"The number of Hispanic college graduates increased by 806,000 from approximately 3.6 million to 4.4 million. The 4.4 million includes more than 1.3 million with advanced degrees," said Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics Inc., which produces The Media Audit. The surveys cover only adults age 18 plus.
In the markets surveyed there are approximately 48.3 million adults with "one or more college degrees." That figure is up from 46.5 million recorded in 2002. The 48.3 million is 35 percent of the total adult population in the 87 markets surveyed which numbers 137.5 million adults. In the most recent survey, 20.9 percent of Hispanic adults had "one or more college degrees." That's up from 19.8 percent in 2002 and 18.9 percent in 2000.
The survey reports the Hispanic college graduate can be easily distinguished from college graduates in the general population. As a group they are significantly younger. In the general population 38.4 percent of college graduates are age 50 plus. Among Hispanics just 23.0 percent of college graduates are age 50 plus.
Media habits
Media habits of the Hispanic college graduates were also found to differ significantly. Twenty percent of all college graduates are heavy readers of newspapers (1 hour or more per day) and 18.9 percent of college educated Hispanics are heavy newspaper readers. However, more than 50 percent of the Hispanic graduates read a newspaper on an average weekday and 39.6 percent read a newspaper on an average Sunday compared to 41.0 percent and 31.4 percent among all graduates.
Just 21.5 percent of all college educated adults are heavy radio listeners (180 minutes or more per/day) while 26.8 percent of college educated Hispanics are heavy radio listeners. Among those who report not being heavy listeners to radio, 24.2 percent of all college graduates report average weekday use compared to 26.1 among Hispanic college graduates.
Comparable Income Levels
"The incomes of Hispanic college graduates and incomes of all college graduates are probably more level than most people would expect," says Jordan. Sixty-three and one half percent of all college graduates have an annual income of $50,000 or more. Among Hispanic college graduates, 63.2 percent have annual incomes of $50,000 or more. Among all college graduates, 42.8 percent have incomes of $75,000 or more while 41.7 percent of Hispanic college graduates have achieved the same income level. There are 26.7 percent of all college graduates and 24.1 percent of Hispanic college graduates with household incomes of $100,000 or more. The greatest difference between the two groups is among those earning $150,000 or more annually. Approximately 11 percent of all college graduates and 8.4 percent of Hispanic graduates fit into that income classification. "
Enormous Market Differences
"Rarely do we see the market-to-market difference we find in the study of Hispanic college graduates," says Jordan. When we view all 87 metropolitan markets in the aggregate, we find 20.9 percent of all Hispanic adults have a college degree, but, when the 87 markets are viewed individually that percentage varies from a high of 45.7 in Raleigh-Durham to less than 10 percent in eight markets. It's important to note that some of the markets with the greatest number of Hispanics have enormous
differences in the percentage with a college education," says Jordan.
The four markets with the largest Hispanic populations are New York City, Los Angeles, Miami- Ft. Lauderdale and Chicago. More than 33 percent of the Hispanics in Miami and 31.7 percent of those in Chicago have at least one college degree. By contrast, 22.0 percent of Hispanics in New York City and just 15.3 percent in Los Angeles have a college degree.
"This contrast," says Jordan "repeats itself time and again throughout the 87 markets. Boston and Atlanta have approximately the same number of Hispanic adults (288,000 & 268,000). But 38.4 percent of Hispanics in Atlanta have a college degree compared to 29.4 percent in Boston."
