband versus 61 of urban dwellers and 64 percent of suburban residents.
Among white adults, 63 percent subscribe to broadband at home, compared to 52 percent of blacks and 47 percent of Hispanics. There is an age-gap as well: three-quarters of young adults use broadband compared to only one-quarter of those over 65 years of age.
While the long-term growth for broadband use at home is astounding -- 60 percent of American adults use a broadband connection at home - in the first Pew survey in December 2000 that number was approximately 5 percent.
Overall, the biggest determinant of high-speed Internet usage appears to be income. Only 42 percent of those who earn less than $30,000 a year use broadband, compared to 62 percent for middle-class households earning between $30,000 and $50,000 per year, whereas that figure is 83 percent for those earning more than $75,000 a year.
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