The most common demographic for tablet owners

Tablet computers haven’t been available to consumers for too long, but they have gained major ground to be in the hands of a third of American adults.

Pew Research Center released information this summer on the demographic breakdown of tablet owners. According to the Center for Media Research, data shows that by May 2013, 34% of adults owned a tablet computer. A tablet could be any one of the following devices: iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus, or Kindle Fire. Compared to the previous year, ownership was at 18%, and going back to 2011 at 8%. Obviously, there is a history of steady growth for the device.

If advertisers were to make a broad generalization of the typical tablet owner, it would be an adult between the ages of 35-44 (49%), who graduated college (49%) and had a household income of $75,000 or more (56%). Reports show that these demographic categories have the highest index for being an owner of a tablet.

The demographic categories that have the lowest index for being an owner are people aged 65+ (18%), who did not graduate high school (17%), and who make less than $30,000 (20%).

Interesting to note is that about 50% of people who are parents to minor children have a tablet device. Compare that to 27% of people without children have one.

As ownership will most likely continue to grow, it will be interesting to see if the demographic breakdown will remain the same.