Reader and Reader's Guide readers are an excellent audience for financial institutions and real estate companies as they are well-off and well-educated, and fairly early in their adult lives.

The Reader's Housing for Rent section has been the marketplace for Chicago-area rental advertising for more than 30 years; each week, the section carries approximately 4,000 current listings. The Housing for Sale section has expanded as young Chicagoans increasingly buy rather than rent. The Housing sections appear online as SpaceFinder, an incredibly popular searchable database that receives more than half a million page views per month.

• 46% of Reader and Reader's Guide readers own their own homes. 54% rent.
• 31% plan to move in the next 12 months. Of these, one third plan to rent an apartment in the Chicago area and one third plan to buy in the Chicago area. The others are leaving Chicago or are not yet sure what they're going to do.
• Median household income is $57,000, compared to $49,000 for the population as a whole. 34% make $75,000 or more. 21% make $100,000 or more.
• 37% of those who used the internet in the past 30 days have banked online. 9% have traded stocks, bonds, or mutual funds (national figure 6%).
• 13.4% own 10% or more of a company or business.
• 74% are 18-49 years old. The median age is 40.
• An astonishing 93% have some college education (national figure 51%). 71% graduated (national figure 24%).
• 47% of Reader and Reader's Guide readers don't read the Sunday Tribune regularly.
• 60% don't read the daily Tribune and 69% don't read the daily Sun Times.

Most importantly, 65% of readers bought products or services in the last 3 months because they saw them advertised in the Reader or The Reader's Guide. They did so an average of 5 times in those 3 months.

Source: Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI) custom study, July 2003. National figures are from the spring 2002 Mediamark Survey of American Consumers.

Return to Who Reads the Reader | Other Audience Profiles

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