The National FabricI · Mobility Failure Modes
I9I
Parking-Lot Casino Alt-Retirees
Semi-retired men whose social club is the gas station and whose 401(k) is a cigar box.
Reference marketFirst identified in Silver Springs Shores, Florida (ZIP area 34472).
Also found inBranson, Missouri; Hot Springs, Arkansas; Casa Grande, Arizona; Sebring, Florida.
Community infrastructure where policy failed.
Portrait
In their own words
- Age64
- Income$29K
- Net worth$18K
- Education12%
- Home$80K
- Ownership55%
- HouseholdWidowed or divorced
- VehicleTown Car, immaculate
- DebtNone formal; all favors
- Vice
- Scratchers, cigars, small talk
- Most likely to
- Hold court beside the ice machine
- Signals
- Gas stations, VFWs, local Facebook
Who they are
Semi-retired men whose entire social infrastructure is a gas station forecourt and whose retirement account is, functionally, a cigar box and a player's club card. Median age 64, $29K a year, $80K net worth that's mostly a paid-off house and an immaculate Town Car he washes more than he drives. He held court by the ice machine before the pension vanished and he'll hold court there until he dies. Scratchers are the portfolio; the VFW is the boardroom; a guy named Dale owes him forty dollars from 2019. He distrusts banks, doctors, and the new clerk, and he's right about exactly one.
Our neighborhood
A swing-county exurb where the factory closed, the mall died, and the Casey's became the town square. Modest paid-off ranch homes, immaculate driveways, and a gas station functioning as cafe, employment agency, and grief counseling. Everyone knows everyone, and the local Facebook group is the only remaining growth industry.
Shopping
Casey's is the grocery, the cafe, and the employment agency, and the pizza is legitimately good, the county's last agreed-upon fact. Purchases are scratchers, a coffee refilled at a discount he negotiated in 2011, and Turtle Wax for a Town Car he washes more than he drives. He distrusts anything that requires a card reader.
Spending
About $29K a year and $80K in net worth, most of it a paid-off ranch house and an immaculate Lincoln. The retirement account is functionally a cigar box and a player's club card. A guy named Dale owes him forty dollars from 2019, tracked with the rigor of a receivable.
Media
The local Facebook group, the county's only remaining growth industry. AM radio, a printed paper now down to two days a week, and news that has to be ratified at the ice machine before it counts. He distrusts banks, doctors, and the new clerk, and is right about exactly one.
Interests
Holding court by the ice machine, which he did before the pension vanished and will do until he dies. The VFW is the boardroom, scratchers are the portfolio, and the forecourt is where the county's business actually gets conducted. The factory closed, the mall died, and the gas station absorbed both functions.
Where they live
Darker is more of them.
I9 · PARKING-LOT CASINO ALT-RETIREES
ZIP CODES
—
How thick on the ground
$86K
Median household income
1.19× the national median
$433K
Typical home value
1.62× the national median
4.7×
Home value against income
1.25× the national median
34%
Bachelor's degree or higher
1.48× the national median
73%
Owner-occupied
Share of occupied units
$1,674
Median gross rent
Monthly, contract plus utilities
2.47
Average household size
Persons per occupied unit
43.1
Median age
Years
How they compare
Against the average American household.
Median household income
1.19×
$86K here$72K everywhere else
Typical home value
1.62×
$433K here$267K everywhere else
Bachelor's degree or higher
1.48×
34.4% here23.2% everywhere else
Home value against household income
1.25×
4.70× here3.76× everywhere else
Who lives next door
Household types that turn up on the same blocks.
L5Rust & ReclinerA paid-off house in a town whose largest employer is now the hospital that treats the people the last employer injured.
C1Ciggies & Side-by-SidesDip in the lip, Polaris in the yard, a koozie for every occasion.
C2Rolling Coal Diesel PatriotsThe truck is the platform, personality, and political affiliation.
G2Scratch-Off SustenanceThe lottery is a regressive tax and the only retirement plan on offer.
L2Statistically UnremarkableWithin four points of the national median on every axis the survey measures, and therefore invisible to everyone selling anything.
K4Fentanyl BeltDeindustrialized towns where the plant left, the pills arrived, and the fentanyl finished the invoice.
The receipts
- 01People per square kilometre71st657 /sq mi
- 02Owner-occupied39th72.8%
- 03Households with a vehicle39th94.1%
- 04Residents 65 and over56th21.2%
- 05Renter-occupied61st27.2%
- 06Commutes by transit59th1.5%
- 07Residents 25 to 3456th11.9%
- 08Never-married adults56th29.8%
- 09Median age52nd43.1 yrs
- 10Not in the labor force48th39.4%
SourcesFigures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Everything else is observation.