The American Dream just keeps growing. Since 1970 the size of the average new home has ballooned by 50 percent. “Great rooms,” Viking ranges, 10-acre lots—can moats and turrets be far behind?

 March/April 2005 issue of Mother Jones magazine

• Since 1950, the average new house has increased by 1,247 sq. ft. Meanwhile, the average household has shrunk by 1 person.

   

   

• The National Association of Home Builders’ “showcase home” for 2005 is 5,950 sq. ft. That’s 15% bigger than last year’s model.

   

   

• The Unabomber’s legal defense team cited the size of his shack—10’ x 12’—to buttress his insanity plea.

   

   

• 1 in 4 Americans want at least a 3-car garage.

   

   

• 88% of American commuters drive to work.

   

   

• 76% of those drivers commute alone.

   

   

• The number of Americans with commutes of longer than 90 minutes each way has increased 95% since 1990.

   

   

• Since 1982, 35 million acres—an area the equivalent of New York state—have been developed.

   

   

• More than 50% of exurban lots are 10 acres or larger. Exurban homes account for 80% of residential development since 1994.

   

   

• In 1950, 1 in 100 homes had 2.5 baths or more. Today, 1 in 2 do.

   

   

• 14 million households own 4 or more TVs.

   

   

• Americans spend more to power home audio and video equipment that is “off” but still plugged in than they do to power such devices while actually in use.

   

   

• Such “energy vampires” consume 5% of the nation’s electricity.

   

   

• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition recently gave a 6-bedroom, 7-bath, 7-television house to a family of 4.

   

   

• Americans with cable TV have 30 hours of home-improvement programming available to them each day.

   

   

• Sales of Sub-Zero and other “premium” and “superpremium” refrigerators have been rising by 15% a year.

   

   

• 1 in 5 new homes is larger than 3,000 sq. ft.—the size at which it becomes unmanageable to clean without hired help.

   

   

• The average cost of a luxury kitchen remodel is $57,000. That’s $10,000 more than it costs to build a typical Habitat for Humanity home.

   

   

• Suburban and urban kids use illegal drugs, have sex, fight, and steal at the same rates, but suburban kids are more likely to drink and smoke.

   

   

• 0.03% of U.S. homes are fueled by solar energy. 0.4% lack complete plumbing facilities.

   

   

• People who live in cities use half as much energy as suburbanites.

   

   

• If Americans bought only appliances with an“Energy Star” rating over the next 15 years, the reduction in greenhouse gases would equate to taking 17 million cars off the road.

   

   

• 1/3 of a home’s heating oil is used for hot water. Multiple-head shower systems can drain a 40-gallon tank in less than 4 minutes.

   

   

• The average new home requires 13,837 board feet of lumber and 19 tons of cement.

   

   

• Since 1976, federal housing assistance has been slashed by 48%.

   

   

• Last spring, the Bush administration proposed an additional $1 billion cut to the Section 8 housing subsidy.

   

   

• 87% of homeowners are white.

   

   

• Overall, blacks receive subprime loans 2.83 times more often than whites. The disparity increases when affluent blacks are compared to affluent whites.

   

   

• If it were a state, New York City would rank 51st in energy use per capita.

   

   

• Suburban white men weigh 10 pounds more than men in cities.

   

   

• Only 2.7% of San Francisco’s teachers, 5.7% of its cops, and 4.2% of its nurses can afford to buy a home there.

   

   

• 1 in 4 Californians are considering moving out of state to reduce their housing costs.

   

   

• Rush Limbaugh’s Palm Beach estate is worth 15 times the value of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s Chappaqua, N.Y., home.

   

   

• 7% of all homes are in gated communities.

   

   

• 7% of all homes are mobile homes.

   

   

• Since 2001, the number of Americans who have bought second homes has increased by 24%.