According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are roughly 127 million households in the United States, and the average number of occupants per household is 2.53 people.

The average price of a house is a whopping $359,900, with the median price coming in lower at $305,400.  These numbers, of course, are skewed by the higher price of real estate in urban areas like San Francisco where the average price of a single-family home is $1,150,000, or $920 per square foot.  By contrast, the median (not the average) price of a home in Charleston, West Virginia is $158,000, or $90 a square foot.

Now, all this data is great, but it fails to paint a picture that matters to anyone other than economists and political scientists. Statistics are supposed to describe people, not define them, and as an Averagist, I don’t really care about the American house, I want to know about the American home.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word home is defined as a place where a person lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.  A home can be anywhere, but when people are asked about their home, as expected, the word evokes different responses from different people. When you think of home, do you imagine the place where you grew up, or the place where you currently live? Does everyone, regardless of where they come from, strive to have a home, or are there people in this country who are perfectly content bouncing from place to place?  Now, at this point, an academic might start delving deep into data to try and answer these questions.  But as an Averagist, I believe the answer lies in people not data. In academic vernacular (egg headese), in ethnographic research, not statistical analysis.

One of the things an Averagist wants to do is look across the chasm of understanding that exists between people in America these days.  The election in November uncovered many fault lines especially between people who live in urban areas (who tend to be more liberal), and those who live in Middle America (who tend to be more conservative). It is my belief that, while the political divide is deep, when it comes to basic concepts and values, Middle Americans who cannot agree on anything politically, actually do agree on core values.  This is especially true when it comes to the basic concepts that we build our lives around, like… home.

To test this theory, I interviewed four different people from West Virginia, Texas, and Alabama who self-identified as liberals or conservatives, and asked them what they think of when they hear the word home.  These are average Middle Americans from opposite sides of the political spectrum.  The first you’ll hear from is a Gen X’er named Jill.  She is followed by a thirty-something named Aaron.  Then we’ll hear from two millennials named Chris and Adam.  I won’t say where any of these people fall on the political spectrum, but suffice it to say that if we put them in a room together to talk politics, someone would get hurt.

What did I learn? Based on these conversations, Middle Americans agree with Daniel Webster.  A home isn’t just about the structure where people, sleep, eat, and hang out.  It’s more about the people who occupy that structure, and those who live nearby, that define it as a home. This is true no matter where a person lives, but seems to have slightly more importance as you move away from the cities, into the heartland where people are less transitory.  Politics can certainly play a role in how we define ourselves, and we all know that they can divide us.  But at least for these Middle Americans, when those beliefs are set aside, nothing beats home.