• by Masha Geller , February 19, 2003

A few days ago I was exchanging emails with people lamenting the unavailability of broadband in certain areas of this country, but today I stumbled on a report that puts all those conversations into perspective.

Nielsen//NetRatings this week reported that the active online population in Raleigh, NC grew 29% percent at home from January 2002 to January 2003, taking the top spot as the fastest growing city in the U.S. for homes connecting to the Internet. Nashville, TN and Sacramento, CA tied with the 2nd highest growth rate, expanding 19% year over year.

Following the top three fastest growing local markets was Hartford, CT with a growth rate of 17%. The at-home active audience in Washington, DC and Houston, TX grew by 16%.

Yes, large metropolitan cities including New York and Los Angeles continue to hold the lion's share of Web surfers, but what about the rest of the country? If the above numbers don’t tell you how much room for growth there still is in this industry, nothing will.

Incidentally, the fastest growing local market also experienced some big shifts in income levels over the past year. In Raleigh, the number of people with at home Internet access reporting a household income of $75,000 to $99,999 a year increased by 72% from January 2002 to January 2003. Other high-income groups online grew as well with the $100,000 to $149,999 income bracket growing 8% and the wealthiest bracket of $150,000 to $999,999 moving up 17%. By contrast the lowest household income bracket for those with at home Internet access saw its active online audience decrease by 26%.

Elsewhere on the web, the numbers are as follows:

                                                  % Change  

Home & Work,    Home & Work,   from  
                        January        December     December  
# of Sessions/month           52            48       +8.3  
# of Domains Visited/month
82            76       +7.9  
Page Views/Month           1,444         1,336       +8.1  
Page Views/Visit              35            35          0  
Time Spent/Month        50:25:06
45:13:36      +11.5  
Time Spent/Visit         0:33:24       0:32:41       +2.2  
Duration of Pageview     0:00:57       0:00:56       +2.2  
Active Web Users       133.6 mln     131.9 mln
+1.3  
All Web Users (est)    179.9 mln     175.9 mln       +2.3  

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, Jan. 2003