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Nearly three in every five adults are online, but Internet use varies by region.

Article Excerpt
Internet use grew to 59% of adults at the end of 2002 from just under half in 2000, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Penetration is highest on the East and West coasts and lowest in the South.

Generally, regions with high concentrations of high-income college graduates are more likely than those with relatively few such residents to have high Internet penetration, although there are exceptions. Both the mountain states and the Pacific Northwest have large user populations even though they have proportionally fewer people with high household incomes and college degrees.

Some online activities, such as e-mail, are universally popular. But others, including online shopping, are favored only in certain regions. There are also some national trends in how people use the Internet on a daily basis. For instance, experienced users are more likely than average to go online on any given day and tend to go online more often during the day, but they're also more likely to limit their total online time. Regional differences in regard to this are due primarily to where people log on (from home or work).

The Pacific Northwest has the highest proportion of Internet users of any region, the most-experienced users, and also the highest proportion of users age 55-plus. People in the Pacific Northwest are more likely...