New Yorkers aren't ordinary. You knew that, but now we have proof.
Kevin O'Keefe, a marketing consultant, spent more than a year searching for the definitive average American. He traveled the country armed with 140 deciding factors drawn from the U.S. census.
As he reports in his new book, "The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen," the criteria dictated that the average American live in a freestanding house with a lawn in suburbia. Thus, living in New York City is anything but average.
"I went into it with an open mind," says O'Keefe, who lives here himself, "but it was pretty much a given that the city - not the people, but the area - didn't qualify."
There was more chagrin in store. The man who ultimately fit all the criteria - down to the last one - was someone he knew. Robert Burns, 53, of Windham, Conn., was once a custodial worker at O'Keefe's suburban Hartford high school. Today, the married father of three is head of maintenance at a state vocational school. When told he was Mr. J. Average, Burns took the news well.
"What an honor," he said.
Meanwhile, O'Keefe also compiled 1,000 statistical averages from credible surveys and polls to top off his census data.
Here, then, are the demographic facts that make one an average, ordinary Joe.
... AND OTHER COMMON CRITERIA
_Lives in an owner-occupied home
_ Spends most of his time indoors
_ Has direct access to one or two motor vehicles
_ Regularly wears a seat belt
_ Attends church at least once a month
_ Is in bed before midnight
_ Has a garage
_ Has at least one married couple in the household
_ Makes love at 11 p.m. Has sex 116 times a year.
_ Is between 18 and 53 years old
_ Became sexually active at 14
_ Weighs between 135 and 205 pounds
_ Drinks the milk from his cereal bowl
_ Sees a dentist annually
_ Flosses irregularly
_ Has at least a high-school degree
_ Throws out 100 pounds of food a year
_ Has an annual income of between $15,000 and $75,000
_ Spends 48 hours a year shopping at the mall
_ Wears glasses or contacts
_ Goes to the movies annually
_ Believes in the right to bear arms
_ Has fired a gun
_ Lives in the Eastern time zone
_ Doesn't sing in the shower
_ Eats ice cream once a month
_ Lives within 3 miles of a McDonald's and 20 minutes from a Wal-Mart
_ Can name the best-known Three Stooges
(Article Courtesy of NYdailynews.com)


















