page_title: Average Joe
section_title: Homeownership
hierarchical_section_title: Average Joe / Homeownership
caption_attribution_description: English: I created the graph myself using data by the US Census Bureau taken from here: [1].
context_page_description: The terms average Joe, ordinary Joe, Joe Sixpack, Joe Lunchbucket, Joe Snuffy, Joe Schmo and ordinary Jane, average Jane, and plain Jane, are used primarily in North America to refer to a completely average person, typically an average American. It can be used both to give the image of a hypothetical "completely average person" or to describe an existing person. Parallel terms in other languages for local equivalents exist worldwide.
  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". While some individual attributes are easily identified as being average, such as the median income, other characteristics, such as family arrangements may not be identified as being average.
  In 2001, for example, no single household arrangement constituted more than 30% of total households. Married couples with no children were the most common constituting 28.7% of households. It would nonetheless be inaccurate to state that the average American lives in a childless couple arrangement as 71.3% do not. Other "average" characteristics are easier to identify.
context_section_description: According to US Department of Commerce data the vast majority, 67% of housing units in the United States were owner occupied, had three or fewer bedrooms with one or less occupant per room (including kitchen, dining room, living room, etc. ...) and were mortgaged. The overwhelming majority, 85%, of all housing units had three or fewer bedrooms while 15% of all housing had 4 or more bedrooms. The plurality of housing units, 40%, had three bedrooms. The vast majority, 67%, of housing units were mortgaged with 52% households spending 25% or less of their annual income on mortgage payments.
  The median value of a housing unit in the US was $167,500 in 2005 with the median mortgage payment being clocked at $1,295. The average size of a household was 2.5 persons with almost all housing units, 97%, having 1 or fewer occupants per room. However, the term "room" does not exclusively refer to bedrooms, but includes the kitchen, dining room, family room, bath rooms and any other rooms a house might have. While 85% of American homes had 3 or fewer bedrooms the median number of total rooms per housing units was 5.3 in 2005. Considering these statistics one can conclude that the average American resides in his or her own home, pays roughly $1,000 per month in mortgage payments for a three or less bedroom house with no more than one occupant per room.
  US Census Bureau data from 2002 identified a series of housing characteristics for units owner-occupied units inhabited by households with average incomes, ranging from $40,000 to $60,000. The median square footage for homes occupied by middle income households was 1,700 with 52% of such homes having two or more bathrooms. The median value of these homes was $112,000 with the median year of construction being 1970. Middle income households tended to spend roughly 18% of their monthly income on housing. Considering these statistics 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. However, the taken income is slightly above average.
caption: Homeownership rate according to race.[27]
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