• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 19, 2005

In the metropolitan markets surveyed by The Media Audit From 2002 to 2004, the Hispanic adult population increased by 16 percent while the number of Hispanic college graduates increased by 22 percent.

 Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, Inc., said "The number of Hispanic college graduates increased by 806,000 from approximately 3.6 million to 4.4 million. The 4.4 million includes more than 1.3 million with advanced degrees." In the markets surveyed there are approximately 48.3 million adults, 35 percent of the adult population, with one or more college degrees. 

The Hispanic college graduate is significantly younger than college graduates in the general population. In the general population 38.4 percent of college graduates are age 50 plus. Among Hispanics just 23.0 percent of college graduates are age 50 plus.

 The media habits of the Hispanic college graduates are also significantly different. Just 21.5 percent of all college educated adults are heavy radio listeners (180 minutes or more per/day) while 26.8 percent of college educated Hispanics are heavy radio listeners.

 Twenty percent of all college graduates are heavy readers of newspapers (1 hour or more per day) and 18.9 percent of college educated Hispanics are heavy newspaper readers. However:

• more than 50 percent of the Hispanic graduates read a newspaper on an average weekday  
• 39.6 percent read a newspaper on an average Sunday, compared to 41.0 percent and 31.4 percent among all graduates. 

With regard to income differences:

• 63.5 percent of all college graduates have an annual income of $50,000 or more
• 63.2 percent of Hispanic college graduates have annual incomes of $50,000 or more.
• 42.8 percent of all college graduates have incomes of $75,000 or more
• 41.7 percent of Hispanic college graduates have incomes of $75,000 or more
• 26.7 percent of all college graduates and 24.1 percent of Hispanic college graduates have household incomes of $100,000 or more. 
• 11 percent of all college graduates and 8.4 percent of Hispanic graduates earn $150,000 or more annually

"It's important to note that some of the markets with the greatest number of Hispanics have enormous differences in the percentage with a college education," says Jordan. 

• 22.0 percent of Hispanics in New York City have a college degree
• 15.3 percent of Hispanics in Los Angeles have a college degree
• 33 percent of the Hispanics in Miami have a college degree
• 31.7 percent of those in Chicago have at least one college degree

For more information about TheMediaAudit report, go here .