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| A-Crème de la Crème | B-Urban Cliff Climbers | C-Urban Cliff Dwellers | D-Gray Eminence | E-Thriving Alone | |||||||
| F-Going it Alone | G-Struggling Alone | H-Single in the Suburbs | I-Married in the Suburbs | J-Retired in the Suburbs | |||||||
| K-Living With Nature | L-Working With Nature | M-Black Collaboration | N-Mundo Latino | O-Specialties | |||||||
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Lifestyle Segmentation is a process of grouping people together based on a shared socio-economic factors. The old expression, "Birds of a Feather Flock Together" is a somewhat easy way to look at it. Surprisingly, in the case of people, these flocks tend to form nighborhoods across the U.S. and through careful analysis these common "flocks" / "segments" can be mathematically determined through a variety of algorithms. Furthermore, these segments can be further summarized into, what we will call, categories. That is what is being done here in the map on the left, a color coding of categories. We have also provided verbal descriptions of those categories below. What category do you fall in? Click HERE for more detail information on the categories. Sources: STI: LandScape
If you are looking for people with high incomes, college educations, and traditional married-with-children family compositions, you're in the right neighborhood. Crème de la Crème neighborhoods are just what the name implies - above average in all traditional classifications, including income, education, and family status. By any measure, this group is the most successful: It's a veritable who's who of the classic American dream.
In this category, you'll find not only Empire Builders such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and the Walton family, but many other 30- and 40-year-olds who enjoy the very best of the "good life" in many of American's best urban neighborhoods. Crème de la Crème are the neighborhoods many Americans drive through, dreaming of the grandeur that lies within, but do not themselves reside. The homes are likely to be filled with the finest furnishings, designer label clothing, and valuable artwork, while the garages are filled with upscale vehicles.
The average incomes in most Crème de la Crème neighborhood segments range from $70,000 to $80,000, with one group rising into a median $90,000 income range. Overall, the income for these residents comes from multiple revenue streams, including higher-than-the-national-average employment in upper-level, white-collar management and professional positions. Every segment also enjoys higher-than-average income from self-employment enterprises, and interest/dividend payments. And with two segments home to a larger percent of retires than the norm, they also enjoy a comfortable living from a higher-than-average rate of retirement investment and social security income.
Good old America - where you don't have to be rich or have a college education to live a relatively good life. This truism fully characterizes residents of neighborhoods in the Urban Cliff Climbers category, which represent the definitive "working class" - and residents who are still young and in pursuit of their individual dreams. Most of these citizens enjoy much of what this country has to offer in terms of a comfortable middle-class urban lifestyle, without necessarily having college educations, although the majority of people have graduated from high school. While some may have gone to a two-year or four-year college, others are just as likely to have attained their ability to earn a good income from on-the-job-training in a wide spectrum of the nation's middle-class, white- and blue-collar occupations.
Urban Cliff Climbers are home to 20- to 30-something residents whose income is generated mainly from wages and salaries. They are employed in a cross-section of America's white- and blue-collar professions, including management, protective services, sales, office administration, construction, maintenance, and healthcare. The income of the residents living in these segments also spans a wide range, from below $30,000 to the $60,000s. Some residents in the lower income levels may supplement their salaries with public assistance.
Besides their urban city residence, the six Urban Cliff Climbers segments share two other main qualities: they are married with some children under 13 years old. But that's where their similarities end. Although they are all in the same stage of life, each neighborhood segment has taken its own approach to life, making different educational and career choices - which also helps explain their diverse income levels.
Urban Cliff Dwellers neighborhoods are a family portrait of 30-somethings in the mature stages of life - including their pursuit of a comfortable, classically American, working-class lifestyle. They are also a study in cause-and-effect dynamics related to educational levels and income earnings. To wit, the Urban Cliff Dwellers with more education earn higher incomes than those with less education.
This group of highly urban neighborhoods are home to residents who have many years of working under their belts, perhaps a decade or more of home mortgage equity, and the creature comforts of middle-class Americana. Not all of the Urban Cliff Dwellers communities have children. Those that do largely have kids who are growing into their teenage years. As a result, it's easy to imagine these areas getting ready to face the added financial burdens of trendy clothing, an additional car, and college savings.
