PC owners have a prestigious profile

Home Office Computing, Dec, 1990 by Liza Schafer

A recent study conducted by the market-research firm HTI, a division of the NPD Group of Port Washington, New York, has produced an interesting--and flattering--profile of the typical personal-computer owner. Of the 125,000 U.S. households surveyed, 27,000 (or 22 percent) were found to have computers. The median income for those PC owners: $42,000. That's substantially higher than the $28,000 median income reported for households without PCs.

Are PC owners a family-oriented bunch? Yes, according to the survey: 82 percent live in a family setting and 52 percent have kids. It is also interesting to note that nearly half of the computer owners polled (45 percent) are between 30 to 45 years old. Nineteen percent are under 30, and 36 percent are 45 or older.

PC owners embrace technology. HTI's research shows that 88 percent have VCRs, 42 percent have answering machines, 29 percent have moderns, and 28 percent have compact-disc players.

The survey also reports that computer owners are nearly 60 percent more likely to be entrepreneurs than those without PCs. Now that's a statistic to be proud of.