The financial news & research site category attracted more than 64 million US visitors in May, an increase of 35 percent from a year ago, and Yahoo Finance was the top site with 18+ million visitors, according to a comScore overview of category activity, MarketingCharts reports.

• Yahoo Finance led the category in May with 18.5 million visitors, up 58 percent from a year ago, followed by AOL Money & Finance with 15.2 million visitors (up 48 percent) and MSN Money with 13.7 million visitors (up 13 percent).
• CNET-owned business site BNET, which ranked seventh in the category with 5.6 million visitors, grew more than 3,000 percent from last year, due to the acquisition of FindArticles.com.
• Eighth-ranked TheStreet.com Sites tripled to 5.3 million visitors, also due in part to site acquisitions.

"Current economic conditions - including rising gas prices, general inflation concerns, housing troubles and stock market uncertainty - have Americans seeking to stay informed about the factors influencing their personal finances," said Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president.

Category Growth Varies by Demographic

Though the category displayed visitor growth across virtually all demographic segments, certain segments contributed more than others, comScore found:

• The number of visitors to the category age 50 and older grew 46 percent versus a year ago, while visitors under 50 grew 32 percent.
• Above average growth was also seen in the following segments: households earning at least $60,000 annually (40 percent), households with children (38 percent) and households with at least 5 people (57 percent).

Segments displaying the greatest growth paint a picture of those likely to have more financial responsibilities or challenges, such as needing to save for college or retirement, or needing to determine how best to handle more immediate financial obligations, such as home mortgage holders facing rapidly escalating monthly payments.