We use Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM lifestyle segmentation profiles to evaluate best places for relocation to more authentic, quality-of-life communities.
And, if your community already includes the following profiles, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on in your neighbors’ lives.
2011 Statistics:
US Households: 11,533,179
Median Household Income : $43,123
Joining Rural Cowboy (HCERC), Resort Suburbans (WRRS) round out the remaining three segments in Middle America filled with middle-class homeowners living in small towns and remote exurbs.
“Typically found in scenic settings throughout the nation’s heartland, Middle Americans tend to be white, high school educated, living as couples or larger families, and ranging in age from under 25 to over 65.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Like many residents of remote communities, these conservative consumers tend to prefer traditional rural pursuits: fishing, hunting, making crafts, antique collecting, watching television and meeting at civic and veterans clubs for recreation and companionship.
Friday nights are for celebrating high school sports.”
Where will you find those three lifestyles?
Google Maps: Healdsburg, CA
We’ve identified two former exurban towns morphing into bedroom suburbs in California and one in Arizona:
Prescott. AZ
Healdsburg, CA
Idyllwild, CA
Which of the following lifestyles best describes you?
Resort Suburban (WRRS): “The residents in Red, White & Blues neighborhoods typically live in exurban towns rapidly morphing into bedroom suburbs.
Starbuck’s Signal Upscale Growth
Their streets feature new fast-food restaurants, and locals have recently celebrated the arrival of chains like Wal-Mart, Radio Shack and Payless Shoes.
Resort Suburbans (WRRS): “With more than two-thirds of its residents over 65 years old, Simple Pleasures is mostly a retirement lifestyle: a neighborhood of lower-middle-class singles and couples living in modestly priced homes.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Many are high school-educated seniors who held blue-collar jobs before their retirement.
And a disproportionate number served in the military; no segment has more members of veterans clubs.
Resort Suburbans (WRRS): “America was once a land of small middleclass towns, which can still be found today among Heartlanders.
Photo: Visual Hunt
This widespread segment consists of middle-aged couples with working-class jobs living in sturdy, unpretentious homes.
In these communities of small families and empty-nesting couples, Heartlanders pursue a rustic lifestyle where hunting and fishing remain prime leisure activities along with cooking, sewing, camping and boating.
Lifestyle & Media Traits
Shopped at Kmart
Sewed clothing from patterns
Read Family Handyman
Watched CBS Early Show
Drove a GMC Sierra Flex Fuel”
Will you find a 100% fit?
No.
These lifestyle descriptions are intended to paint a picture of a new neighborhood you’d enjoy, because you share some of the same traits with current residents.
26) If you know the zip code you can discover the lifestyles living in the community. You can compare your profile with theirs to estimate your degree of fit.
27) Estimate how well suited you are for the resorts. Refer to “Profiles-at-a-Glance” comparing 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 for changes in Life Stages – Singles, Couples, Families, Midlife, Empty Nests, Baby Boomers and Seniors; Ages – 20-29, 25-54, 30-44, 45+ 45-65, 55+ and 65+; and mix of Lifestyles in neighborhoods. Does the resort still offer the age, life stage and lifestyle profiles you prefer?
Filled with young, single adults, New Beginnings is a magnet for adults in transition.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Many of the residents are twentysomething singles and couples just starting out on their career paths who live in communities attractive to older neighbors who may be starting over after recent divorces or job losses.
With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variations in your new neighborhood by:
According to Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM, “The four segments in the Inner Suburbs social group are concentrated in the inner-ring suburbs of major metros—areas where residents tend to be high school educated, unmarried and lower-middle class.
Watching the People’s Court. Photo: Visual Hunt
One of the least affluent social groups, U3 has a high concentration of Hispanics and African-Americans, and surveys indicate a fondness for both ethnic and mainstream media and products.
Among the group’s preferences: TV news and daytime programming, Spanish and black radio, telephony services and pagers, cheap fast food and high-end department stores.”
