Information Technology Reference
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Table 6. Percent of households with at least one person going on-line at home, 2007
Metropolitan (percent)
Nonmetropolitan (percent)
Total (percent)
Northeast
64.1
61.0*
63.7
Midwest
63.1
53.7**
60.9
South
61.7
46.4**
58.7
West
67.0
56.9**
66.1
Total
63.7
51.9**
61.8
Source: authors using CPS data.
Note: Difference between metro/nonmetro ( ** -- significant at 0.01 * -- significant at 0.05).
percent of households that had at least one mem-
ber access the Internet in any of a number of loca-
tions. The West had the highest percent of house-
holds with in-home access partially reflecting the
more urbanized nature of its population distribu-
tion vis-à-vis other regions of the country.
The drop-off of in-home Internet access rates
between urban and rural households was great,
though again the Northeast rural-urban dynamic
showed little of this pattern. A majority of house-
holds in the rural South did not have access to the
Internet in-home.
Income is a major factor in whether a household
has in-home Internet access (Figure 4). Over 70
percent of all households with incomes greater than
$40K had in-home Internet access. Differences
between rural and urban households' in-home
access rates are largely non-existent between
households of the same income-level. The steeper
slope between in-home access rates and going
on-line anywhere rates suggest that price may
be a factor in in-home Internet access adoption.
Taking into account only households that have
at least one household member accessing the
Internet changes the home Internet access dy-
namic; once someone is using the Internet any-
where the more likely there will be home Internet
access. This higher rate is reflected in the income
distribution shown in Figure 5. The rate differ-
ences between rural and urban residents are small.
Most persons who have in-home Internet ac-
cess have broadband connections (Table 7). This
rate varies little across urban regions across the
country. The same can not said for rural residents.
Figure 4. Home internet access by income, 2007 (Source authors using CPS data)
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