This research investigated how targeted marketing (TM) data could be used as a source for up-to-date demographic and socioeconomic information. TM data provide several advantages over data from the Bureau of the Census, including the ability to incorporate additional behavioral information through lifestyle variables and to conduct longitudinal studies at a low cost. This paper describes TM data and a comparison of an Atlanta, Georgia, sample with census data. The most recent household travel survey conducted by the Atlanta Regional Commission was compared with census data; both weighted and unweighted survey data were used. Results showed that the distributions of socio-demographic variables were similar, particularly for age, gender, household income, and the presence of children. The largest discrepancies between TM data and census data were associated with educational attainment and ethnicity; however, these discrepancies were comparable to those observed in the household travel survey.
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