Google Maps: Boulder, CO
Where in the West will you find those three lifestyles?
We’ve identified households in Arizona, California and Colorado:
Surprise, AZ
Santa Cruz, CA
Boulder, CO
Which of the following lifestyles best describes you?
“Filled with young, single adults, New Beginnings is a magnet for adults in transition.
Start Over (PTSO) : “Many of the residents are twentysomething singles and couples just starting out on their career paths who live in communities attractive to older neighbors who may be starting over after recent divorces or job losses.
Ethnically diverse-with nearly half its residents Hispanic, Asian or African-American-New Beginnings households tend to have the modest living standards typical of transient apartment dwellers.”
2011 Statistics:
US Households: 1,837,994 (1.57%)
Median Household Income: $31,226
Here are some examples from Claritas Lifestyle & Media Traits. They:
Start Overs (PTSO): “Suburban Pioneers represents one of the nation’s eclectic lifestyles, a mix of young singles, recently divorced and single parents who have moved into older, inner-ring suburbs.
They live in aging homes and garden-style apartment buildings, where the jobs are blue-collar and the money is tight.
But what unites these residents-a diverse mix of whites, Hispanics and African-Americans is a working-class sensibility and an appreciation for their off-the-beaten track neighborhoods.
Lifestyle & Media Traits:
Shopped at Lane Bryant
Bought mail order toys
Read OK! Magazine
Watched Sabado Gigante
Drove Dodge Charger”
46M3S4, Old Glories, 55+, Cautious Couples, Suburbs, Inner Suburbs, PTSO Start Overs, Permanent Temporaries (none in Knowledge Bank)
2011 Statistics:
US Households: 1,155,944 (0.99%)
Median Household Income: $31,162
Start Overs (PTSO): “Old Glories are the nation’s downscale suburban retirees, Americans aging in place in older apartment complexes.
These racially mixed households often contain widows and widowers living on fixed incomes, and they tend to lead home-centered lifestyles.
Photo: Visual Hunt
They’re among the nation’s most ardent television fans, watching game shows, soaps, talk shows and newsmagazines at high rates.
Start Overs (PTSO): “They may be older, lower-middle class and retired, but the residents of American Classics are still living the American Dream of home ownership.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Few segments rank higher in their percentage of home owners, and that fact alone reflects a more comfortable lifestyle for these predominantly white singles and couples with deep ties.
Lifestyle & Media Traits:
Ordered from Reader’s Digest
Gambled in Atlantic City, NJ
Read American Woodworker
Watched The Dr. Phil Show
Drove a Chevrolet Monte Carlo”
Will you find a 100% fit?
No.
These lifestyle descriptions are intended to paint a picture of a new neighborhood you’d enjoy, because you share some of the same traits with current residents.
8) Sit down with your spouse, partner or friends and write-up your bucket list of places.
20) Pivot. Maybe the lists of best places don’t appeal to you. Where can you go to make a fresh, new start? Don’t limit your imagination. Think anywhere — across the globe. Where do you really, really want to live, work and play? Why not live where it’s a vacation all year round?
21) Spend the time to find the best place to live and invest. It will be worth your while. The great thing about living where others spend their vacation is the year round quality-of-life.
26) If you know the zip code you can discover the lifestyles living in the community. You can compare your profile with theirs to estimate your degree of fit.
27) Estimate how well suited you are for the resorts. Refer to “Profiles-at-a-Glance” comparing 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 for changes in Life Stages – Singles, Couples, Families, Midlife, Empty Nests, Baby Boomers and Seniors; Ages – 20-29, 25-54, 30-44, 45+ 45-65, 55+ and 65+; and mix of Lifestyles in neighborhoods. Does the resort still offer the age, life stage and lifestyle profiles you prefer?
Having recently left college dorms, they now live in apartment complexes surrounded by ball fields, health clubs, and casual-dining restaurants.
