Mapping the usage of the internet by the average income in American households, the Pew Research Center study indicates that higher income houses are more inclined to use the web for reading the daily news, paying bills, or for entertainment purposes. A striking  95% of  above-medium income houses that use the internet on a daily basis is in opposition with the households that earn less than $75,000 per year, which are using the internet frequently, just in a smaller proportion of 70%.

The same study proved that higher-income houses are more likely to have high speed access to the internet, with a 93% rate, while the opposing class has enhanced connections which have penetrated only 83% of the houses.  A vast improvement from access distribution just a few years ago, but an interesting look at growth patterns now that internet access is becoming so widespread across socioeconomic groups.

In the same range of high-end technologies, the study indicates that mobile phones are a highly favored category of handsets for the higher income users too, taking a 95% distribution.  At the opposite end of the pole, only 83% of the population has a mobile phone of some sort. Email usage and news-gathering via the internet follows the same pattern, with higher income households taking 93% for the first category, and 80% for information purposes.

The split gets more defined when you look at newer consumer gadgets, like tablet computers.  While devices like the iPad are only beginning to spread throughout the market, tablets are approaching a 10% reach for higher-income households, while 3% of less well-off homes have taken the tablet leap.  Trends such as this tend to even out over time, as more products flood the market.  We’ve reached a certain point with broadband and WiFi access, so connected devices have an easier time making their way through disparate populations.  It’s quite common now to see more affordable devices released within the same year as their high-end inspiration–the Acer tablet, for example, is anxious to make its mark in 2010 and beyond.

The interesting thing to consider here is how the mobile sector is affecting trends towards internet access as well as usage.  The digital divide is something that has become less distinct for PCs and desktops in the home, and mobile phones are leveling the playing field in their own way.  Where we’ll continue to see vastly different behavior patterns is in the ways in which mobile devices are being utilized, for utility, entertainment and more.  It’s the advertising sector that will offer the most insight in this regard, especially as targeting becomes more relient on population markers such as income brackets.