Though they are a collection of areas housing working-class 30-year-olds, Urban Cliff Dwellers segments span three income levels, from less-than-$30,000 up to $60,000. As a group they have high-school degrees, but no college education; their residents are employed in the nation's middle-class white-collar occupations; and their income is nearly exclusively from wages and salaries. Among the occupations most commonly represented among Urban Cliff Dwellers households are protective services, office administration, repair services, construction, production, transportation, and healthcare support.
Neighborhoods classified as Seasoned Urban Dwellers rank as predominately home to working-class mid-to-late-40-somethings. But they also have a high percent of residents who are 65-plus, making them a generationally mixed environment. While the majority of these households have the traditional composition of married-couples-with-children, they also have their share of single people and a growing number of retirees, who most likely raised their own families in these same urban stomping grounds.
With their mature years in full swing and larger number of households without children, citizens in Season Urban Dwellers domains are likely to be focused on planning for retirement (assuming they aren't already there). However, a significantly higher-than-national-average number of residents among the segments are already in their retirement years. Plus, this percent is likely to increase as the residents continue to age.
The three urban neighborhoods in this category demonstrate classic parallels of America's aging middle-class: namely, those with more education rank higher in middle-class white-collar occupations, while those with less higher education rank higher in traditional blue-collar, low-paying jobs. This speaks to this categories wide-ranging income ranges and sources of income. Seasoned Urban Dwellers earn from below-$30,000 to the $60,000s, and draw income from several sources, including salaries, interest/dividend, social security/retirement accounts, and public assistance.
One of the unique features of modern American life is the increase in the number of people who are living alone - and liking it. Today living alone no longer carries the stigma it once had in past decades, when a more traditional family-with-children standard ruled our society. Today single adults revel in their aloneness: Creating lifestyles of their own design, working long hours at careers they love, enjoying their free-time in pursuit of their specific interests, and making purchases that satisfy their specific preferences. This presents an important new trend for retailers.
Granted, not all people who are living alone are doing so by choice. Circumstances such as divorce or the death of a spouse play a role in some people's single status. Yet, today a growing number of people are single-by-choice and many of the people who've become single-by-circumstances are finding that they enjoy it, and so are choosing to stay single. And you'll find a lot of these people living in highly urban, high-income Thriving Alone neighborhood, which include Gurus, Wizards, and Apprentices.
Thriving Alone segments are distinguished by the large number of residents who are flourishing in solitary highly urban lifestyles - enjoying relatively high income levels, have college educations, and are employed in white-collar management positions, financial operations, and other professional careers. These neighborhoods measure nearly two-times-the-national-average in single households and much lower-than-average on the presence of households with children. With incomes ranging from the $50,000s and $60,000s. With so many singles and few dependents, it's easy to imagine these neighborhoods characterized by signs of highly disposable income - such as high-end cars, comfortable dwellings, plush furnishings, and designer-label clothing.
The United States has become known around the globe as a nation with a particularly unique demographic - successful singles. Few other nations have as many single adults and single-parent families with middle-class-income levels - and who are living alone - as North America. Many experts speculate as to why, but certainly reasons contributing to this unique trend include a combination of a stronger-than-average independent streak and a higher-than-average divorce rate. Both factors presumably contribute to the growth of today's highly urban Going it Alone neighborhoods across the country.
Another factor that may be at play in the rising single status of many single urban segments - opportunity. Certainly the U.S. has long been a land of opportunity for those willing to work hard. The Going it Alone segments are a testament to the opportunities available to Americans who, even without higher educations, can attain good white-collar jobs and decent salaries - and who can live comfortable lives, even though they are not in traditional two-adult households.
Besides their single-household status, Going it Alone segments share many other characteristics, including the fact that their residents are chiefly employed in white-collar jobs, they have incomes in the $30,000s to $40,000s, and they have high-school degrees, but very little college education. These residents are single for many reasons, including being divorced, widowed, and never married. These residences have fewer children than other segments. As a result, their modest, but comfortable income in all likelihood stretches farther than it would in a multi-person household.
