Home Boy

¿In the past half century, as the size of the average American family has shrunk*, what has happened to the size of the average American home?

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1. How accurate was your prediction?

2. Overall, what's story does the chart tell?

3. Why do you think that is?

4. Is this all good news?

5. What's the more recent story (since 2005) on US home size?

6. And why is that?

7. How does your own family story compare to the data in the chart?

8. What questions do you have about all this?

9. It seems quite ironic to me that as the average home size has grown, the size of the average family has dropped. In the comments section, explain what you think we are filling our homes with (it isn't humans):

*The average size of the American household has diminished by about one person over the past 65 years or so, according to new data from the US Census Bureau. The average population per household now stands at 2.55, down from 3.67 in 1948. Meanwhile, the size of the average American home has more than doubled. The most recent statistics from the National Association of Home Builders show that the average American home grew from 983 square feet in 1950 to 2,434 square feet by the end of 2005.

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Extension

Take a 30 minute walk through your neighborhood. Take note of the size of the homes (houses, apartments, condominiums, trailers), try to tally the number of people per home, and see how close your neighborhood is to the national average.