A recent survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the percentage of Latinos who use the Internet has jumped, and that a larger percentage of Latinos than blacks now use the Internet.
From 2006 to 2008, Internet use among Latino adults rose by 10 percentage points, from 54 percent to 64 percent. In comparison, the rates for whites rose four percentage points, from 72 percent to 76 percent, and the rates for blacks rose two percentage points, from 61 to 63 percent, during that time period, Pew said.
All three races showed a leveling off in home use among Internet users. In 2006, 92 percent of white Internet users had a home connection, compared with 94 percent in 2008. In 2006, 84 percent of African-American Internet users had a home connection, compared with 87 percent in 2008. In 2006, 79 percent of Latinos who were online had a home connection, compared with 81 percent in 2008.
However, whites were even more likely than blacks or Latinos to have a high-speed broadband connection at home. In 2006, 65 percent of white home Internet users had broadband, compared with 82 percent in 2008, a difference of 17 percentage points. In 2006, 63 percent of black home Internet users had broadband, compared with 78 percent in 2008, a difference of 15 percentage points. In 2006, 63 percent of Latinos with home internet access had a broadband connection, compared with 76 percent in 2008, a difference of 13 percentage points.
However, figures for Latinos and blacks could actually be even higher, because Pew performed the surveys only on land telephone lines, and the growth of cell-only households is especially high for Latinos and blacks, Pew said.
Growth in Internet use was especially high among foreign-born (as opposed to U.S.-born) Latinos, Latinos lacking a high school diploma, and Latino households with income of less than $30,000 per year, Pew said.