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I Was Wrong about the Average American

2024-02-27 · list · John · 4:51 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society (also: Everyday life) · mode: Curiosity & trivia

John builds a portrait of the median US resident, 'Jessica' (38, married, $74,580 household income, living paycheck to paycheck, independent, pretty happy), then argues few people resemble her in so diverse and unequal a country, but the median still shows where the US has progressed (LGBTQ rights) and where it fails (financial security).

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The rabbit hole of the median American: age, sex, name, household, income, money troubles, home and commute

  • ★ John says he recently fell down a rabbit hole trying to learn what he could establish about the median resident of the United States. — 00:00:00 · United States
  • ★★ John says the median US age is 38.1, so the median person was born in 1986; since there are more women than men, she is female, and she is white. — 00:00:14 · United States
  • ★★ John names the median American Jessica, the most popular name in 1986, the year she was born. — 00:00:29 · United States
  • ★★ Jessica lives in a household of 2.51 people and is married: slightly more US adults are currently married than divorced, widowed or never married. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Jessica's household income last year (2023) was $74,580; about 15% went to taxes, another 15% to health care, and around a third to housing. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Jessica's finances are challenging: her household lives paycheck to paycheck, with about $4,700 in savings and under $10,000 in a retirement account. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Jessica lives in a suburb of a major metro area such as Dallas-Fort Worth or Sacramento, has a 27-minute commute to and from work, does not work from home, and lives within an hour of family in the area where she grew up. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Jessica's work, health insurance, education, religion, politics and views on social issues

  • ★★ Jessica most likely works in one of the two largest US employment sectors, public education or health care, and gets her health insurance through work. (hedged) — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John imagines Europeans puzzled that Jessica spends 15% of her income on health care despite having insurance, while Americans laugh while crying. (playful) — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Jessica has taken some college courses and may have an associate's degree, but has no bachelor's degree. (hedged) — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Jessica identifies as Christian, goes to church a few times a year rather than weekly, and believes in an afterlife. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Jessica is a registered independent who votes in some elections but not all. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Jessica identifies as straight and believes in marriage equality for LGBTQ people. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Jessica is pro-choice and favors the death penalty, though she believes it is currently unjustly used. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Jessica thinks gun ownership should be more restricted and has a very low opinion of politicians, especially Congress. — 00:01:56 · United States Congress
  • ★★ Jessica drank alcohol in the last year but not the last month, reads one to five books a year, and spends about 2 hours 25 minutes a day on social media. — 00:01:56 · social media

00:02:26 — Jessica's daily life: screen time, work hours, car, happiness, body, pets, coffee, sleep, exercise, sneezing

  • ★★ Jessica spends 30 to 60 minutes a day outside, so she spends more time on Instagram than outdoors. — 00:02:26 · Instagram
  • ★★ Jessica works 36.4 hours a week and spends 101 minutes a day in her car, most likely a pickup truck. (hedged) — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Jessica is very happy with family and work but less with health and income; overall, she would call herself pretty happy. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ Jessica is about five feet four inches tall and weighs about 155 pounds. — 00:02:55
  • ★ As of late 2023 Jessica had a positive opinion of Taylor Swift. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ Jessica has 1.46 pets, most likely dogs, with cats not far behind. (playful) — 00:02:55
  • ★★ Jessica eats out at least weekly and drinks coffee daily, possibly more coffee than tap water. (hedged) — 00:02:55

00:03:24 — Few people are like Jessica given US diversity and inequality, but the median shows progress and failure; sign-off

  • ★★ Jessica sleeps about six hours 48 minutes a night and wants to get the federally recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise but doesn't. — 00:03:24
  • ★ Joking that it is widely thought abnormal, John says Jessica does sneeze: Americans report a median of four sneezes a day. (playful) — 00:03:24
  • ★★★ John says imagining Jessica is interesting, but few if any people are much like her because the US is extraordinarily diverse. — 00:03:24 · United States
  • ★★★ John says the US has relatively high economic inequality, so people are more likely than elsewhere to be much richer or much poorer than Jessica. — 00:03:53 · economic inequality, United States
  • ★★★ John says the US is racially diverse and race is a huge factor in socioeconomic class and mobility. — 00:03:53 · United States
  • ★★★ John argues that understanding the median shows both where the US is failing and where it has made progress. — 00:03:53 · United States
  • ★★★ As progress, John notes that 20 years ago the median American did not believe in equal rights for LGBTQ people. — 00:03:53 · United States
  • ★★★ John says little progress has been made on the median American's personal or financial security, showing where systems need reform to include more people. — 00:04:22 · United States
  • ★★ John was surprised by much of this; like Jessica he drinks too much coffee, but he differs from her in other ways. — 00:04:22
  • ★ John asks how viewers see themselves in relation to Jessica and invites them to continue the conversation in comments. — 00:04:22

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description cites Pew and Gallup as sources for all the political, religious and identity data, plus articles on tax averages. — video description
  • ★★ In a comment John clarifies that $74,580 is the median, not the mean: half of US households earn more and half less. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John says Jessica's traits other than her name are medians for American adults, not for 38-year-old women. — creator comment · United States
  • ★★ In a comment John says overall US taxation is very similar to other OECD countries, so it cannot alone explain the health-care spending gap. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John agrees with surprise that Jessica supports the death penalty, saying she needs to make some progress there. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: median · United States

Also: People: Taylor Swift

Organizations: Instagram · United States Congress

Concepts: abortion · afterlife · capital punishment · Christianity · coffee · Commuting · economic inequality · employer-sponsored health insurance · gun control · health care prices in the United States · health insurance · LGBTQ rights · physical exercise · precarity · same-sex marriage · sneeze · social class · social media · social mobility

Places: Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex · Sacramento

Only in the description or credits: Gallup · OECD · Pew Research Center

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