Unlike any other country around the world, the United States is experiencing the rapid growth of a new demographic - single households. In many instances this phenomenon is a personal preference for single-and-successful Americans, who are either single-by-choice or circumstances, but either way, are happy with the result. However, not all singles are living on easy street. Some people are more apply described as "struggling alone" - hence, the name of this neighborhood category.
Residents of the urban Struggling Alone areas are the hardest hit by today's growing single trend. Contributing to their struggles are the fact that these people have no higher education, some children to raise, and are single by circumstances such as divorce and death rather than by choice. It all adds up to people living on low incomes, with few options for making their lives better. In particular, without partners to help make ends meet the residents of the three Struggling Alone sectors must count every penny and watch every purchase closely - undoubtedly keeping dollar stores and discount merchants in business.
With far below the national-average in college education, but slightly above-average in high-school degrees, members of the Struggling Alone demographic earn below $30,000. As a result, they rely heavily on public assistance to stretch their wages from jobs in blue-collar occupations such as food preparation, building maintenance, healthcare, production, and transportation. In fact, all three segments rank at just-under or well-over-two-times-the-national-average in public-assistance income. The group with the oldest residents is also starting to receive social security checks.
Struggling Alone neighborhoods are home to some children within the single families. The majority of households have either singles-with-no-children, men raising children alone, women raising children alone, or widows and widowers. In fact, as a group these areas measure nearly two-times-the-national-average in single-parent families.
At first glance, the word "suburb" conjures images of "Leave it to Beaver-type" neighborhoods where everyone has a good income, owns a big house with expansive green yards, and has a couple of new vehicles in the driveway. But in reality the demographics of the suburbs are not all middle-class American Dream-land. In fact, the number of low- to middle-income households is on the rise outside of America's urban areas. Most of these suburbanites are not "poor," but neither are they well-off in the traditional sense. The suburbs are defined as areas that are predominantly residential with very little commercial enterprise intermixed. By definition suburbs tend to be on the outskirts of urban areas.
Single in the Suburbs segments constitute a group of neighborhoods that are among the lower income levels of modern suburbia. Their annual incomes range from the low-$30,000s to the $40,000s. These neighborhoods are classically suburban in the sense that they are primarily residential, but the denizens are likely to include moderately priced dwellings such as duplexes and apartment complexes, along with somewhat modest single-family homes. Most of the households in these areas have children, with a much higher-than-average rate of single-parent homes. The lowest-income segment in this category requires a high level of public-assistance to make ends meet.
Other similarities among Single in the Suburbs segments are their residents' ages, which are in the 20s and low-30s. Their relatively young ages help to explain their lower incomes. Presumably they could be viewed as "starter suburbanites" who may move up to better suburban environs as they mature. However, this group of neighborhoods is also home to people with lower levels of education. Most have high-school, but no college, degrees. This lack of education will keep the residents tied to their lower-income jobs, which include a range of occupations from food service to building maintenance.
After World War II moving to the suburbs was a central part of the American Dream of upward mobility. In the decades since then, America's suburbs have come to symbolize the fulfillment of the simple desire of ordinary people to own a piece of land, however humble, where they may live in relative comfort and peace. Neighborhoods within the Married in the Suburbs segments are havens of upper-middle-class values, structure, and consumption. In fact, these 30-something suburbanites are enjoying the fruits of the high-quality suburban lifestyles that were pioneered by their ancestors. The suburbs are defined as areas that are predominantly residential with very little commercial enterprise intermixed. By definition suburbs tend to be on the outskirts of urban areas.
Residents of the Married in the Suburbs neighborhoods earn very good incomes by any standard. They rank either in the $70,000s and $80,000s or in the $50,000s and $60,000s. These high salaries help support the children that most of the married-couple households have under their upper-middle-class roofs. However, not every segment in this category ranks high in the children column: Some sectors are more childless than others.
