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Pew Studies Internet Use & Income Levels

Vanessa Fox on November 24, 2010 at 3:01 am

The PEW Internet and American Life Project has come out with a new study about internet use based on household income that includes some data on how these segments use search. There’s also interesting stuff here about how income correlates to likelihood to rate and review products, pay for online content, book travel, and access online news.

The top-level conclusions are that Americans in higher income brackets (over $75,000 a year) use the internet more often than those in lower income brackets. Those in higher income brackets are also more likely to have broadband access), which PEW has previously correlated to higher internet usage. the study correlates income to mobile device usage as well as PEW found that a greater percentage of higher income households (95% vs 83%) own cell phones.

How Americans In Higher Income Brackets use the Internet

The study found that 95% of Americans making over $75,000 a year use the internet and that among them:

93% use email
80% access news online
88% conduct online product research
83% make travel reservations online
81% purchase products and services online
80% research medical information online

On a given day:

20% of Americans in the higher income brackets search for map or location information
40% research products
50% get news online

Those in the highest bracket (over $150,000 a year) use the internet more often in all categories measured by the study:

89% have searched online for maps or directions
86% conduct online product research
82% access news online
55% pay for online content

(Note that this data about online searches for maps or directions are likely a subset of the searches that have local intent.)

Details On Specific Usage

There are some interesting breakdowns here by vertical.

Accessing news

74% of those in the higher income group get news online in a typical day vs. 34% of those in lower income brackets.
22% in the higher brackets get news from national print papers in a typical day vs. 12% for the lower income groups.
50% of both the lowest and highest income brackets typically get news from a local print paper.

Government and politics

61% of those in the higher income group look for political news online vs. 35% of those in lower income brackets.
79% in the higher brackets have visited a government web site vs. 56% of those in the lower income brackets.

Health information

80% in the higher income groups search for information on medical issues vs. 54% of those in lower income brackets.
54% in the higher income groups search for information on doctors vs. 32% of those in the lower income brackets.

Product research

88% in the higher income groups research products online vs. 67% in the lower income brackets.
81% in the higher income groups by products online vs. 51% of the lower income brackets.
40% in the higher income groups rate and review products vs. 29% of those in the lower income brackets who review products and 21% of those in the lower income brackets who rate products.

Travel

83% of those in the higher income groups make travel reservations online vs. 47% of those in the lower income brackets.

Device Usage

Interested in how what devices your visitors use to view your content? 95% of those in higher income brackets have cell phones and 9% have tablets, such as the iPad.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Vanessa Fox

Vanessa Fox is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. She built Google Webmaster Central and went on to found software and consulting company Nine By Blue and create Blueprint Search Analytics< which she later sold. Her book, Marketing in the Age of Google, (updated edition, May 2012) provides a foundation for incorporating search strategy into organizations of all levels. Follow her on Twitter at @vanessafox.