We focus on four primary demographic metrics: age, family type, income, and education level.

Primary socio-demographic factors

Age

Our predictive anthropology technology focuses on commercially active consumers, aged 18-74, who represent:

• The core consumer decision-makers
• The most financially independent groups
• The largest market-relevant population

While older consumers engage in digital conversations, their influence on emerging trends and purchasing decisions is lower than younger demographics, making them less central to market strategy development.

Family Type

Family type determines the kind of living arrangements dominant in the consumer conversation, which helps think through both lifestyle implications and total household disposable income.

• Single – Lives alone
• Couples – Cohabiting, with or without children
• Other – Multigenerational households, shared housing

Household structure significantly influences purchasing behavior.

• Families with children often prioritize value and convenience, as they are making purchasing decisions for multiple people.
• Single-person households may focus more on premiumization and personalization, as they have fewer constraints on individual spending choices.

Understanding these differences helps businesses develop marketing messages and product offerings that align with household needs.

Income

Income in our digital Ethnographies refers to household income, not individual earnings. This distinction is crucial because spending decisions are often made at the household level, and household income provides a better predictor of purchasing power.

However, household income alone does not fully determine financial flexibility. Disposable income is also shaped by education, cost of living, and household size, meaning two households with the same income may have very different spending capacities.

Education Level

Education categories align with U.S. Census classifications:

• Low Education – High school diploma or below
• Technical Education – Associate degree, vocational training
• Educated – Bachelor’s degree
• Highly Educated – Master’s, Doctorate, or Professional degrees

Higher education levels often correlate with greater discretionary spending and influence how consumers engage with specific categories such as health, wellness, and sustainability.

Secondary demographic characteristics

Additionally, Lux models two secondary demographic characteristics: gender and ethnicity. In general, we do not recommend focusing on these ethnographic factors: they are less linked to purchasing behaviors and psychographics than the other factors. However, we can report on them by request.

Gender

The gender categories we report on are based on the 2022 U.S. Census’s Household Pulse Survey, based on respondents self-identification. In the original survey, gender was encoded as a combination of two factors: sex declared at birth and gender identity.

To consolidate this information, we have developed a three category system:

• Male: those whose sex was declared “male” at birth and today identify as “male”
• Female: those whose sex was declared “female” at birth and today identify as “female”
• Trans, nonconforming, and other: those who:
• declared “male” at birth and now identify as female, trans, or none of the above
• declared “female” at birth and now identify as male, trans, or none of the above

Ethnicity

The ethnicity categories we report are aligned with a region’s approach to ethnicity categories in their census. Usually, they are the result of self-identification.