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Utah is called the Beehive State. But maybe it should be the computer state, based on findings of a U.S. Census Bureau study released Thursday.

Utah ranks No. 1 in the nation for the percentage of residents who live in a home with a computer — 94.9 percent. The national average is 88.4 percent.

Five of the nation's top nine metropolitan areas for computer ownership also are in Utah.

Provo-Orem ranks No. 2 nationally (96.7 percent, behind only Boulder, Colo.), followed by St. George at No. 5 (95.4 percent), Ogden-Clearfield at No. 6 (95.3), Logan at No. 8 (95.1) and Salt Lake City at No. 9 (94.8).

Why does Utah have so many computer owners?

"I think it centers on Utah's rich technology history," says Pete Ashdown, founder and president of the Xmission Internet service provider company.

"The University of Utah was one of the first four nodes on the precursor to the Internet. Computer graphics came out of the University of Utah. Companies like Novell and Evans and Sutherland were strong foundations to encourage people to move to Utah and take up technology careers," he said.

"I think that has done a significant amount to get people involved with computers across the board," Ashdown said.

Also, Utah has the nation's youngest median age, and younger people tend to use computers more than older folk.

The study counted smartphones and other hand-held devices such as tablets as computers. However, it said the most common household computer owned nationally was a desktop or laptop, owned by 78.5 percent of households. It said 63.6 percent reported owning a smartphone or hand-held computer.

While Utah ranks high in computer use, it seems to have dropped from its former No. 1 ranking in access to the Internet. But that may be because the Census Bureau changed how it measures that in its annual American Community Survey.

The report released Thursday measures how many people live in households with "high-speed" Internet, while it previously asked only how many had access to the Internet — no matter how fast the connection was.

For high-speed Internet access, Utah now ranks No. 5 nationally — at 83.8 percent, behind New Hampshire (85.7 percent), Massachusetts (85.3), New Jersey (84.5) and Connecticut (983.9). The national average is 78.1 percent.

Last year using the slightly different measure, the Census Bureau had reported that Utah ranked No. 1 for Internet access, with 92.5 percent of all Utahns older than age 3 having such connections.

This year, only two Utah metro areas finished among the top 15 nationally for high-speed Internet access. Provo-Orem was No. 10 at 87.1 percent, and Ogden-Clearfield was 86.3 percent.

Ashdown said Utah may rank a little lower for high-speed access in part because its vast rural areas often do not have it available, nor do even some urban settings.

"In this country, we're still very dependent on private companies to provide Internet and Internet infrastructure," he said. "Internet infrastructure is a costly proposition, and most of these big companies like Comcast and CenturyLink are going to focus on markets where they feel like they can get the biggest return" rather than on small-population places like Utah.

He adds, "A large part of Utah is rural as well, and rural areas do not get a lot of attention from large Internet providers."

The study said that nationally, the most common household connection type was cable modem (42.8 percent), followed by mobile broadband (33.1 percent) and digital subscriber line (DSL) (21.2 percent).

About a quarter of all households had no paid Internet subscription (25.6 percent). Only 1 percent of all households reported connecting to the Internet using only a dial-up connection.

While the Internet and computers are available nearly everywhere now, just 20 years ago virtually no homes in Utah had access to the Internet when Ashdown launched Xmission.

"When I started the company, I was starting it [mainly] for my own use. But I also figured there were people like me — techies, computer nerds and geeks and also research and development people who work with the universities that would need access to the Internet," he said.

"I certainly did not anticipate or expect that it would become as ubiquitous as it is. When I first started the business I had one server that sat in the closet, and I never envisioned having things like employees or being a sizable company," he said. —

Home computing

Residents in homes with a computer, 2013

1. Utah • 94.9%

2. New Hampshire • 93.2%

3. Alaska • 92.9%

4.(tie) Wyoming and Colorado • 92.4%

U.S. Average • 88.4%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau