eMedia Daily

Internet Usage by State

In an interesting article published by eMarketer, about 2/3 of the US population ages 3 and older now use the internet. (3 year olds on the internet… now that’s a whole new prospect and set of questions. Do websites need to be designed to appeal to a 3 year old as well as a 33 and 53 year olds?)

However, even more interesting than the age skew may be the penetration of internet usage in specific states. This is especially important in geo-targeted online campaigns. For marketers in states with higher penetration levels, their marketing mix may be much simpler, while those with lower penetration rates need to find different ways to reach their audience.

The states that have the highest penetration rate may not be what you expect.

New Hampshire tops the list with a whopping 75% of households indicated that they used the internet at least once per month. Following New Hampshire is Alaska, with 73.4%, and Washington with 71.6%. (Maybe Alaska doesn’t come as much of a surprise - given some of the outlying areas, the internet becomes a highly viable communication mechanism.)

If there is a top of the scale, there must also be a bottom. The state with the lowest penetration rate: Mississippi, with only 46% of households accessing the internet once per month. The bulk of the states in the lower 10 were southern states.

One theory related to the distribution of internet usage is the educational levels of the population. Areas with a higher proportion of higher education institutions seem to have a higher percentage of internet usage. Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to the University of Michigan, claims that 86% of the adult population are internet users.

What other factors could be contributing to the proportion of internet users?

Read more from eMarketer