According to a new study conducted by the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA), Latinos that make above $50,000 a year are becoming a larger market segment and will most likely shape important consumption patterns in the overall U.S. marketplace.
The study found that in 2012, close to 15 million Latinos who earn between $50,000 and $100,000 a year represented over a quarter of the Hispanic population in the United States.
The study says, promisingly, that this number is expected to double by 2015.
The Latino segment alone now has a spending capacity of about half a billion dollars, or 37 percent, of the $1.3 billion that the entire Latino population spend annually in the United States.
The study, "America's New Upscale Segment: Latinos," was designed by AHAA in collaboration with Nielsen and was presented by experts Reni Díaz and Carlos Santiago.
Other findings in the study highlighted are that the majority of the higher-income Latino segment is bi-cultural — 75 percent speak Spanish and English everyday — and that 1 in 8 of these households has an entrepreneur among its members, while more than half of them have gone to college. This group of Latinos, which is 33 years old, as compared to 39 years old of similar groups of non-Hispanics, is in a formative stage to establish and assert their identity as consumers. They are also mostly found in urban areas, such as Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Miami, as well as the surrounding communities, while driving the Hispanic populations of secondary markets, like Jacksonville, Honolulu and Washington D.C., and smaller communities, such as Salt Lake City, Raleigh and Oklahoma City.
Through a method of detailed polling Nielsen also found that Latinos with higher incomes mostly invest their money in retirement plans, savings for education, credit cards, car loans and mortgages and that they also spend in health and beauty products, particularly in men's bath products, women's fragrances, hair care and cosmetics—with an emphasis on brand choices.
The study divides various segments among this group of Hispanics: Young Accumulators; Young Achievers; Urban "Uptowners"; and "Affluentials."
The Young Accumulators subset refers to those Hispanics who start building a family and have an economy based on two salaries. The Achievers are college graduates who live in individual households in metropolitan neighborhoods. The Urban "Uptowners" have greater access to travel, technology and luxury goods and are concentrated in large cities. Finally, the "Affluentials" are the individuals ranging in the ages between 40 and 50 and have the largest acquisitive power and usually live in the suburbs.