• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, July 30, 2002

Hispanic Buying Power Will Jump

According to a Q2 2002 study from the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, between 1990 and 2007, the buying power of US Hispanics will rise by a whopping 315%. Selig explains that this compares to the buying power of whites which will rise by roughly 111% over the same time period.

US Hispanic Buying Power (billions of dollars)

	1990	2000	2002	2007	% change 1990 - 2007
Hispanic	$233	$491	$581	$926	315.3%
Non-Hispanic	4,054	6,535	7,052	8,944	120.6%

Source: Terry Collage of Business, Univ. of Georgia, Apr. 2002

Selig explains that "buying power" is defined as the total personal income of residents available for spending on goods and services after taxes. In actual dollars, Selig estimates that whites have a buying power of $6.3 trillion as of 2002, compared to Hispanics who have a buying power of $580 billion as of 2002.

US Buying Power, by Ethnicity (billions of dollars)

	1990	2000	2002	2007
White	$3,739	$5,800	$6,252	$7,910
Black	317	559	646	853
American Indian	19	36	41	57
Asian	118	255	296	455
Other	85	198	234	379
MultiRacial	n/a	148	162	216

Source: Terry Collage of Business, Univ. of Georgia, Apr. 2002

Selig also notes the top ten states in which Hispanic buying power is the strongest. California tops the list with a buying power of $170 billion. Texas follows with $93 billion, Florida claims third place with $52 billion and New York follows in fourth place with a Hispanic buying power of $48 billion.

Along with buying power, Hispanic presence online has risen over the past year. A February 2002 study from Arbitron and Edison Media Research reports the percentage of Hispanics with internet access rose from 43% from January 2001 to 57% in January 2002.

US Internet Users, by Ethnicity (% respondents with internet access)

	January, 2001	January, 2002
African-Americans	51%	67%
Hispanics	43	57
Whites	54	76

Source: Arbitron/Edison Media Research, Feb, 2002

Find out more here