MIAMI BEACH, FL - DECEMBER 24: People walk with their shopping bags along Lincoln Road Mall on the day before Christmas on December 24, 2013 in Miami, Beach Florida. Retail stores are hoping last minute shoppers give their holiday sales a boost. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (2013 Getty Images)
U.S. Hispanics who earn $50,000 to $100,000—a.k.a., “upscale Latinos”—spend $500 billion every year, according a study released Wednesday by the Nielsen company and AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing, a national trade marketing organization that focuses on Latinos.
The report, titled “Upscale Latinos 2.0: A Renewed Outlook for High-End Marketers,” follows another publication last July by the same two groups that identified upscale Latinos as the most influential population group in marketing terms since the Baby Boomers.
According to the new study, the group tends to be bicultural, to skew younger, have larger families and are more likely to be dual income earners than non-Hispanics in the same income bracket.
They are 150 percent more likely to have purchased a computer, laptop or tablet in the last two months, and more than twice as likely to have bought designer clothing or accessories than their non-Hispanic peers.
“One of the most compelling attributes of the upscale Latino is their consistent level of optimism about safety, well-being and wealth creation,” Monica Gil, a senior vice president at Nielsen, specializing in multiculturalism and growth, said in a statement. “This optimism, confidence and increased spending make this segment an imperative to the U.S. economy and prestige brands.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hispanic purchasing power is growing at nearly three times the national rate -- Nielsen estimates it is now about $1.5 trillion. Upscale Latinos make up roughly 40 percent of that.
And the AHAA/Nielsen study points out that the upscale Latino segment is growing quickly—they estimate that the about15 million individuals today will grow to an estimated 35 million by 2050.
Nationally, there were around 53 million Latinos in the United States in 2012—that represents nearly 17 percent of the total population.
The Nielsen company has previously estimated that by next year, U.S. Latinos would constitute the ninth-largest economy in the world if they were their own country.
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