Media Audit: 28 Cities Now Have More Than 100,000 Hispanics

This report from The Media Audit, via Radio Ink (8/25/04) presents the facts about the growth of the Latino population "from sea to shining sea", not only the usual States and cities that have long been thought as heavily populated by Hispanics. Read along; it is very interesting...

In 1998, 47.8 percent of adult Hispanics in the 85 metro markets surveyed regularly by The Media Audit lived in Los Angeles, New York and Miami. By 2003, that percentage had dropped to 41.2. During that same time period the total adult Hispanic population in the 85 metro markets was increasing from 14.4 million to 18.6 million. Approximately 70 percent of that growth (4.3 million) was located in metropolitan areas other than Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

“Hispanics are moving beyond the border states and the traditional metro immigrant centers,” says Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, Inc., which produces The Media Audit. Although not a national survey, The Media Audit’s aggregate numbers generally track national findings. The aggregate adult population of the 80 plus markets surveyed in 2003 was 128.9 million. The Media Audit focuses exclusively on adults (age 18 plus) in each market.

According to The Media Audit, in 1998 there were 21 metro markets with more than 100,000 Hispanic adults; by 2003 the 21 had become 28. During the same period the number of metro markets with more than 20,000 but less than 100,000 Hispanic adults climbed from 24 to 32.

“The metro markets of Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Orlando and Philadelphia now have adult Hispanic populations of more than 200,000,” says Jordan. “Some of these markets are experiencing explosive Hispanic growth. Between 2000 and 2003 Denver’s Hispanic adult population increased from 209,000 to 312,000. During the same years Boston’s adult Hispanic population increased from 209,000 to 255,000.”

“For advertisers trying to reach the Hispanic market, this migration is a serious matter,” Jordan concluded. “Hispanics are no longer found exclusively in a few metropolitan markets. In addition, the new location to which Hispanics have moved may have an impact on the qualitative profile of the group. Hispanics in Boston could have buying habits very different from those of Hispanics in San Antonio.”

Source: RadioInk