Photo: Visual Hunt
The steady rise of older, healthier Americans over the past decade has produced one important by-product: middle-class, home-owning suburbanites who are aging in place rather than moving to retirement communities.
With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variations in your new neighborhood by:
We use Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM lifestyle segmentation profiles to evaluate best places for relocation to more authentic, quality-of-life communities.
And, if your community already includes the following profiles, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on in your neighbors’ lives.
“These five segments that comprise Middleburbs share a middle-class, suburban perspective, but there the similarity ends.
2011 Statistics:
US Households: 7,192,186
Median Household Income : $50,281
“Two groups are filled with very young residents, two are filled with seniors and one is middle-aged.
Photo: Visual Hunt
In addition, S3 includes a mix of both, homeowners and renters as well as high school graduates and college alums.
With good jobs and money in their jeans, the members of Middleburbs tend to have plenty of discretionary income to visit nightclubs and casual-dining restaurants, shop at midscale department stores, buy dance and easy listening CDs by the dozen and travel across the U.S. and Canada”
Southwest United States – Wikitravel
Where in the West will you find those three lifestyles?
We’ve identified one in Arizona, two in California and one in Colorado:
Tempe, AZ
Santa Cruz, CA
Laguna Hills, CA
Lakewood, CO
Which of the following lifestyles best describes you?
Interim Middle Managers (PTIMM): “Once known as the home of the nation’s yuppies, Young Influentials reflects the fading glow of acquisitive yuppiedom.
Today, the segment is a common address for younger, middle-class singles and couples who are more preoccupied with balancing work and leisure pursuits.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Having recently left college dorms, they now live in apartment complexes surrounded by ball fields, health clubs, and casual-dining restaurants.
Interim Middle Managers (PTIMM): Blue-Chip Blues is known as a comfortable lifestyle for young, sprawling families with well-paying blue-collar jobs.
Ethnically diverse-with a significant presence of Hispanics and African-Americans-the segment’s aging neighborhoods feature compact, modestly priced homes surrounded by commercial centers that cater to child-filled households
Interim Middle Managers (PTIMM): “Suburban Sprawl is an unusual American lifestyle: a collection of midscale, middle-aged singles and couples living in the heart of suburbia.
Typically members of the Baby Boom generation, they hold decent jobs, own older homes and condos, and pursue cocooning versions of the American Dream.
Among their favorite activities are jogging on treadmills, playing trivia games and renting videos.
Interim Middle Managers (PTIMM): “The steady rise of older, healthier Americans over the past decade has produced one important by-product: middle-class, home-owning suburbanites who are aging in place rather than moving to retirement communities.
Photo: Visual Pursuit
Gray Power reflects this trend, a segment of older, midscale singles and couples who live in quiet comfort.
Interim Middle Managers (PTIMM): “Domestic Duos represents a middle-class mix of mainly over 55 singles and married couples living in older suburban homes.
Photo: Visual Hunt
With their high-school educations and fixed incomes, segment residents maintain an easy-going lifestyle.
Residents like to socialize by going bowling, seeing a play, meeting at the local fraternal order or going out to eat
Lifestyle & Media Traits:
Shopped at Kohl’s
Cruised on Norwegian
Read Smithsonian
Watched Live from Lincoln Center
Drove a Chevrolet Impala”
Will you find a 100% fit?
No.
These lifestyle descriptions are intended to paint a picture of a new neighborhood you’d enjoy, because you share some of the same traits with current residents.
8) Sit down with your spouse, partner or friends and write-up your bucket list of places.
20) Pivot. Maybe the lists of best places don’t appeal to you. Where can you go to make a fresh, new start? Don’t limit your imagination. Think anywhere — across the globe. Where do you really, really want to live, work and play? Why not live where it’s a vacation all year round?
21) Spend the time to find the best place to live and invest. It will be worth your while. The great thing about living where others spend their vacation is the year round quality-of-life.
