During Chicago Ideas Week I attended Univision‘s seminar on “Marketing to Hispanics.” This is what I learned from the data collected by Univision‘s marketing department.


General facts
There are 58 million Hispanics in the U.S. which is 18% of the total U.S. population.
There are 2.1 million Hispanics in the Chicagoland area, which is 22% of the total Chicago population.
By 2060 Hispanics are expected to be 29% of the total U.S. population (119 million).
[Okay, I can’t keep using the term “Hispanics.” I’m switching to “Latinos.”]
U.S. Latinos are an average of 12 years younger than the non-Latino population.
75% of us are under 45, compared to 56% of non-Latinos.
Latinos make up 21% of all Millennials.


Purchasing tendencies
Latinos are 72% more likely than non-Latinos to buy our first home in the next 12 months.
We’re 68% more likely to have a baby in the next 12 months.
Between 2000 and 2015, the number of Latino households earning $75K+ grew by 188%.
83% of Latinos own smartphones (vs. 79% for the total market)
We’ve had more growth in tablet ownership (vs. total households)
32% more weekly time is spent by Latinos using smartphone apps.
113% more weekly time is spent by Latinos watching video on smartphones.


Social media
Latinos are twice as likely to share any given item than the general population.
Latinos share items five times as often as the general population (as evidenced by my cousin-once-removed Gregory Rivera)
Items that Latinos have shared are 35% more likely to be clicked on.


Language
In the United States, 8 out of 10 Latinos live in a household that speaks Spanish to any extent at all.
In the Chicagoland area, nearly 9 out of 10 Latinos live in a household that speaks Spanish to any extent at all.
And Spanish isn’t going anywhere. Univision’s numbers predict that in 2034 71% of the U.S. Latino population will live in households where at least some Spanish is spoken.


Cultural pride
Among Latino Americans:                                                                      
“I feel a need to preserve my family’s cultural traditions” – 72% agreed in 2010. 80% agreed in 2015.
“I feel very proud of my Hispanic background” – 93% agreed in 2010. 97% agreed in 2015.
“Being part of the Hispanic community in the U.S. is extremely important to me” – 79% agreed in 2010. 83% agreed in 2015.
“I would prefer that my children choose Hispanics as their role models” – 49% agreed in 2010. 59% agreed in 2015.


Up until now I hadn’t felt intimidated by the growing number of U.S. Latinos, but now I’m a little nervous. Will I be expected to display an equal amount of pride in being a Latina? What if I’m not proud enough? Will this become another metric by which I’ll be measured, undoubtedly disappointingly? If everyone’s going to keep speaking Spanish and having lots of babies and flying the flags of Latin countries, will I always feel like I’m on the outside of Latino culture, feeling like I became too white too early in the history of Latinos in the U.S? I just don’t know when, if ever, I’ll feel like I’m on the inside of this demographic.


No wonder El Idiota and others who support his candidacy for president are scared. We brown people aren’t going anywhere and even if you could seal the border against Latino immigrants, the ones that are already here are passing on our traditions and marrying people of other backgrounds and reproducing and multiplying by the day. It’s turning into Brown Nation with all the people of color intermarrying with each other and with white people. One out of every six Americans is Hispanic. You could be next.

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