• Income
• Race
• Education

Table 1: Percent of U.S. Households with a Computer By Income By Rural, Urban, and Central City Areas

	Rural	Urban	Central City	Total
Less than $10,000	4.5	8.1	7.6	6.7
$10,000-$14,999	7.0	9.1	9.3	8.5
$15,000-$19,999	11.0	12.6	13.0	12.2
$20,000-$24,999	15.7	15.9	16.3	16.0
$25,000-$34,999	18.1	22.0	21.1	20.4
$35,000-$49,999	32.7	34.9	34.7	34.1
$50,000-$74,999	46.0	48.4	47.4	47.3
$75,000 or more	59.6	64.4	63.1	62.3

Data from NTIA survey conducted in 1995

Lower income groups tend to have a lower percentage of computer access. From the survey done by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, computers were found in 6.7% of the homes with incomes of less than $10,000. This is compared to 62.3% of the homes with computers whose incomes are $75,000 or more.

Table 2: Numbers of Households With Computers By Income (in millions)

Income	1989	1993
Less than $15,000	2.5	4.7
$15,000 - $30,000	7.2	9.2
$30,000 - $50,000	9.7	15.7
$50,000 or more	8.2	24.4

Data from US Census Bureau in 1993

Similar findings were made in the US Census BureauÕs report. They found that the average income of a household with a computer is $52,036 compared to an average income of $27,425 in homes without a computer.
Figure 1: Individuals Owning Computers vs Income

40.1 million individuals who owned computers had an income of $30,000 or more. Only 13.9 milllion individuals who owned computers had an income of less than $30,000.

Racial Differences in Access to Computers

Table 3: Percent of U.S. Households with a Computer by Race/Origin by Rural, Urban, and Central City Areas

	Rural	Urban	Central City	Total
White-non-Hispanic	24.6	30.3	29.4	28.1
Black-non-Hispanic	6.4	11.8	10.4	9.5
Hispanic	12.0	13.2	10.5	11.9
American Indian, Aleut, Eskimo-non-Hispanic	15.3	23.7	25.5	21.5
Asian or Pacific Islander-non-Hispanic	33.7	39.5	35.9	36.4
Other-non-Hispanic	11.8	33.7	27.2	24.2

Data from NTIA survey conducted in 1995.

The ethnic group with the highest percentage of individuals with access to computers was asians at 36.4%, followed by whites at 28.1%. On the other end of the spectrum are blacks with 9.5% and hispanics with 11.9% of individuals with access to computers.

Figure 2: Access to Computers Based on Race

Data from the NTIA survey conducted in 1995

The NTIA survey also found that only 40% of black children had access to computers in school, contrasted to 60% of white students who have access to computers.

Higher Education = More Computers

Table 4: Percent of U.S. Households with a Computer By Educational Attainment By Rural, Urban, and Central City Areas

Education	Rural	Urban	Central City	Total
Elementary: 0-8 years	2.6	2.8	2.6	2.7
High School: 1-3 years	6.5	6.1	4.7	5.7
High School: 4 years	16.5	15.3	12.2	14.7
College: 1-3 years	32.7	29.9	27.5	30.0
College: 4 years +	51.2	50.7	47.0	49.6

Data from NTIA survey conducted in 1995.

Individuals who attended college accounted for 79.6 percent of those who had access to computers. This is compared to a paltry 23.1 percent of individuals who completed high school or had less education.