It’s no secret that the share of the American population identifying itself as Hispanic or Latino is growing.

The latest evidence of this is a report just released by Experian Marketing Services. It shows that ~16% of Americans age 6 and older fall into this category.

That’s an increase of two percentage points in just six years.

But here’s an even more eyebrow-raising statistic: Among Americans aged 6 to 34, nearly one in four are Hispanic or Latino.

What this means is that the geographic zones of the country usually associated with Hispanic population – California and the Southwest, Central and South Florida, Chicagoland, and New York City/Northern New Jersey – will surely expand to encompass other geographic clusters as well.

Experian’s research also shows that Hispanic households account for approximately 10% of all discretionary spending in the U.S.

But in select metropolitan areas, the share of spending by Hispanic households is greater — sometimes substantially so:

• San Antonio Metro Area: ~60% Hispanic share of all HH discretionary spending
• Miami: ~37%
• Los Angeles: ~33%
• Houston: ~17%
• San Francisco: ~14%
• Chicago: ~12%
• New York: ~12%
• Dallas: ~11%

While the country now has many second- and third-generation Hispanic individuals and families, the Experian research finds that even with these consumers, emotional ties to the Spanish language carry over to companies that advertise their brands in Spanish.

Not surprisingly, more than half of Spanish-dominant Hispanics agreed that when they hear a company advertise in Spanish, “it makes me feel like they respect my heritage and want my business.”

But among English-dominant Hispanics, ~30% feel the same way as well. And similar percentages feel a much greater sense of loyalty to such companies.

There’s another interesting takeaway from the Experian research, too. Hispanic consumers tend to be more optimistic about their personal financial situation – and that of America as a whole – than their non-Hispanic counterparts.

This sense of greater optimism has been a common thread among all Experian surveys of this type, where the research has shown a persistent positive margin with Hispanics of about five index points over the rest of the survey sample.

That level of optimism is refreshing to see!