26) If you know the zip code you can discover the lifestyles living in the community. You can compare your profile with theirs to estimate your degree of fit.
27) Estimate how well suited you are for the resorts. Refer to “Profiles-at-a-Glance” comparing 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 for changes in Life Stages – Singles, Couples, Families, Midlife, Empty Nests, Baby Boomers and Seniors; Ages – 20-29, 25-54, 30-44, 45+ 45-65, 55+ and 65+; and mix of Lifestyles in neighborhoods. Does the resort still offer the age, life stage and lifestyle profiles you prefer?
Let’s review the upscale metropolitan Wealthy Influential lifestyle and then turn to four more found in the surrounding suburban area.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Blue Blood Estates is a family portrait of suburban wealth, a place of million-dollar homes and manicured lawns, high-end cars and exclusive private clubs.
With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variations in your new neighborhood by:
But to zero in on the best place for you you’ll have to visit and schedule time to explore potential new homes in a region.
Oh, darn!
Lifestyles Segments: Urban to Rustic Density
Urban and Suburban Populations
Urban
Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM defines Urban areas (U) as having population density scores between 85 and 99.
Photo: Visual Hunt
“They include both the downtowns of major cities and surrounding neighborhoods.
These areas often extend beyond the city limits and into surrounding jurisdictions.”
Should you include these Birds-of-a Feather (BOF) residential lifestyles on your Bucket List?
Let’s review the upscale metropolitan Wealthy Influential lifestyle and then turn to four more found in the surrounding suburban area.
Wealthy Influential, Affluently Elite (WIAE) – 45+ year old Empty-Nest Couples
We use Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM lifestyle segmentation profiles to evaluate best places for relocation to more authentic, quality-of-life communities.
And, if your community already includes the following profiles, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on in your neighbors’ lives.
Urban Uptown segments are home to the nation’s wealthiest urban consumers.
2011 Statistics:
US Households: 9,480,843
Median Household Income : $65,583
“Members of this social group tend to be affluent to middle class, college educated and ethnically diverse, with above average concentrations of Asian and Hispanic Americans.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Although this group is diverse in terms of housing styles and family sizes, residents share an upscale urban perspective that’s reflected in their marketplace choices.
Urban Uptown consumers tend to frequent the arts, shop at exclusive retailers, drive luxury imports, travel abroad and spend heavily on computer and wireless technology.”
Where will you find this lifestyle?
Google Maps
In California on the outskirts of Long Beach near Los Angeles County, but in Orange County:
Affluently Elite (WIAE): “The residents of Money & Brains seem to have it all: high incomes, advanced degrees, and sophisticated tastes to match their credentials.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Many of these city dwellers are married couples with few children who live in fashionable homes on small, manicured lots.
Lifestyle & Media Traits
Shop at Nordstrom
Contribute to NPR
Read Sunday newspaper
Watch Ebert & Roeper
Drive a Jaguar XJL”
Let’s now consider suburban populations.
Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM ranks suburbs as having a medium density, although they may in fact be surrounded by high density urban areas.
“Population density rises as you approach the city, and decreases as you move away from it.”
Photo: Visual Hunt
In 2011 roughly 23.4% of the population in the United States lived in the nation’s suburbs.
And Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM said:
“Suburbs have population density scores between 40 and 90, and are clearly dependent on urban areas or second cities.”
Should you include these Birds-of-a Feather (BOF) lifestyles on your Bucket List?
We use Claritas / Nielsen PRIZM lifestyle segmentation profiles to evaluate best places for relocation to more authentic, quality-of-life communities.
And, if your community already includes the following profiles, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on in your neighbors’ lives.
2011 Statistics:
US Households: 6,061,268
Median Household Income : $109,636
“The most affluent suburban social group,Elite Suburbs is a world of six-figure incomes, post-graduate degrees, single-family homes and managerial and professional occupations
The segments here are predominantly white with significant concentrations of well-off Asian Americans.
