Average Joe
Both articles agreed that the average American is a white Christian female, who is part of a couple, and is politically independent.
It would nonetheless be inaccurate to state that the average American lives in a childless couple arrangement as 71.3% do not.
[3] Today, statistics by the United States Department of Commerce provide information regarding the societal attributes of those who may be referred to as being "average".
[6] "Average Joes" are common fodder for characters in television or movies, comics, novels, or radio dramas.
[7] In real life, as chronicled in his bestseller The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen, Kevin O'Keefe successfully completed a nationwide search for the person who was the most statistically average in the United States during a multi-year span starting in 2000.
As the United States is a highly diverse nation, it should not be surprising that there is no single prevalent household arrangement.
[3][6] Married couples without children are currently the plurality constituting 28.7% of households, compared to 24.1% for nuclear families.
Recent trends have shown the numbers of nuclear families as well as childless married couples decrease.
For people on the bottom and the top of the wage scale the phrase connotes a certain Regular Joe cachet.
But this eagerness to be part of the group has led the definition to be stretched like a bungee cord.Occupational autonomy is a key factor in regards to class positions.
Thus the majority of Americans complete assigned tasks with considerably less autonomy and creative freedom than professionals, leading to theory that they may better be described as being members of the working class.
[6] The plurality of Americans (41%) today are white-collar salaried employees who work in varied environments, including offices and at home.
The average American does not have a bachelor's degree, and is most likely employed in the tertiary sector of the economy, encompassing both non-professional white-collar and pink-collar work.
Altogether the American economy and labor force have changed greatly since the middle of the 20th century, with most workers today no longer being employed in blue-collar occupations.
While 85% of American homes had 3 or fewer bedrooms, the median number of total rooms per housing units was 5.3 in 2005.
[29] These statistics suggest that the average Americans reside in their own home, and pay roughly $1,000 per month in mortgage payments for a three or fewer bedroom house with no more than one occupant per room.
[29] US Census Bureau data from 2002 identified housing characteristics for owner-occupied units inhabited by households with average incomes, ranging from $40,000 to $60,000.
Thus it is likely that many average Americans reside in 1,700-square-foot (160 m2) homes, priced slightly above $100,000 with two or more bathrooms that were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
