Internet and Income

The best predictor of Internet use is income; all other factors are irrelevant:

The Better-Off Online - Pew Research Center

Some 95% of Americans who live in households earning $75,000 or more a year use the internet at least occasionally, compared with 70% of those living in households earning less than $75,000. Even among those who use the internet, the well-off are more likely than those with less income to use technology. Of those 95% of higher-income internet users:

• 99% use the internet at home, compared with 93% of the internet users in lower brackets.

• 93% of higher-income home internet users have some type of broadband connection versus 85% of the internet users who live in households earning less than $75,000 per year. That translates into 87% of all those in live in those better-off households having broadband at home.

• 95% of higher-income households own some type of cell phone compared with 83% in households with less income.

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Internet users in higher-income households are more likely than others to go online multiple times a day, both at home and at work. Some 86% of internet users in higher-income households go online daily, compared with 54% in the lowest income bracket.

In many cases, the most noticeable difference in online engagement between various income groups relates to their intensity of use. On any given day, internet users in the higher-income bracket are more likely than those in lower-income brackets to be carrying out various online activities. Compared with internet users in other income cohorts, higher-income internet users go online more often compared with other groups: For instance, 55% are on the internet or are using email several times a day from home. Moreover, on any given day the more well-to-do internet users, are more likely get online news, conduct online research for a product or service, and go online to search for maps or directions.

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Those who fall in the top earnings category are also the biggest consumers of online news sources, with 80% of higher-income internet users (74% of the general population) seeking news on the internet.

However, the higher-income households have not abandoned traditional media altogether; they also turn to print and television, especially for local news. Asked about various platforms where they might get the news on a typical day, 76% of those from higher-income households watch local and national news shows on television, 51% of this higher-income group said they get local news from a print version of a newspaper, and 22% read a print version of a newspaper for national news.Still, the online news consumption patterns of this more well-off group stand in stark contrast to those living in the lowest income households.

• 80% of online Americans in the higher income bracket get news on the internet, compared with 60% of the internet users earning less than $30,000 per year.
• 79% of the internet users in the higher earning bracket have visited a government website at the local, state or federal level versus 56% of those who fall into the lowest-income group.
• 61% in the higher bracket seek political news online, compared with 35% from the lowest-income bracket.

In case we weren’t aware of the digital divide, Pew has confirmed it.

And one section of the study looks at households making more than $150,000: the affluent are 30% more likely that the rest of the population to use the internet.

In case anyone was wondering, all those web tools being created to read the news, blog, get directions, share photos — there are designed by economic necessaity for rich people. Or maybe what the average person might be doing in a few years.

But today, the constituency most likely to be using Flipboard on an iPad, or Bit.ly, or reading the NY Times online are the well off.