The Married in the Suburbs areas are havens for well-educated, white-collar workers. Everyone has a high-school degrees and the vast majority are college-educated. These industrious people are employed centrally in management and professional positions. Scattered throughout the segments are some smart investors, who are reaping the income benefits of their savvy investments. A few members of the community are also enterprising business owners, earning incomes from self-employment ventures.
Today it's all about the 50-year-olds. This age group represents the peak of the "baby-boomer" generation - that paragon of many of today's most powerful trends. Who knew that the "love children" of the 70s would be today's high-income suburbanites? Certainly not them. The Retired in the Suburbs neighborhoods represent the high-end of success in all categories, including education, income level, and occupation. The suburbs are defined as areas that are predominantly residential with very little commercial enterprise intermixed. By definition suburbs tend to be on the outskirts of urban areas.
While the median age range of the Retired in the Suburbs is in the 40s, these segments are also aging. All three segments in this category rank high-above-average on 65-plus-year-olds. In fact, two of the categories weight in at 50-percent-higher-than-the-national-average on this demographic. There is a smattering of children, but they are fewer and more far between than in the average suburban neighborhood.
Residents of these areas enjoy salaries in the $70,000s and $80,000s. The fact that the Retired in the Suburbs segments are aging correlates to their higher-than-average level of income from social security and retirement accounts. Also, interest/dividend income ranks very high in this group, owing to intelligent investment strategies in the 1980s and 90s.
Also correlating with the aging demographic in these areas is the presence of children. While most of the households are comprised of married-couples, a less-than-average number still have children, especially young kids. Predictably as the number of 65-plus members of community increase in some segments, so do the numbers of widows and widowers.
Ahhh... country living. It conjures images of clean air, rolling countryside, horses running in the wind, and farms bursting with their bounty. While this idealized vision may not quite be the reality, rural country life is, in fact, still a huge enticement for certain types of people - and they're not all farmers. Some people simply eschew any semblance of "citified" living. Instead, they need the wide (and not so wide) open spaces of rural America. Rural areas are defined as areas that are lightly populated and far from any type of urban center. However, rural areas may have some local commercial activity, but it's typically on a scale just large enough to serve the population living nearby.
Living With Nature is a neighborhood category that includes people who have predominately chosen the rural lifestyle over urban or suburban, though for some their vocations have a large impact on their rural-living decision. Among the segments in this rural category are people who still work in cities (the "long-haul" commuters, so to speak) and the people living in rural communities, because that is where they work.
You won't find a single type of demographic living in today's rural areas: White-collar professionals may be as attracted to these areas, as much as farmers. That being said, many of the segments in this category rank well-above-national-averages in people in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations - the highest segment ranks at four-times-average on this measurement scale!
However, even with that commonality, diversity is the name of the game in Living With Nature segments. For example, some residents are white-collar, some are blue-collar: some have college educations, some don't even have high school degrees; most are married-with-kids, some households have no children; and some people are self-employed, some are retired, and some need public assistance to make ends meet. What's more, the Living With Nature segments represent a expansive range of income levels - from less than $30,000 to the $80,000s.
Give me land, lots of land . give me acres and acres of land. This could be a line from a theme song written about (or by) members of Working With Nature communities. The five segments within this category are predominately home to people with lots of land, many who are still working it to earn a living. As the name connotes, Working With Nature segments are rural communities. Rural areas are defined as areas that are lightly populated and far from any type of urban center. However, rural areas may have some local commercial activity, but it's typically on a scale just large enough to serve the population living nearby.
Working With Nature segments share several commonalties, particularly the age range: Residents living in these areas are chiefly in their 40s. However, they are aging, demonstrated by the fact that most sectors have an above-the-national-average level of people 65 and older. Continuing on this aging theme, these generally married-couples have some children, particular in their teenage years. However, owing to their aging demographic, there is also a growing demographic of widows and widowers.
