77% of U.S. Adults Go Online

The number of U.S. adults who go online at home, in the office, at school or elsewhere has grown 5% in the past year to an estimated 172 million, or 77% of all adults, according to the latest Harris Poll. The percentage of adults online has risen from 66% in 2002, 57% in 2000 and 9% in 1995, when Harris began tracking Internet use. The proportion of adults who have Internet access at home has risen to 70%, up from 66% in 2005 ad 55% in 2002, while the percentage of those who have Internet access at work remained flat, at 35% year over year, compared with 30% in 2002. The poll also found that as Internet penetration rises, the demographic profile of Internet users is coming more in line with that of the nation as a whole. Data showed that 14% of online adults earn less than $25,000 (compared with 19% of all adults), and 39% of online adults (compared with 47% overall) did not go to college.