By Kevin Sears
In his video, “I Was Wrong About the Average American,” John Green utilized mean and medium statistical data to create a mosaic of the average American, who, by the end of the video, feels almost relatable, but not quite.
Jessica is 38 years old, white, married and a woman. She reads 1-5 books a year, owns 1.41 dogs, and sneezes roughly four times a day. Jessica, according to Green, is the most average American. Jessica, like the average American, lives in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area such as Los Angeles, California, or Austin, Texas.
Jessica has an associate’s degree, works in public education or healthcare and lives paycheck to paycheck. With a household income of $74,580, Jessica spends 15% of her income on taxes, another 15% on healthcare costs and a third on housing.
She drives a pickup truck, drinks coffee daily, and spends more time on social media than outside. She votes in some elections, is pro-choice, supports gay marriage and believes in the death penalty, but thinks it’s unjustly used. She holds a low opinion of politicians especially Congress, but has a positive view of Taylor Swift.
Almost anyone can relate to Jessica in some way, but as Green puts it:
“Few, if any, people are actually that much like Jessica,” Green said. “Because the United States is an extraordinarily diverse nation.”
For instance, let’s see how our home of Orange County (OC), California, differs from the average American. Home to 3 million people, ranked 18th of the 150 largest regions on diversity and home to the largest Vietnamese population in the United States, Orange County deviates from the nation’s typical county.
The average Orange Countian is 39.7 years old, which means he was born in 1985 and is male. Although there is no data on the most common male baby name in 1985 in Orange County, the most common in California was Michael.
Michael is most likely white with some German, English, or Irish ancestry, and, similar to 53.1% of Orange Countians, he only speaks English at home. 63.0% of OC is employed, with Michael most likely having a job either in education, healthcare or social assistance.
Michael does not have a bachelor’s degree compared to 44.5% of the population, but he does have a median household income of $145,452 a year. The actual median household income in OC is $110,042, but because Michael is married, his annual household income jumped by nearly $35,000.
Michael most definitely drives to work, spending 27.1 minutes a day commuting, according to the Census; however, in a poll done by Pollsters for the Robert Half employment agency, the average LA-OC resident commute can reach as high as 53 minutes.
If Michael recently bought his car, he most likely drives a Tesla Model 3, which he parks at his home in Anaheim worth more than a million dollars and has two to three bedrooms. 57.0% of Orange Countians own a home and 46.0% of those are worth more than a million. If Michael did have rent, it would cost $2,382 a month.
Roughly 60% of people are active voters with Michael most likely registered as a Democrat. Michael supports a ban on the sale and use of small cheap handguns and a ban on the manufacturing of those weapons. He is in favor of gay marriage and believes abortion and the situation at the border to be a very important issue.
Although Michael is registered to a political party, Michael has friends who share differing political opinions from himself, with Orange County being described as a purple county by the UCI School of Social Ecology. Michael prefers Biden over Trump but would also describe Biden as “too old to be president.”
When asked to rank his most serious concerns, Michael rated homelessness and affordable housing highest and he is willing to pay higher taxes to reduce homelessness. More controversially, Michael believes it will be effective for police to enforce vagrancy laws and clear homeless encampments.
It must be said that, for all of his averageness, Michael does not represent all of the people of Orange County. Orange County is ethnically diverse with over a million Hispanics or Latinos and 700,000 Asians. Half of Orange Countians are poorer than Micahel with Orange County ranking 58th of 150 largest regions on income inequality.
Because Orange County is an extraordinarily diverse region, few people, if any, are actually that much like Michael. However, by examining who is the most average Orange Countian, we’re able to get a glimpse into the values, problems and concerns shared by our residents.
