Every year about this time, the Pew Internet & American Life Project surveys the nation to get a handle on how we’re doing in terms of broadband adoption. The latest survey, “Home Broadband Adoption 2008,” was released this afternoon, revealing that 55 percent of adult Americans  now have a high-speed connection at home.

Last year it was 47 percent and in 2005 it was 42 percent. It’s steady growth - though certainly not the best the world has to offer.

There are problems, however. Particularly in the lower income sector: Only 25 percent of adult Americans, with a household income lower than $20,000, had high-speed access at home. That’s actually a decline from last year’s 28 percent.

The report’s author, John Horrigan, suggests the economy might have something to do with the dip.

“The flat growth in home high-speed adoption for low-income Americans suggests that tightening household budgets may be affecting people’s choice of connection speed at home,” Horrigan said. “Broadband is more costly on a monthly basis than dial-up, and some lower income Americans may be unwilling to take on another expense.”

Among other highlights of the survey (these are the percentage of each group equipped with high speed connections at home):

• 65 years and older: 19 percent
• 18-29 years old: 70 percent
• Household income under $20k: 25 percent
• Household income over $100k: 85 percent
• Suburban community: 60 percent
• Rural community: 38 percent
• Did not graduate high school: 28 percent
• College degree: 79 percent
• Male: 58 percent
• Female: 53 percent

What does this tell us? Probably what we already suspected. The people most likely to be using fast internet connections are those with money and higher educations. They tend to live in and around cities. And they are younger.