• by January 25, 2001

According to a recent eMarketer article, the Employment Policy Foundation (EPF) reports that 54.5 million (51%) of US households have at least one computer. The EPF predicts that by November 2002, 68.2 million US households will have computers and 66.9 million will have a computer and internet access.

Millions of US households
with Computer and Internet Access

 +----------+----------+--------------+ |          | Computer | Computer and | |          |          | Internet     |
+----------+----------+--------------+ |          |          |              | | Nov 2002 | 68.2 M   | 66.9         | | Aug 2000 | 54.5     | 43.5         | | Dec 1998 | 43.9     | 26.6         |
+----------+----------+--------------+ 

The number of computers at home differs, however, depending on household income. In 2000, 80.7% of upper income households had computers while 41.2% of lower income households did as well.

The EPF report also notes that internet activity can differ for lower and upper income households also. Although both utilize the internet frequently for e-mail, 40% of lower income quartile households learn online.

US Household Use Of Internet by Income, 2000

+-----------------+----------+----------+ |                 | Upper    | Lower    | |                 | Quartile | Quartile | +-----------------+----------+----------+ | EMail           | 77.7%    |
75.3     | | Job Search      | 18.9     | 12.8     | | Online Learning | 18.2     | 40.0     | +-----------------+----------+----------+ 

And, the penetration of computer ownership as a percent of households by state is also reported:

Computer Ownership by State (% of HH)

 +---------------+-----------+ | Top Five      | Computer  | |
| Ownership | +---------------+-----------+ | Alaska        | 67.0%     | | Utah          | 66.8      | | New Hampshire | 64.3      | | Colorado      | 63.2      | | Oregon        | 61.2      |
+---------------+-----------+  +---------------+-------+ | Bottom Five   |       | +---------------+-------+ | West Virginia | 43.0% | | Oklahoma      | 42.1  | | Louisiana     | 42.0  | | Mississippi
| 38.7  | | Arkansas      | 38.5  | +---------------+-------+ 

Source (all data): Employment Policy Foundation, 2001 as reported by emarketer.