Ad Age Marketfinder - powered by American Demographics

About MarketFinder

Welcome to MarketFinder

MarketFinder enables you to quickly cross-reference consumer, demographic and geographic data. The numbers are coupled with Ad Age insights on what it means and how to put it to use to target the consumers who will fuel your sales growth. There's no steep learning curve, get the data you need fast.

How do I use MarketFinder?

Please watch our tutorial video.

Where does the data come from?

The household and demographic data are from the U.S. Census Bureau, specifically the most-recent American Community Survey. The Consumer spending data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' most-recent Consumer Expenditure Survey.

How often is the data updated?

Both data sets are updated in the fall.

Why aren't you using 2010 Census data?

The 2010 Census only asked 10 questions about race, ethnicity, age, etc. Much of the detail in MarketFinder comes from the annual updates to the Census, the American Community Survey, which also asks the important income-related questions. Beginning with the 2010 ACS the population figures are adjusted to reflect the findings of the 2010 Census.

What is an "index?"

The index values you see in MarketFinder show concentrations of specific populations. The U.S. average is set at 100 and the value for a specific metro area or state are shown in relation to that. So an index of 200 is twice the U.S. average, and index of 50 is half the U.S. average, etc.

Can I export the data?

Yes, the data can be exported in Excel, and the charts can be exported as PDFs, JPGs, or a scalable SVG vector file.

Can I use the charts in my presentations?

Yes, as a MarketFinder subscriber you are licensed to use the charts.

How are the related stories chosen?

For the most part, the links you see beside the search results are hand-curated stories selected from the Advertising Age and AdAge.com archives.

How can I determine the market potential for my product?

The Consumer Spending data represent average annual household spending. If you multiply that by the number of households (referred to as Consumer Units) listed at the top of the results page, you will get an estimate of the total spent by that demographic in the U.S. for that product category.

What happens if I select multiple ranges in the Consumer Spending searches?

The spending totals are summed to give you a total for however many ranges you have selected.

Why can't I cross-reference my searches in Consumer Spending the way I can in the Household Consumer searches?

Unfortunately, the data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics can't be cross-referenced, nor broken down geographically.

When I select some boxes, other boxes become grayed out? Why is that?

In some cases, we are not able to cross reference the data – for instance you can't search by both Age and Race/Ethnicity – because the Census either doesn't provide that cross tabulation, or the margin of error is so high we are not comfortable offering it.