The National FabricC · Rural Combustibles
C2C
Rolling Coal Diesel Patriots
The truck is the platform, personality, and political affiliation.
Reference marketFirst identified in Independence, Iowa (ZIP area 50644).
Also found inMonticello, Indiana; Leipsic, Ohio; Grand Island, Nebraska; Council Bluffs, Iowa.
A personal brand financed at 9.9 percent.
Portrait
In their own words
- Age35
- Income$85K
- Net worth$40K
- Education16%
- Home$240K
- Ownership60%
- HouseholdEngaged someday; dog rides shotgun
- VehicleDeleted diesel RAM
- Debt84-month note
- Vice
- $1,400/mo truck payment
- Most likely to
- Owe more on the truck than the trailer it is parked at
- Signals
- Aftermarket parts, flags, beef jerky
Who they are
The truck is the personality, the platform, and the political party, in that order. It is a deleted diesel RAM carrying a $1,400 monthly payment on an 84-month note, meaning he finishes paying for it roughly when it dies. The exhaust is tuned to blow soot at Priuses, a hobby that costs fuel mileage and friends. He owes more on the truck than on the trailer it's parked beside, but the truck has a personal brand and the trailer does not. Engaged 'someday'; the dog rides shotgun because the dog never asks about the APR. Stickers cover the body panels that equity cannot.
Our neighborhood
Exurban frontage roads and gravel lots where the trucks gather like a car show nobody scheduled. Bass Pro is the mall, the gun show is the conference, and Buc-ee's is a pilgrimage site. Aftermarket catalogs arrive faster than the mail. Every flag is oversized, every payment is monthly, and every conversation eventually becomes a torque figure delivered with religious certainty.
Shopping
Aftermarket catalogs arrive faster than the mail: stacks, tuners, light bars, and a sticker for every body panel equity cannot cover. Bass Pro is the mall, the gun show is the annual conference, and Buc-ee's is a pilgrimage with brisket. The dog rides shotgun and has never once asked about the APR.
Spending
A deleted diesel RAM at $1,400 a month on an 84-month note, meaning the final payment lands approximately when the truck dies. He owes more on the truck than on the trailer it parks beside, which is acceptable because the trailer has no personal brand. Fuel mileage was traded for a hobby that also costs friends.
Media
Truck YouTube, a diesel forum with a 400-page thread about the same tune, and a Facebook page that posts flags at 5 a.m. Talk radio between job sites. Every conversation eventually resolves into a torque figure delivered with religious certainty.
Interests
Rolling coal at a Prius, a leisure activity with a fuel cost and a legal exposure. Truck meets in gravel lots nobody scheduled, an engagement penciled for someday, and a flag that grows annually. The truck is the platform, the personality, and the political party, in that order.
Where they live
Darker is more of them.
C2 · ROLLING COAL DIESEL PATRIOTS
ZIP CODES
—
How thick on the ground
$68K
Median household income
0.94× the national median
$263K
Typical home value
0.99× the national median
3.8×
Home value against income
1.01× the national median
20%
Bachelor's degree or higher
0.85× the national median
74%
Owner-occupied
Share of occupied units
$1,200
Median gross rent
Monthly, contract plus utilities
2.60
Average household size
Persons per occupied unit
40.5
Median age
Years
How they compare
Against the average American household.
Median household income
0.94×
$68K here$72K everywhere else
Typical home value
0.99×
$263K here$266K everywhere else
Bachelor's degree or higher
0.85×
19.8% here23.3% everywhere else
Home value against household income
1.01×
3.80× here3.76× everywhere else
Who lives next door
Household types that turn up on the same blocks.
C1Ciggies & Side-by-SidesDip in the lip, Polaris in the yard, a koozie for every occasion.
L5Rust & ReclinerA paid-off house in a town whose largest employer is now the hospital that treats the people the last employer injured.
I9Parking-Lot Casino Alt-RetireesSemi-retired men whose social club is the gas station and whose 401(k) is a cigar box.
K4Fentanyl BeltDeindustrialized towns where the plant left, the pills arrived, and the fentanyl finished the invoice.
G2Scratch-Off SustenanceThe lottery is a regressive tax and the only retirement plan on offer.
C3Meth-Adjacent AcreageThree generations, two functioning vehicles, one tarp roof, and a good year coming.
The receipts
- 01Households with a vehicle41st94.6%
- 02Bachelor's degree or higher39th19.8%
- 03People per square kilometre57th144 /sq mi
- 04Owner-occupied42nd74.3%
- 05Median age41st40.5 yrs
- 06Married adults43rd51.1%
- 07Residents 35 to 4456th12.5%
- 08Commutes by transit46th0.4%
- 09Foreign-born residents56th6.0%
- 10Enrolled in college56th4.3%
SourcesFigures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Everything else is observation.