U.S. Census: Three in Five U.S. Households Have Home Internet Access

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau show there’s a big digital divide in the United States based on education.

A householder who has earned a bachelor’s or advanced degree is 3.5 times more likely to have Internet access than someone who’s a high school dropout, according to an October 2007 Census survey released this week.

Here are the percentages of householders with Internet access based on education:

• Less than high school graduate: 24 percent
• High school graduate: 50 percent
• Some college or associate’s degree: 69 percent
• Bachelor’s degree or higher degree: 84 percent/li>

Of a total 110.8 million U.S. households headed up by someone above the age 25, there are 68.7 million online, or 62 percent. That’s up from 55 percent in 2003 and 18 percent in 1997.

Of those 110.8 million households, 51 percent had a high-speed connection and 11 percent had a dial-up connection in 2007.

Households with college graduates were more likely to have high-speed Internet access at home than other households, according to the survey.

The Census Bureau data are based on a survey-based reporting system. Householder refers to the person in whose name a housing unit is owned or rented.