NEW YORK—As the folks at Pew Internet Life Research Center describe it, the internet represents a fundamental shift in how Americans connect with one another, gather information and conduct their day-to-day lives. For more than 15 years, Pew Research Center has documented its growth and distribution in the U.S. A new Fact Sheet from Pew illustrates the pervasiveness and patterns of internet and home broadband adoption.






Here are some noteworthy facts:

• When Pew Research Center began systematically tracking Americans’ internet usage in early 2000, about half of all adults were already online. Today, roughly 9 in 10 American adults use the internet.






• When it comes to “who’s online?” there some demographic groups—such as young adults, college graduates and those from high-income households—for whom internet usage is near ubiquitous. Even so, adoption gaps remain based on factors such as age, income, education and community type.



• The proportion of American adults with high-speed broadband service at home increased rapidly between 2000 and 2010. In recent years, however, broadband adoption growth has been much more sporadic. Today, roughly 75 percent of American adults have broadband internet service at home.



• As is true of internet adoption more broadly, home broadband adoption varies across demographic groups. Racial minorities, older adults, rural residents, and those with lower levels of education and income are less likely to have broadband service at home.



• Smartphone usage has grown but the majority of Americans use home service as well. As the adoption of traditional broadband service has slowed in recent years, a growing share of Americans now use smartphones as their primary means of online access at home. Today, just over 1 in 10 American adults are “smartphone-only” internet users—meaning they own a smartphone, but do not have traditional home broadband service.