The National FabricI · Mobility Failure Modes
I11I
Microbrew Dads in Cargo Shorts
Middle-aged men triangulating masculinity through IPAs, pellet grills, and lawn stripes.
Reference marketFirst identified in West St. Paul, Minnesota (ZIP area 55118).
Also found inFranklin, Wisconsin; Noblesville, Indiana; Stow, Ohio; Clive, Iowa.
A gentle decline with excellent yard maintenance.
Portrait
In their own words
- Age47
- Income$118K
- Net worth$260K
- Education42%
- Home$380K
- Ownership84%
- HouseholdMarried, 2 kids, basement fridge
- VehicleF-150 or Odyssey depending on weekend
- DebtMortgage, but manageable
- Vice
- Double IPAs and Traeger pellets
- Most likely to
- Describe beer as 'crushable' in 2026
- Signals
- Breweries, Home Depot, fantasy football
Who they are
Middle-aged men triangulating a fading masculinity through hazy IPAs, a Traeger, and lawn stripes visible from orbit. Median age 47, $118K, mortgage manageable, basement fridge stocked exclusively with cans he describes as 'crushable' in the year 2026. The brewery is the third place; the Home Depot is the cathedral; fantasy football is the only league he still starts in. He owns a kayak used twice, a smoker used weekly, and an F-150 that hauls nothing heavier than a cooler. He isn't unhappy, exactly. He's just slowly becoming his own dad, one double IPA and one 'we should hang more' text at a time.
Our neighborhood
A solidly mid suburban subdivision with two-car garages, basketball hoops nobody adjusted, and lawns mowed in competitive diagonals. Cul-de-sac cookouts, a neighborhood brewery ten minutes out, and a Home Depot that doubles as weekend church. Property values are fine, the schools are 'good enough,' and every garage hides a second fridge.
Shopping
The basement fridge contains only cans he describes as crushable, in the year 2026. He owns a Traeger used weekly, a kayak used twice, and an F-150 that has never hauled anything heavier than a cooler. Home Depot is the cathedral and Saturday service runs eight to eleven.
Spending
Income $118K, mortgage manageable, and the discretionary budget routes to pellets, brewery growlers, and a mower with a striping kit. The lawn gets cut in competitive diagonals visible from orbit. Nothing here is a crisis, which is precisely what makes it a household.
Media
A fantasy football podcast, a grilling YouTube channel, and a local brewery's Instagram he engages with more often than his college friends. Sports radio in the truck, every commute. Every article he forwards arrives with the single word interesting.
Interests
Fantasy football, the only league he still starts in, plus cul-de-sac cookouts and an eleven-minute conversation about the smoker. He isn't unhappy, exactly. He's becoming his own dad, one double IPA and one we-should-hang-more text at a time.
Where they live
Darker is more of them.
I11 · MICROBREW DADS IN CARGO SHORTS
ZIP CODES
—
How thick on the ground
$101K
Median household income
1.40× the national median
$538K
Typical home value
2.02× the national median
5.1×
Home value against income
1.36× the national median
46%
Bachelor's degree or higher
1.99× the national median
69%
Owner-occupied
Share of occupied units
$1,949
Median gross rent
Monthly, contract plus utilities
2.49
Average household size
Persons per occupied unit
40.2
Median age
Years
How they compare
Against the average American household.
Median household income
1.40×
$101K here$72K everywhere else
Typical home value
2.02×
$538K here$266K everywhere else
Bachelor's degree or higher
1.99×
46.2% here23.2% everywhere else
Home value against household income
1.36×
5.10× here3.75× everywhere else
Who lives next door
Household types that turn up on the same blocks.
I4Delaware Sadburbs ExilesMillennials who wanted Brooklyn, bought in Middletown, and call it 'quiet now that we're older.'
J3Overqualified Sadburban ReturneesMoved back near parents after the cool city got impossible, now pretending it was a choice.
L2Statistically UnremarkableWithin four points of the national median on every axis the survey measures, and therefore invisible to everyone selling anything.
I12Premium Economy NomadsRemote workers with no roots, a Samsonite, and a spreadsheet of tax residencies they misunderstand.
J5Geoarbitrage GentryHigh earners living below their income in low-status metros, quietly buying the index.
E1Basement Bull Market34, lives with mom, is up big on a portfolio he will not show you.
The receipts
- 01Owner-occupied28th68.8%
- 02Single-family detached27th63.4%
- 03Bachelor's degree or higher83rd46.2%
- 04People per square kilometre82nd808 /sq mi
- 05Residents 25 to 3469th13.6%
- 06Renter-occupied72nd31.2%
- 07Commutes by transit73rd0.9%
- 08Median age39th40.2 yrs
- 09Never-married adults58th29.6%
- 10Households with children58th29.6%
SourcesFigures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Everything else is observation.