Falling Through the Net

This report provides comprehensive data on the level of access by Americans to telephones, computers, and the Internet. It also provides valuable information about where Americans are gaining access and what they are doing with their online connections. These data, from the U.S. Census, provide a factual foundation for key policy initiatives to promote greater access for all Americans. Access to the Internet has soared for people in all demographic groups and geographic locations. At the end of 1998, over 40% of all U.S. households owned computers, and one-quarter of all households had access to the Internet. However, the digital divide persists between the information rich and the information poor, who include younger people, those with lower incomes and education levels, certain minorities, and those in rural areas or central cities. Whites are more likely to have access to the Internet from home than Blacks or Hispanics are from any location. Black and Hispanic households are approximately one-third as likely to have home Internet access as households of Asian/Pacific Islander descent and roughly two-fifths as likely as White households. Regardless of income level, Americans in rural areas lag in Internet access. At the lowest income levels, those in urban areas are more than twice as likely to have Internet access than those earning the same income in rural areas. For many groups, the digital gap has widened. An appendix contains information about the trendline study through 1998. (Contains 113 charts and 5 tables.) (SLD)