In recent years, the Hispanic/Latino population in the United States has increased quickly. As of fall 2016, VALS™/GfK MRI's Survey of the American Consumer estimates more than 15% of adults age 18 and older are of Spanish or Hispanic decent—almost 38 million individuals. As is true of every large population, not all population members are the same. Acculturated Hispanic Americans—people who speak only or mostly English but speak some Spanish at home—and bicultural Hispanic Americans—people who speak only or mostly Spanish but speak some English at home—are quite different. Eighty percent of acculturated Hispanic Americans were born in the United States, Puerto Rico, or other US territories; three-quarters of bicultural Hispanic Americans were born in another country.

Roughly twice as many acculturated Hispanics as bicultural Hispanics classify as one of the VALS upper-resource groups: Innovators, Thinkers, Achievers, or Experiencers (26% versus 12.5%); 45% of acculturated Hispanics versus 70% of bicultural Hispanics classify as one of the VALS lower-resource groups (Believers, Strivers, Makers, or Survivors). Although all Hispanic American adults are more likely than all US adults to be Millennials (born between 1977 and 1996), 55% of acculturated versus 44% of bicultural Hispanics are members of this generational cohort.

Each group of Hispanic Americans is distinctive. Smartphone use and advertising attitudes illustrate differences between acculturated and bicultural groups. Smartphone ownership is on average for that of all US adults (89% of acculturated and 85% of bicultural Hispanics). However, acculturated Hispanic Americans are above average—and more likely than bicultural Hispanics—to use a smartphone to seek entertainment and financial information, to visit a social-networking site, to search for information about a product, to purchase a product, to listen to music or the radio, or to download or stream a TV program. Bicultural Hispanic Americans are above average—and more likely than acculturated Hispanics—to have positive attitudes about advertising: Not only do they like to look at advertising, but they are more likely to find advertising helpful in keeping them up to date about products and services they need or would like to own. Watch a well-targeted ad to acculturated Hispanic Americans from Zillow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y95pLkAM0a0

To learn more about Hispanic Americans, read the September 2017 MacroMonitor Market Trends Newsletter from SBI's Consumer Financial Decisions.

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