Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Special Studies
P23-208
Introduction
This report provides information about the
characteristics of households and people
who have and have not adopted use of
computers and the Internet. The ndings
in this report are based on data collected in
a supplement to the October 2003 Current
Population Survey that included questions
about computer and Internet use at home,
1
school, and work. The U.S. Census Bureau
has asked questions in the Current Population Survey to assess computer use since
1984 and Internet use since 1997.
The rst part of this report examines computer and Internet use in households. The
Current
Population
Reports
By
Jennifer Cheeseman Day,
Alex Janus, and
Jessica Davis
Figure 1.
56.3
51.0
54.7
50.4
42.1 41.5
36.6
26.2
22.8
18.0
15.0
8.2
1984
1989
1993
1997 1998
2000 2001
2003
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 1984, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003.
USCENSUSBUREAU
Hereafter, this report uses the term nonHispanic White to refer to people who reported
they are White only and not Hispanic or Latino. The term Black is used to refer to people
who reported the single race Black or African
American, the term Asian refers to people who
reported the single race Asian, and the term
Hispanic refers to people who are Hispanic or
Latino. Because Hispanics may be any race,
data in this report for Hispanics overlap slightly with data for the Black population and for
the Asian population. Based on the October
2003 Current Population Survey, 3.6 percent
of the single-race Black population 3 years and
older and 1.0 percent of the single-race Asian
population 3 years and older were Hispanic.
The percent of households with computers with either Black or Hispanic householders
is not signicantly dierent from the percent
of nonfamily households with computers.
6
The value for language barriers is statistically dierent from the values for concern
that children will access inappropriate sites
and privacy and security concerns.
Figure 2.
2.7
2.1
1.8
2.2
2.8
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.4
0.8
1.2
1.1
Under 25
2534
3544
4554
1.7
1.6
5564
1.4
0.9
6574
0.8
75 and over
Figure 3.
Households With a Computer and Internet Access by Region and State: 2003
(In percent)
Households with Internet access
90-percent confidence interval
Midpoint
REGION
West
Northeast
Midwest
South
STATE
Utah
Alaska
New Hampshire
Washington
Colorado
Connecticut
Idaho
Minnesota
Maine
Oregon
Virginia
Nebraska
California
Maryland
Vermont
Wyoming
New Jersey
Iowa
Arizona
Delaware
Massachusetts
Wisconsin
Kansas
Hawaii
Rhode Island
South Dakota
United States
North Dakota
Nevada
Florida
Georgia
Missouri
Pennsylvania
Illinois
Michigan
New York
Montana
Indiana
District of Columbia
Texas
Ohio
Kentucky
North Carolina
Tennessee
Oklahoma
South Carolina
West Virginia
New Mexico
Alabama
Louisiana
Arkansas
Mississippi
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
Figure 4.
83.4
Use at school
92.3
63.7
23.6
5.7
No use
7.0
* The percentages for home and school computer use differ from the corresponding percentages
in Table C because this figure excludes children who were not enrolled in grades K12.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, October 2003.
Figure 5.
Computer Use at Home and School Among Children Enrolled in Grades K12 by Family
Income, Race and Hispanic Origin, and Type of School: 2003
(In percent)
Computer use by family income*
91.6
88.1
84.5
Home use
67.2
41.2
School use
97.2
96.2
95.6
92.9
87.6
Total use
Home use
80.3
75.3
47.3
49.5
Black alone
Hispanic (any race)
89.2
79.9
85.1
83.5
School use
95.6
91.6
88.6
88.3
Total use
82.7
67.9
Figure 6.
School
assignments
84.0
90.8
64.4
32.1
47.7
Internet
73.9
86.3
44.6
10.8
20.3
52.8
77.0
83.1
85.2
87.7
Play games
85.1
73.9
45.4
12.5
24.7
Word
processing
56.4
69.2
Graphics or
manipulate
audios*
43.4
3 to 17 years
3 to 5 years
21.0
Spreadsheets*
6 to 9 years
10 to 14 years
Manage
household
finances*
15 to 17 years
4.4
10
For more information on childrens activites on the Internet, see the 2003 Detailed
Table 9A at <www.census.gov/population
/www/socdemo/computer.html>.
Over the past two decades, the proportion of adults (people 18 years
and over) using a computer anywhere has grown, from 18 percent
in 1984, to 36 percent in 1993, to
10
Figure 7.
80.1
72.1
70.0
63.1
65.2
83.5
81.8 81.5
69.6
61.1
51.4
42.8
1984
1989
1993
1997
2001
2003
11
12
Figure 8.
Total
using
Internet
55.3
59.5
11.5
48.6
54.5
Information
on products
or services
41.7
46.5
7.2
News,
weather, sports
information
37.4
40.1
11.5
Information on
government/
health services*
Purchase
products or
services**
26.4
32.8
2.1
25.7
32.3
19.3
21.5
Play
games
1997
2001
2003
10.4
Bank online
17.6
View TV or
movies, listen
to radio
10.2
12.5
9.4
11.7
Search
for a job
School
assignments
6.2
6.8
Trade stocks,
mutual funds
5.2
4.3
Take a course
online
0.6
2.3
3.9
Telephone
calls
3.2
2.1
*Data from 1997 derive from the answer Search for information such as government,
business, health, education.
**Data from 1997 derive from the answer Shopping.
Note: Data from 1997 derive from the question What do you use the Internet for at home?
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, October 1997, September 2001, and
October 2003.
13
ACCURACY OF THE
ESTIMATES
Statistics from surveys are subject
to sampling error and nonsampling
error. All comparisons presented
in this report have taken sampling
error into account and are signicant at the 90-percent condence
level. This means the 90-percent
condence level for the dierence
between estimates being compared
does not include zero. Nonsampling error in surveys may be attributed to a variety of sources, such as
how the survey was designed, how
respondents interpret questions,
14
MORE INFORMATION
Detailed tabulations with characteristics of households, children, and
adults by computer presence in the
home, computer use, Internet use,
and other variables are available on
the Internet at the Census Bureaus
Web site <www.census.gov>. Once
on the site, in the Subjects A-Z
area, click on C, and then on
Computer Use and Ownership.
CONTACT
For additional information on
these topics, contact Jessica Davis,
Education and Social Stratication
Branch, 301-763-2464 or via e-mail
at <Jessica.W.Davis@census.gov>.
USER COMMENTS
The Census Bureau welcomes the
comments and advice of data and
report users. If you have any
suggestions or comments,
please write to:
Chief, Population Division
U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, DC 20233-8800
or send e-mail to:
pop@census.gov
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