Suburban Gentry
Well-off middle-aged suburban families
The Suburban Gentry segment is a magnet for Canada's up-and-coming business class: a prosperous suburban world of dual-income couples who have university degrees and large families, typically with teenaged children. Given its high percentage of managers and self-employed professionals, there's a decided business bent to this cluster. Suburban Gentry residents rank near the top for owning laptop computers and fax machines as well as for taking business trips and reading newspaper business sections. These consumers are big spenders who like to golf, go out to eat and drive luxury SUVs. Fitness conscious, they're much more likely than average Canadians to engage in walking, own a home gym and declare, "regular exercise is an important part of my life."
Upscale $111,254
Middle-Aged
Ethnic Presence: Low
Suburban Gentry represents Canada's version of suburban wealth. Residents have turned their sprawling new homes, into gadget-filled castles, complete with VCR/DVDs, cordless phones, wireless computers and video game systems. With its large families- -40 percent have at least two kids- -you'd expect to see this cluster score high for outdoor sports activities. While they golf, sail and ski, many of these households seem to prefer exercising their minds indoors, reading a lot of financial magazines, watching news and educational channels and spending a healthy amount of time online to browse books, check out vacation spots and track investments. To reward themselves for their hard work, they're three times as likely as the general population to buy an expensive car to complement their vehicle-centric lives.
How they think
Suburban Gentry residents have been successful at responding to changes in the marketplace, as their affluence and business success suggest. They express strong Adaptability to Complexity in Life and Need for Personal Achievement. But their inner lives are not so flexible: they are strong on Aimlessness and Anomie, they are the second strongest cluster on the fearful and exclusionary trend Ethnic Intolerance, and they depend on their Religiosity to impose a framework of order on a chaotic world. It is no accident that these Canadians live in the suburbs. Certainly the lower cost of living appeals to their Utilitarian Consumerism and belief in Saving on Principle but they are also more likely to live in homogenous communities in the suburbs, where they feel safer and more at home. As they continue their Search for Roots and strive for Community Involvement, members of Suburban Gentry will try to make their mental and social lives as pleasing to them as their bodies and their bankbooks.
Attitudes
"I like activities which push my mental and physical limits"
"Women are not fairly represented in business and politics"
"Exercise is an important part of my life"
"The future looks good for young people"
"I try to keep abreast of changes in fashion"