# What is the "Average American"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375 "2019-03-19T17:36:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/1 "2019-03-19T17:36:17Z")
[In another thread it was asked](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=872622) “Are you privileged or opressed?”, and I asked “Compared to who?”. The response was “The average American”…but who and/or what _is_ “the average American”? Where is she/he politically, socially, economically, religiously, racially etc.? ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/2 "2019-03-19T18:19:46Z")
Well, if we just mine the data, and take the United States as a whole. The average American is: Female White Age 38 married (but divorced or remarried is gaining) 1 or 2 kids more likely to have a job than “just be a housewife” Earn approx $38,000/yr Live in a city be of German descent Protestant Democrat > **[Demographics of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_States)** > > The United States had an official estimated resident population of 333,287,557 on July 1, 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This figure includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia but excludes the population of five unincorporated U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands) as well as several minor island possessions. The United States is the third most populous country in the world. The Census Bureau sho The ... [http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/united-states-population/](http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/united-states-population/) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/3 "2019-03-19T18:23:30Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Well, if we just mine the data, and take the United States as a whole. The average American is: > > Female > White > Age 38 > married (but divorced or remarried is gaining) > 1 or 2 kids > more likely to have a job than “just be a housewife” > Earn approx $38,000/yr > Live in a city > be of German descent > Protestant > Democrat > [Demographics of the United States - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_States) > [United States Population 2024 (Live)](http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/united-states-population/) Yeah, I could have gone the “General Questions” route, but I would like to know what y’all are thinking of when you talk about “the average American”, so I put the question in this forum instead. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/4 "2019-03-19T18:31:49Z")
Well, since I am a white middle class male, whose lived most of my life in or near a large city; that statistical answer pretty well jibes with my experiences. mc ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/5 "2019-03-19T19:25:59Z")
200 pounds overweight with an unshakable attitude that they can do whatever they want, damn your rules. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/6 "2019-03-19T19:29:29Z")
Rounding to whole numbers, the average American has one testicle and one ovary. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/7 "2019-03-19T19:33:15Z")
more to the spirit of your question: An “average American” is really none of those things (the demographics listed above), to me. Even tho there are more women than men, it’s obvious that an average American can be a man. It’s just as obvious, to me, that a black or hispanic or any “race” can be an average American. Same, too, with urban vs rural, or employed vs unemployed, wealthy vs poor, etc. It may be a cop out, but to me an average American is not a specific person, but the idea of a person. To paraphrase; I may not be able to define an average American, but I know one when I see one. mc ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/8 "2019-03-19T20:00:01Z")
Pretty sure that the average American has below average intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/9 "2019-03-19T22:10:58Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > more to the spirit of your question: > An “average American” is really none of those things (the demographics listed above), to me. Even tho there are more women than men, it’s obvious that an average American can be a man. It’s just as obvious, to me, that a black or hispanic or any “race” can be an average American. Same, too, with urban vs rural, or employed vs unemployed, wealthy vs poor, etc. It may be a cop out, but to me an average American is not a specific person, but the idea of a person. To paraphrase; I may not be able to define an average American, but I know one when I see one. > > mc I like this answer more than your first one. Trying to pick the “averages” for things that are categorical like race, gender, or political affiliation seems silly. Maybe a better way to understand American demographics would be to represent the population with ten representative Americans: **Politically** : [Four of them approve of the job Trump is doing and five do not.](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html) Only four of them voted in the 2016 election. **Socially** : Two of them would be minors, two are elderly, and the rest span the gamut from Millenial to Baby Boomer. Five or six of the adults are married. **Economically** : One of our ten is living below the poverty line. One is extremely wealthy. The other eight could perhaps be fairly called “middle class”, and are doing rather well for themselves by world standards. **Religiously** : Five are protestant. Two are Catholic. Two are either atheist, agnostic, or not practicing a religion. There’s also a smattering of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and other religions. **Racially** : Perhaps six are white, one is black, and two are Hispanic. The last one could be Asian, Pacific-Islander, or Native American populations. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/10 "2019-03-19T22:38:55Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > The average American is: > > Female The average American has one ovary and one testicle. (If you’re going by the mean and not the mode.) ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/11 "2019-03-19T22:52:13Z")
The average American to me lives in a one-family dwelling, with their one family. They have a car. They have a job. They are reasonably comfortable, but if they lose their job they are about 3 months away from being in serious financial difficulties. If they have kids, at least one of them has gone/will go to college. They eat out at least once a week. They try to recycle, but aren’t very good at it. They have a better understanding of the world than they are generally being given credit for, perhaps because they are better travelled than is usually expected. They are generous, and, even now, generally optimistic. They are significantly more complex than ever successfully portrayed. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/12 "2019-03-19T23:14:27Z")
[raises hand] ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/13 "2019-03-20T00:00:53Z")
> [@Isosleepy](#): > > perhaps because they are better travelled than is usually expected. The average American (median or mode) doesn’t even have a passport, so this seems unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/14 "2019-03-20T01:57:35Z")
42% percent do right now. The percentage who have ever held one, then, must be somewhere north of that. Significantly better than the often and erroneously reported 10%. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/15 "2019-03-20T02:12:39Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Rounding to whole numbers, the average American has one testicle and one ovary. And no penis. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/16 "2019-03-20T03:46:17Z")
> [@Isosleepy](#): > > 42% percent do right now. The percentage who have ever held one, then, must be somewhere north of that. Significantly better than the often and erroneously reported 10%. It’s [gone up significantly in recent years](https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/01/11/the-share-of-americans-holding-a-passport-has-increased-dramatically-in-recent-years-infographic/#114d26e13c16). It \*was \*only 10% back in '94. This growth was largely driven by changes such that air travel to Mexico and Canada require one. So even among these 42%, most are probably still staying in North America. And passports last so long before expiring that there’s not much reason to believe the set of people who have ever held one is much higher than 42%. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-average-american/831375/17 "2019-03-20T04:42:28Z")
Not average but “standard” (those who are the mental default both to themselves and others), it would be white, male, anglophone (may know a bit of another language, but not to the point of being able to have a conversation; reacts negatively to people speaking in a different language in front of him) and protestant (episcopalian comes second but is still not quite the mental image; catholic is treated as an outlier despite being the largest religious affiliation in the country). For the average you’ll have to look at census figures but the problem with those is that they tend to come up with families having a decimal amount of children.