Austin, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle are the Top Blogging Markets.

Scarborough Research finds that Austin, TX, Portland, OR, San Francisco and Seattle are the top markets for people who read or contributed to blogs.

Fifteen percent of adults in Austin are bloggers*, and they are 78 percent more likely than the national average to be in this consumer group. Fourteen percent of Portland adults are bloggers; followed by San Francisco and Seattle, with 13 percent of adults blogging in these cities. Nationally, eight percent of all consumers are bloggers.

The top cities for bloggers have tech savvy and youth in common. Thirty-seven percent of Austin adults are between the ages of 18-34; they are 20 percent more likely than the national average to be within this age range. Adults in Austin and Portland are attracted to new technology. Austin adults are 17 percent more likely than adults nationally to be a part of a household that owns a DVR and 51 percent more likely to be a part of a household that owns a PDA. Portland adults show signs of new technology ownership and willingness to adopt other new tech items. Adults in Portland are 13 percent more likely than the national average to be a part of a household that subscribes to satellite TV, and 18 percent more likely to be members of households that plan to subscribe to satellite TV within the next year.

“Not surprisingly, the cities that rank highly for bloggers are also prominent Internet- usage markets. Austin and San Francisco adults, for example, are more likely than the average to have a broadband connection at home,” said Gary Meo, senior vice president, print and digital media services. “Additionally, Austin, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle are markets with large high-tech economies.”

Other Internet behaviors of bloggers suggest an attraction to user generated content.

Bloggers are more than three times more likely than all Internet users to download Podcasts, and more than twice as likely to download/watch videos online. Twenty-Five percent of bloggers download or listen to audio clips online as opposed to the 8 percent of all other connected adults.

Bloggers are also adopters of new technology. They are 76 percent more likely than all Internet users to be a part of household that owns a PDA, 54 percent more likely to have an MP3 player and 37 percent more likely to have a satellite radio subscription. “Bloggers tend to have a different relationship with the Internet than the average user.

They are more likely to advantage of its utility for standard household and personal tasks, such as email, shopping and online banking,” said Mr. Meo. “Given that they are contributing to the content of the Internet itself, it’s not surprising that bloggers are more advanced online than your average Internet user, and more tech savvy overall.”

Demographically, bloggers are young and hail from middle class families. They are 66 percent more likely than the national average to be between the ages of 18 and 34. Fifty percent of bloggers are part of a household that has children under 17, as opposed to 41 percent of the total population. Bloggers are 20 percent more likely than the national average to have an annual household income between $50k and $100k per year.

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Source: Study Scarborough USA+ 2007 Release 1 (Current Release). Based on Total Adults. DMA or Designated Market Area is a trademark of Nielsen Media Research.