Urban residents are a large and influential part of American society. In this report, Mintel analyzes demographic data as well as proprietary survey data in order to create a portrait of these important consumers.

This report examines the demographics, expenditures, attitudes towards shopping and advertising, and shopping behaviors of urban dwellers, as they compare to non-urban dwellers and how they are similar or different across various characteristics within the urban population. Data presented in this report are based on extensive Mintel survey research into urban living conducted in August 2006.

Urban residents are a large and influential part of American society. In this report, Mintel analyzes demographic data as well as proprietary survey data in order to create a portrait of these important consumers.

This report examines the demographics, expenditures, attitudes towards shopping and advertising, and shopping behaviors of urban dwellers, as they compare to non-urban dwellers and how they are similar or different across various characteristics within the urban population. Data presented in this report are based on extensive Mintel survey research into urban living conducted in August 2006.

Specifically, this report analyzes the demographic makeup of cities: spending patterns of urban residents, their attitudes towards shopping, the frequency with which they shop, where they shop, and how connected they are to their neighborhoods. All data are compared against a sample of non-urban respondents to provide context and create a better understanding of how urban residents’ shopping and spending habits may differ from those of the U.S. population as a whole.

This study surveyed 1,788 adults aged 18+ who live in urban centers, custom-selected by zip code, and compared those individuals to an additional 1,000 adults aged 18+ representative of the non-urban population. The samples were monitored to ensure the proper balance by race/ethnicity and gender, and all other standard demographic profiling information was also obtained.

Data from urban respondents were sampled from respondents who live in zip codes within the city limits of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio, Dallas, San Jose, Detroit, San Francisco, Memphis, Baltimore, Seattle, Boston, Denver, Washington D.C., Cleveland, Atlanta, Miami, and Minneapolis.