Photo: Visual Hunt
Befitting their lofty salaries, they are big consumers of large homes, expensive clothes, luxury cars and foreign travel.
Despite representing a small portion of the U.S. population, they hold a large share of the nation’s personal net worth.”
Where will you find those four lifestyles?
Google Maps
You’ll find communities in Arizona, California, Oregon and Utah.
Scottsdale, AZ
Half Moon Bay, CA
West Linn, OR
Alta, UT
Which of the following lifestyles best describes you?
Affluently Elite (WIAE): “Movers & Shakers is home to America’s up-and-coming business class: a wealthy suburban world of dual-income couples who are highly educated, typically between the ages of 35 and 54 and often with children.
Given its high percentage of executives and white-collar professionals, there’s a decided business bent to this segment:
Movers & Shakers rank number one for owning a small business and having a home office.
Affluently Elite (WIAE): “The nation’s most exclusive address, Upper Crust is the wealthiest lifestyle in America a haven for empty-nesting couples over 55 years old.
Photo: Visual Hunt
No segment has a higher concentration of residents earning over $100,000 (now $200,000) a year or possessing a postgraduate degree. And none has a more opulent standard of living.
Lifestyle & Media Traits:
Shopped at Saks Fifth Ave.
Belonged to a country club
Read Conde Nast Traveler
Watched Golf Channel
Drove a Mercedes SL Class”
02F1S1, Blue Blood Estates, 45+ Families, Elite Suburbs, Affluently Elite – WIAE, Wealthy Influentials (West Linn, OR)
2011 Statistics:
US Households: 1,129,199 (0.97%)
Median Household Income: $119,314
Affluently Elite (WIAE): “Blue Blood Estates is a family portrait of suburban wealth, a place of million-dollar homes and manicured lawns, high-end cars and exclusive private clubs.
Photo: Visual Hunt
The nation’s second-wealthiest lifestyle, it is characterized by married couples with children, college degrees, a significant percentage of Asian Americans and six figure incomes earned by business executives, managers and professionals.
Affluently Elite (WIAE): “Among the wealthy suburban lifestyles, Winner’s Circle is the youngest, a collection of mostly 25- to 34-year-old couples with large families in new-money subdivisions.
Surrounding their homes are the signs of upscale living: recreational parks, golf courses and upscale malls.
Photo: Visual Hunt
With a median income of nearly $90,000, Winner’s Circle residents are big spenders who like to travel, ski, go out to eat, shop at clothing boutiques and take in a show.
Lifestyle & Media Traits:
Shop at Neiman Marcus
Go jogging
Read Wall Street Journal
Watch Wimbledon Tennis
Mercedes GL Class”
Will you find a 100% fit?
No.
These lifestyle descriptions are intended to paint a picture of a new neighborhood you’d enjoy, because you share some of the same traits with current residents.
8) Sit down with your spouse, partner or friends and write up your bucket list of places.
20) Pivot. Maybe the lists of best places don’t appeal to you. Where can you go to make a fresh, new start? Don’t limit your imagination. Think anywhere — across the globe. Where do you really, really want to live, work and play? Why not live where it’s a vacation all year round?
21) Spend the time to find the best place to live and invest. It will be worth your while. The great thing about living where others spend their vacation is the year round quality-of-life.
26) If you know the zip code you can discover the lifestyles living in the community. You can compare your profile with theirs to estimate your degree of fit.
27) Estimate how well suited you are for the resorts. Refer to “Profiles-at-a-Glance” comparing 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 for changes in Life Stages – Singles, Couples, Families, Midlife, Empty Nests, Baby Boomers and Seniors; Ages – 20-29, 25-54, 30-44, 45+ 45-65, 55+ and 65+; and mix of Lifestyles in neighborhoods. Does the resort still offer the age, life stage and lifestyle profiles you prefer?
