D.C. Among Top Cities in Internet Home Growth

Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington were the fastest growing top wired cities at home over the last year, according to data from Nielsen/NetRatings. Atlanta grew 19 percent among U.S. cities with more than 2.1 million Internet surfers while Los Angeles and Washington showed a growth rate of 14 percent. In comparison, the number of Web users in the U.S. grew seven percent during the past year.

Online usage for the top three fastest growing cities outpaced overall population growth. According to recent U.S. Census population estimates, the general population in the city of Atlanta was estimated to have grown more than two percent between April 2000 and July 2002. Los Angeles’ population estimate rose nearly three percent, while Washington’s remained stable during this period.

Reflecting the three-year slump in the Internet business, San Francisco increased its Internet audience by a mere one percent to nearly 3.1 million Web users, which parallels the latest U.S. Census estimates that show San Francisco losing two percent of its population between April 2000 and July 2002.

“With respect to depressed economic conditions in the last couple of years, the slowed growth in tech-heavy cities, such as San Francisco, should come as no surprise,” said Greg Bloom, senior Internet analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings.

Following Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington in the top ten in growth were Chicago (8 percent), Seattle (5 percent), Dallas (5 percent), New York (4 percent), Boston (4 percent), Philadelphia (4 percent) and San Francisco).