Digital Divide Widens for US Broadband Subscribers

Written by Ryan Lawler

Wednesday, June 10. 2009 at 12:15 PM EDT 1 comment

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As the poor get poorer, the rich get broadband. That is the key takeaway of a new report issued by research firm Leichtman Research Group Inc. (LRG) .

The report found that broadband subscription rates have increased dramatically over the last few years, with two thirds of all U.S. households now subscribed to high-speed Internet services. That compares with only 20 percent of households that had broadband services just five years ago.

But according to the report, broadband access in the U.S. is still heavily weighted toward middle- and upper-class residents. Just 37 percent of households making less than $30,000 a year subscribed to high-speed Internet services, compared with broadband subscription rates of 89 percent for households making more than $75,000 a year, and 70 percent for those pulling in $30,000 to $75,000 a year.

Low broadband adoption among the poor could be due in part to limited access to computers in general, as LRG reports that only 62 percent of households making less than $30,000 have broadband. That compares with 87 percent of middle-income households and 97 percent of upper-income households surveyed.

While more lower-income households have PCs then just a few years ago, the rate at which they are connecting to broadband -- or even to the Internet in general -- trails adoption in other income brackets.

Broadband access among households in the $30,000 or under income bracket has grown modestly, from 29 percent in 2007 to 37 percent in 2009, according to LRG.

But in the same time period, the percentage of middle-income households that subscribed to broadband services jumped from 52 percent to 70 percent. And the number of upper-income households that subscribed to broadband grew from 76 percent to 89 percent.