Poll Shows 77 Percent of U.S. Adults Are Online

May 30, 2006

Poll Shows 77 Percent of U.S. Adults Are Online
May 30, 2006 – According to new a Harris Interactive poll, the number of Internet users in the United States reached 172 million in April 2005, a 5.5 percent increase over the previous year.

Harris calculated that 77 percent of U.S. adults are now online, and that is up from 74 percent in 2005, 66 percent in 2002, 64 percent in 2001 and 57 percent in 2000. In 1995, when Harris first began tracking Internet use, only nine percent of U.S. adults were online.

The Harris poll also looked at the Internet user profile, saying that it more closely mirrors the U.S. population as a whole. Results show that eight percent of the online population is now 65 or older, 39 percent did attend not college and 14 percent have incomes below $25,000.

The proportion of adults who are now online at home has risen to 70 percent, while the percentage of those online at work has barely changed (35 percent now, 36 percent in 2005). Adults who go online at a location other than home or work also have remained relatively steady (22 percent now, 21 percent in 2005)

For more information on who is going online, and from where, check out the recently-released eMarketer report, Worldwide Online Access: 2004-2010.