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Consumer Demographics and Market Research

This guide covers topics related to finding sociodemographic data and how to use these statistics for market research projects.

Books

Please note some of these books might be reference books; reference books are only available for use in the library. You can identify those by looking at the Copies tab in the record of each book – the Location section should say Sherman Library Reference and the Status section should say LIB USE ONLY.

Spending profiles

US Bureau of Labor Statistics

  • Consumer Expenditure Surveys - The CE surveys collect data that fall into one of the following major expenditure categories: Alcoholic beverages, Apparel and services, Cash contributions, Education, Entertainment, Food, Healthcare, Housing, Miscellaneous, Personal care products and services, Personal insurance and pensions, Reading, Tobacco products and smoking supplies, and Transportation.
  • Annual reports summarize major trends of the last year.

U.S. Census Bureau

  • Monthly Retail Trade covers Retail and Food Services Sales, Retail Inventories and Inventories/Sales Ratios, Retail E-Commerce Sales.

ZoomProspector

  • National site selection portal that uses more than 1,000 variables to help find the right community for businesses. Includes data on consumer expenditures. 

 

Consumer finances

The Federal Reserve