Slate.com- Jacksonville, FL is the most average place in America

[iluvolives]

Saw this on Slate.com today:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/01/jacksonville_is_average.html

Tyler Cowen offers a distressingly un-systematic look at the question of what is the most perfectly average place in America, recapitulating the excessively anti-urban bias of conventional thinking about the American character.

He offers as his candidate Knoville, Tennessee, which has a metropolitan area of just 824,000 people. Fully 180 million Americans live in larger metropolitan areas than Knoxville. The larger Tennessee city of Memphis is almost spot on the average, but I'd say Memphis is a bit too distinctive to qualify as "perfectly average". Fortunately for us, if you rank U.S. metro areas by population size and then add up the cumulative totals, you get the conclusion that the median American lives in the Jacksonville, Florida metropolitan area. And Jacksonville, though it may have its virtues, is not especially distinctive or noteworthy. It's a great example of a generic American city. It's in the south, but not really all that southern. It's on the coast, but it's not "coastal". And since the City of Jacksonville is consolidated with Duvall County, it doesn't feature any kind of urban-suburban divide. The typical Jacksonviller, just like the typical American, lives in an auto-oriented, suburban-style community that's part of an integrated urban area. In educational terms, Jacksonville has fewer high school dropouts than the average American city and also fewer college graduates than the average American city. In other words, its citizens are exceptionally average in their educational attainment.

If you're ever in the Jacksonville area and get the chance to visit the White Oak Conservation Center, I'd recommend it. Very much a non-average experience.

[billy]

I did not mean to be so flip, but this is an absurd article.

Is the Saint Johns an "average" river, certainly not in length, breadth or fecal count.
What about our vast consolidated land mass, parts of which remain uncharted, even today

Has Mr. Cowen ever had a Lubi, or a Swisher Sweet Grape Blunt?
How many gas station cigars does his hometown produce?

What about the Byzantine magnificence of a certain NFL owners facial hair?
Arthur Blank's mustache looks like a 1930's matinee gigolo.

We have history, and culture.
What about Fort Caroline, and the Neil Diamond song it inspired?
There's a reason  this city is named for a stone killer psychopath. 

Substandard in certain aspects, perhaps, average, no way.

[David]

And since the city of Jacksonville is consolidated with Duval County, it doesn't feature any kind of urban-suburban divide

He's definitely wrong on that one. I rarely left Riverside & San Marco when I lived over there. The concept of driving out to "the burbs" was foreign to me.

Overall, it's not necessarily a jab at the city, it does fit the view of my hometown. Jacksonville: like limbo. Not the best but not the worst!

[IronDonut]

This is exactly what I've been saying for the last ten years: "Jacksonville is the most mediocre large city in America."  It is to cities what Olive Garden is to restaurants.  Not terrible.  Good in a lot of ways.  But also not great. Just average.

Two things that aren't average about Jacksonville;

1. Beer - this is a god damn beer city. I just came back from an NYC trip and the beer scene there sucks compared to JAX.

2. Pizza - this is a pizza city. There is some great fucking pie here in JAX.  I can get a pie as good in JAX as you can get at Lombardi's in NYC. 

But then if you think about it beer and pizza are pretty middle class and blue collar.  Which would stand to reason that America's most average city would be great at making the most average of foods and drinks.

I propose a new city motto: Jacksonville - we are great at average things.

Who is with me?

[Cheshire Cat]

This is exactly what I've been saying for the last ten years: "Jacksonville is the most mediocre large city in America."  It is to cities what Olive Garden is to restaurants.  Not terrible.  Good in a lot of ways.  But also not great. Just average.

Two things that aren't average about Jacksonville;

1. Beer - this is a god damn beer city. I just came back from an NYC trip and the beer scene there sucks compared to JAX.

2. Pizza - this is a pizza city. There is some great fucking pie here in JAX.  I can get a pie as good in JAX as you can get at Lombardi's in NYC. 

But then if you think about it beer and pizza are pretty middle class and blue collar.  Which would stand to reason that America's most average city would be great at making the most average of foods and drinks.

I propose a new city motto: Jacksonville - we are great at average things.

Who is with me?

Hi IronDonut and welcome to the forum.

Is Jacksonville mediocre in all things save pizza and beer? 
Naw, there is a bunch of cool stuff that goes on here. lol  The problem with articles like this is that they are "drive thru" opinions.  To find cool, ya gotta be cool.  The author of the article obviously doesn't live here.   

[jcjohnpaint]

I'll tell you what... I think the water is Jax and NYC are similar.  We can make a very distinct crust that I have not found anywhere aside from NY and Jersey.  As for the article... quite sub par.  Really reaching man.  I think you could have put any city in the place of Jax and had the same argument. 

[Cheshire Cat]

This is exactly what I've been saying for the last ten years: "Jacksonville is the most mediocre large city in America."  It is to cities what Olive Garden is to restaurants.  Not terrible.  Good in a lot of ways.  But also not great. Just average.

Two things that aren't average about Jacksonville;

1. Beer - this is a god damn beer city. I just came back from an NYC trip and the beer scene there sucks compared to JAX.

2. Pizza - this is a pizza city. There is some great fucking pie here in JAX.  I can get a pie as good in JAX as you can get at Lombardi's in NYC. 

But then if you think about it beer and pizza are pretty middle class and blue collar.  Which would stand to reason that America's most average city would be great at making the most average of foods and drinks.

I propose a new city motto: Jacksonville - we are great at average things.

Who is with me?

Hi IronDonut and welcome to the forum.

Is Jacksonville mediocre in all things save pizza and beer? 
Naw, there is a bunch of cool stuff that goes on here. lol  The problem with articles like this is that they are "drive thru" opinions.  To find cool, ya gotta be cool.  The author of the article obviously doesn't live here.

a median average isnt the same thing as 'mediocre'.  New York is an average megalopolis, after all.

^Very valid point Stephen. 

[simms3]

I second the pizza and beer (though beer is a tricky one, some of the major cities aren't good beer scenes but there are tons of smaller cities that make Jacksonville look like it doesn't even have Budweiser).

It's not bad to be average because average isn't bad, but like others have said - Jax isn't great either.  Always something to look up to I suppose.  I think the article is more about identity than anything else - just be great (or horrible) at something to put you on the map.  It goes along with the local employment/real estate market too...just humming along but no real/defined drivers that would cause someone to take a bet for or against the city.

[Tacachale]

Lame. As the Peruvians say, ampay.

[jcjohnpaint]

I think politicians in this city fight really hard to make Jax an average city.  I have been surprised since I have been here how many great grass roots orgs exist in this city/ along with secret, but profound histories. 

[TheCat]

Pho & Bun city.

[Seth Langner]

Half of America is below average.

[KenFSU]

If this was truly the case, you'd think Jacksonville would see way more test marketing a la a city like Columbus.

[BrooklynSouth]

What the article really meant was Jacksonville is the most typically American city in America. That's something to be proud of. And it means that we, as a city and as residents, have the ingredients to go in any direction we choose.

[subro]

2. Pizza - this is a pizza city. There is some great fucking pie here in JAX.  I can get a pie as good in JAX as you can get at Lombardi's in NYC. 

What are you high? Jacksonville has okay pizza compared to most states but it is not even close to NY Pizza. Other than that, welcome to the Forum.