The Buying Power of Men

According to market research firm Packaged Facts, the purchasing power of men totals $5.4 trillion. Packaged Facts forecasts major growth, to $6.7 trillion in 2009, or 24.6 percent.

While the non-Hispanic white population still tops the charts at $4.2 trillion, the growing multicultural male market tops $1.1 trillion. Other segments include gay men ($337 billion), married men ($4 trillion) and single men ($1.4 trillion).

There are a lot of men in the last category: 37 million men are currently single, counting never-marrieds, divorced and widowed men. The largest segment of the single men market consists of men 25-to-44 who have never married. They have an aggregate income of around $391 billion. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 3.6 million male consumers living alone who have an annual income of $40,000 or more. Their after-tax income averages approximately $69,000, and they spend an average of nearly $46,000 annually.

Men in the 25-to-49-year-old age group were responsible for 55.8 percent of total buying power in the men's market. Gen-X men accounted for the largest single segment, controlling aggregate buying power of more than $1.5 trillion. However the importance of older demographics is growing fast: Between 2004 and 2009, Packaged Facts expects the buying power of 60-to-74-year-olds to increase by $552 billion, or 76.7 percent.