Occupationally, the people who have to work show an overwhelming presence in the farming/fishing/forestry sector. Nevertheless, this is not the sum-total of their income-generating activities, because many of the five sectors have high rankings in other occupations, four of which are primarily blue-collar. That being said, many sectors rate highly in self-employment income - no doubt reflecting their Working With Nature occupational dominance in the farming category.
According to the 2003 U.S. Census figures, approximately 38.7 million African Americans live in the United States (including both blacks and people who are a mix of black and other races). This represents 13.3% of the total U.S. population: an increase from the historical low of 9.7% in the 1930s. At the time of the 2000 Census, 54.8% of African Americans lived in the South, 17.6% in the Northeast, 18.7% in the Midwest, and 8.9% in Western states. Almost 88% lived in urban areas, including over two million African American residents in New York City. By July 1, 2050, the projected single-race black population of the U.S. is estimated to be 61.4 million. According to this projection, black residents would constitute 15% of the nation's total population on that date.
In the years since the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans have improved their social and economic standing, including the expansion of a vibrant middle-class. However, collectively, these citizens remain at an economic, educational, and social disadvantage. Economically, the median-income of black Americans is roughly 60% that of whites. Persistent social problems for many include inadequate healthcare access and delivery; institutional racism and discrimination in housing, policing, criminal justice and employment; crime; and substance abuse.
Market segmentation analytics bear out these facts. The Black Collaboration category is comprised of predominantly black neighborhoods across the U.S. These areas are overwhelmingly in highly urban areas, with residents who are primarily young, poor, single, parents without college educations, and working hard at blue-collar jobs - usually with some level of public-assistance sustaining them. As of July 1, 2003, 32% of the black population was under 18 (while only 8% were 65 or older).
Several trends are found within the five Black Collaboration segments (though these events are not unique to black Americans). For examples, when the percent of married-couple households is high, so in the percent of income from wages; and as the number of single-parent households is higher, so is the percent of income from social services. Similarly, when these residents are married, they rank a lower number of children and higher incomes; and as the number of children increases in single-family homes, so does the median-income range.
Hispanics are the fast-growing population within the U.S. They have not only increased in numbers to become the largest ethnic minority population in the U.S., but they have also increased in purchasing power - representing an estimated $680 billion in 2004 and expected to grow at an average annual rate of 8%. As a result, marketing to the U.S. Hispanic sector is becoming a priority for many businesses. Yet, understanding the market can be difficult. Market segmentation bears out this fact: In particular, income levels are difficult to categorize, and the mix of incomes and family compositions is quite diverse. In fact, the Hispanic markets are one of the most challenging types of demographics to segment into neighborhoods.
The category Mundo Latino represents predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods. Since it is the fastest-growing of all categories, the neighborhoods were divided into six relatively small segments. Based on predictions, each segment will probably double in population over the next ten years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 census, 35.5 million residents were Hispanic. However, by 2003 that number grew to about 40 million people. In fact, throughout the early 2000s the Hispanic population growth was about 2.4% per annum - faster than any other group in the U.S. If this growth rate continues, Hispanics in the U.S. will number anywhere from 80 million to 100 million by 2050.
The definition of Hispanic used by the Census Bureau was established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB): a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central America, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. Hispanics tend to gather around major urban areas. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, half of all Hispanics in the U.S. lived in two states: California and Texas. Further, Hispanics tend to group themselves by country of origin. Most Latinos of Mexican heritage live in the Southwest. While Cubans tend to reside in Miami. Other less-known Hispanic pockets are the Salvadorans in Washington DC and the Hondurans in New Orleans.
Diversity and individuality are among the hallmarks of the American lifestyle - cherished as two of the primary essential characteristic of a thriving democracy. As such, there are neighborhoods across the United States that are so different and unique they do not fit into easily definable groups: for example, military areas, apartment denizens, and college students. In fact, to aggregate these unique neighborhoods into another segment would be a disservice to market researchers. As such, we have created a category comprised solely of seven specialty neighborhood types. We've grouped these diverse areas under one heading - Specialties. While grouped together because of their differences, there is one commonality among these unique neighborhood entities: They are all located in highly urban areas.
