The COVID pandemic made clear many socioeconomic inequities between Americans, as the impact of the virus was felt differently in great part depending on their educational attainment, occupation, employment status, and other factors.
This TUPdate focuses on one segment – Americans working full-time for an employer and with a household income of $150,000 or more per year – reporting their market size and profiling their usage of connected devices, which devices they do or don’t use, how much they use them, and the intensity of changes since before the pandemic.
Average number of PCs being used among socioeconomic groups
How different are advantaged from disadvantaged Americans in how many PCs they use? How much has this changed since before the pandemic? How do historically socioeconomically advantaged groups such as high-income or college graduates compare to disadvantaged groups such as single parents, low-income, less-educated, elderly, or ethnic groups? This TUP analysis reports on the number of PCs actively used within each socioeconomic group.
Technology of single American parents
During the pandemic, parents without a spouse or partner have faced extra stresses, as they deal with school closures, childcare being less available, and other similar challenges. This TUPdate investigates this socially disadvantaged group to report on their current use of technology products and services – penetration by device type, hours of usage, number of devices, and work-from-home status.
Paid streaming music listening among socioeconomic groups
Listening to paid streaming music grew markedly among Americans, rising from 29% of online Americans in 2019 prior to the pandemic and reaching 36% in 2021. This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of Americans regularly using their connected devices for paid streaming music by socioeconomic group. The groups being reported consider age group, employment status, household size, ethnicity, presence of children, educational attainment, and other socioeconomic factors.
Technology profile of Hispanic Americans aged 18-49
During the pandemic, socioeconomically advantaged groups changed their collection and usage of technology devices differently than historically disadvantaged groups. Age 18-49 Hispanic Americans have a higher-than-average share of technology devices than disadvantaged Americans as a group. This group has significantly increased its connected device usage between 2020 and 2021. This TUPdate reports on this group’s status and change in connected devices by type – PCs, home PCs, work PCs, smartphones, game consoles, tablets, and feature phones. It also reports their work-from-home status, hourly device usage, number of devices, and market size.
Technology profile of partnered American employed homeowner college graduates with children
During the pandemic, socioeconomically advantaged groups changed their collection and usage of technology devices differently than historically disadvantaged groups. Partnered American employed homeowner college graduates with children are a group that has many of the factors positively aligned with advantaged groups. This group has some of the highest penetration rates for technology products. This group significantly increased its collection of connected devices between 2020 and 2021, even while it already had more than the average advantaged American. This TUPdate reports on this group’s status and change in connected devices by type – PCs, home PCs, work PCs, smartphones, game consoles, tablets, and feature phones. It also reports their work from home status, hourly device usage, and market size.
Average number of tablets being used among socioeconomic groups
How different are advantaged from disadvantaged Americans in how many tablets they use? How much has this changed since before the pandemic? How do historically socioeconomically advantaged groups such as high-income or college graduates compare to disadvantaged groups such as single parents, low-income, lesser-educated, elderly, or ethnic groups? This TUP analysis reports on the number of tablets actively used within each socioeconomic group.
Smartphone penetration by socioeconomic groups
How different are advantaged from disadvantaged Americans in whether or not they use a smartphone? How much has this changed since before the pandemic? How do historically socioeconomically advantaged groups such as high-income or college graduates compare to disadvantaged groups such as single parents, low-income, less-educated, elderly, or people of color? This TUP analysis reports on the penetration of smartphones within each socioeconomic group.
Trends in technology ecosystems
Among online Americans, Smartphones have reached the same penetration rate as PCs, partly due to some segments where PC usage has declined. Apple has propelled much of this growth, outpacing Android smartphones in nearly every segment. Windows PCs, while still dominant, have been gradually losing their lead and penetration rates among most segments. Usage of tablets has continued its slow decline, primarily due to lowered market penetration of iPads within most market segments.
Shift in device hours by socioeconomic groups
How different are advantaged from disadvantaged Americans in how intensively they use their technology devices? How much has this changed since before the pandemic? How do historically socioeconomically advantaged groups such as high-income or college graduates compare to disadvantaged groups such as single parents, low-income, less-educated, elderly, or people of color? This TUP analysis reports on the average number of hours connected devices – mobile phones, computers, and tablets – being used by each socioeconomic group.