Household Numbers

[imoldernu]

It's natural to compare one's self to others. Here on ER, a wide range of assets, income, and ages, but for the most part, not "average"... Since we're likely to spend our lives among "average" people, knowing what this means can help understand some the economics of our country.

It is interesting to compare numbers for middle America households.
Your numbers may vary, as sources have different ways of making comparisons. Some of these numbers were extrapolated.
Note: median equals half above, half below.... average is... average. Difference more important whan $$$ are being measured.

First...
Average household 2.5 persons
Median family income $52,000 (1/2 above, 1/2 below)
Median new home price $282,000
Average age of head of household 51 years
Average savings for middle income age 44 to 54.. $101,000
The average middle income family has one wage earner.
These numbers would include inheritances.
...................................................................................................
The average family's share of America's total assets is $900,000.
The average family's share of the national debt is $759,000
The average family personal debt is $131,000
The average family credit card debt is $597
.............................................................................................

321 million Americans
118 million taxpayers
148 million in workforce
17 million unemployed
117 million private sector jobs
28 million government employees
9 million self employed
2.3 million felons
11 million disabled
48 million retirees
44 million living in poverty
73 million medicaid recipients
46 million food stamp recipients
50 million public school students
21 million veterans
1.4 million in armed forces

Numbers yours to correct or question. Just an attempt to put it in perpective.

 

[Meadbh]

Number of persons in a household cannot be 2.5 as this is an ordinal number.

 

[timo2]

Number of persons in a household cannot be 2.5 as this is an ordinal number.

Maybe the .5 is the recent graduate in the basement?

 

[MichaelB]

Number of persons in a household cannot be 2.5 as this is an ordinal number.

I'm not so sure. There were times when I wondered if my kids were all there or not.

 

[bingybear]

Number of persons in a household cannot be 2.5 as this is an ordinal number.

The average can be 2.5 by the definition of average... but not median.

ave = sum of observations/number of observations.
each observation must in ordinal, number of observation is ordinal. The division of the two is not required to be ordinal.

The median is where half the observations are greater and half are less does have to be ordinal because it has to be an observation. It is not a mathematical calculation, but an selection if the middle observation after sorting.

Often the two are close, but this is not required.

 

[Richard4444]

Looking at the stats, I am both above and below average.

 

[bingybear]

It's natural to compare one's self to others. Here on ER, a wide range of assets, income, and ages, but for the most part, not "average"... Since we're likely to spend our lives among "average" people, knowing what this means can help understand some the economics of our country.

It is interesting to compare numbers for middle America households.
Your numbers may vary, as sources have different ways of making comparisons. Some of these numbers were extrapolated.
Note: median equals half above, half below.... average is... average. Difference more important whan $$$ are being measured.

First...
Average household 2.5 persons
Median family income $52,000 (1/2 above, 1/2 below)
Median new home price $282,000
Average age of head of household 51 years
Average savings for middle income age 44 to 54.. $101,000
The average middle income family has one wage earner.
These numbers would include inheritances.
...................................................................................................
The average family's share of America's total assets is $900,000.
The average family's share of the national debt is $759,000
The average family personal debt is $131,000
The average family credit card debt is $597
.............................................................................................

321 million Americans
118 million taxpayers
148 million in workforce
17 million unemployed
117 million private sector jobs
28 million government employees
9 million self employed
2.3 million felons
11 million disabled
48 million retirees
44 million living in poverty
73 million medicaid recipients
46 million food stamp recipients
50 million public school students
21 million veterans
1.4 million in armed forces

Numbers yours to correct or question. Just an attempt to put it in perpective.

I think it would be interesting to see the average and median of a few of the items above (not sure all would be defined). But... for the above bolded.

One number can be misleading. I don't really want to compare our situation to average or median. I'd be more interested in the why of the matter.... not that I think everyone should be the same. Just the questioning nature of this engineer.

 

[ERD50]

I'm not so sure. There were times when I wondered if my kids were all there or not.

And now they are starting to wonder about us!

I think it would be interesting to see the average and median of a few of the items above (not sure all would be defined). But... for the above bolded.

One number can be misleading. I don't really want to compare our situation to average or median. I'd be more interested in the why of the matter.... not that I think everyone should be the same. Just the questioning nature of this engineer.

I was thinking that also - seeing both mean and median would be interesting.

-ERD50

 

[scrabbler1]

The average can be 2.5 by the definition of average... but not median.

ave = sum of observations/number of observations.
each observation must in ordinal, number of observation is ordinal. The division of the two is not required to be ordinal.

The median is where half the observations are greater and half are less does have to be ordinal because it has to be an observation. It is not a mathematical calculation, but an selection if the middle observation after sorting.

Often the two are close, but this is not required.

Although unlikely in such a large sample size, it is possible for the median of household size to not be a whole number. Let's suppose you have 10 (an even number) households, 5 with 3 people and 5 more with 2 people. The median would be the average of the 5th and 6th household sizes, or 2.5 which is the average of 2 and 3.

 

[Fermion]

I think you undervalue the assets of the USA.

50 million or so families x 900,000 = $45 trillion

Our military assets and nuclear arsenal are probably worth that alone.

 

[imoldernu]

I think you undervalue the assets of the USA.

50 million or so families x 900,000 = $45 trillion

Our military assets and nuclear arsenal are probably worth that alone.

From here:

 

[Fermion]

Oh...just financial assets. Just Alaska alone is worth 45 trillion or so in resource value.