Current Financial State of the U.S. Latino Community

mitú, in partnership with premier multicultural marketing and communications agency The MRKT, released the second edition of the mitú InTell Series of studies focusing on the current financial state of the US Latino population. Some of the discoveries indicate that Latinos lead in certain aspects when compared to the general population, such as in the use of financial technology and in the early adoption of cryptocurrencies and NFTs but fall behind in other aspects including home ownership and in the use of banking products and services.

The study revealed that US Hispanics over-index in the use of technology to manage their finances:

• Nearly three in 10 US Hispanics (26%) invested in cryptocurrency or NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in the last year, significantly more than the two in 10 non-Hispanics (17%) who did so
• More US Hispanics than non-Hispanics use a budgeting app (30%) when compared to non-Hispanics (22%) to keep track of monthly expenses
• More US Hispanics (82%) access and manage their bank account via a mobile app compared to non-Hispanics (70%)

On the other hand, the study revealed that six in 10 US Hispanics used a check cashing service in the past 12 months and six in 10 within those had a bank account. Moreover, half of those with a bank account used a check cashing service at least once a month. That means an estimated $20 billion dollars were spent by US Hispanics on check cashing services last year, which is equivalent to the 29 million US Latinos1 in the workforce spending $703 individually. The average cost of each cash checking transaction can range from 1% to 12% of the check2.

On the front of homeownership, it was found that far fewer US Hispanics (46%) own their own home compared to non-Hispanic whites (73%), and slightly more than non-Hispanic Blacks (42%). Though the research found that significantly more Gen Z US Hispanics currently own their own home (25%) compared to non-Hispanic members of Gen Z (17%).

Lastly, two in 10 non-Hispanics (17%) learned how to manage their personal finances from a financial advisor while nearly six in 10 (55%) learned from their parents and more than half (54%) taught themselves.