Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of Americans who say that more young adults living with their parents is bad for society, according to the Pew Research Center: 36

Percentage who say it is good for society: 16

Percentage who say it doesn't make a difference: 47

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Percentage of Americans who worry about the Social Security program running out of funding in their lifetime, according to a survey by Nationwide: 70

Percentage who strongly or somewhat agree they will not get a dime of the Social Security benefits they have earned: 33

Source: Nationwide.

Average annual insurance cost in 2022 after a DUI, according to ValuePenguin: $3,683

Average annual insurance cost after an accident: $2,882

Average annual insurance cost after a speeding violation: $2,430

Source: ValuePenguin.com.

Number of deaths annually that are caused by distracted driving, according to research from Policygenius.com: 3,142

Rank of using a phone or handheld device as the No. 1 cause of distracted driving: 1

Percentage of all distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes accounted for by the age group 25 to 34: 23

Source: Policygenius.com.

Average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S., according to Statista: $3.99

Price in Norway: $6.27

Price in Saudi Arabia: $0.91

Source: Statista.

Percentage of teachers in the United States who report the use of software that tracks students' online activity on devices like laptops or tablets in their schools, according to research released by the Center for Democracy and Technology: 89

Percentage of teachers whose school uses monitoring software who say that students have been flagged for disciplinary action: 78

Source: Center for Democracy and Technology.

Percentage of college students who say their financial literacy improved due to the pandemic, according to WalletHub's 2022 College Student Financial Survey: 80

Percentage of students who say it's worth going into debt for a college education: 68

Percentage who say they don't feel prepared to be on their own financially: 25

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of all students who say colleges should allow students to be exposed to all types of speech even if they may find it offensive or biased: 59

Percentage who say speech rights are secure, a share that has fallen every year since this question was first asked in 2016: 47

Percentage who say they feel comfortable voicing disagreement with their instructor: 49

Percentage who say they feel comfortable voicing disagreement with their peers: 52

Source: Knight Foundation.

Ranks of discovering another culture, developing an expanded view of the world and meeting people abroad on the list of the most common goals of students who have studied abroad or had plans to do so, according to a survey from BestColleges.com: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of students who plan to prioritize traveling in the near term after college: 51

Percentage who say that budgeting for travel is important to them: 72

Percentage who say that the experience of traveling is worth the expense: 66

Source: BestColleges.com.

Percentage of Americans who feel like they can't afford their previous lifestyle of the past few years, according to consumer sentiment survey on inflation conducted by NCSolutions: 45

Percentage who say their family has changed how they buy food: 76

Percentage who are more mindful of spending on groceries: 66

Percentage of consumers who say they're buying fewer nonessentials: 46

Source: NCSolutions.

Idle Thought

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. " -- Edgar Allan Poe, writer (1809-1849)

On Sept. 5, 1882, number of workers who took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history: 10,000

Year that Congress legalized a "workingmen's holiday" to be celebrated on the first Monday in September: 1894

Year the eight-hour workday became federal law in the U.S.: 1940

Estimated number of Americans who were working in some capacity in June 2022, up from 151.6 million at the same time in 2021: 158.1 million

Source: History.com.

Percentage of Americans who don't have health insurance, according to ValuePenguin: 8

Ranks of Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia on the list of states with the highest percentage of their citizens without health insurance: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: ValuePenguin.com.

Amount the average full-time wage or salary worker in the U.S. makes per week (5.2% higher than one year prior), according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics' analysis of the second quarter of 2022: $1,041

On average, amount men make per week, while women make $943 (or 82.4% of their male counterparts' average wage): $1,144

Number of hours per day the average American full-time employee works: 8.53

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Price for a Big Mac in Switzerland, making it the most expensive price in the world for a Big Mac: $6.71

Price for a Big Mac in the U.S.: $5.15

Price in the euro currency area: $4.77

Source: Statista.

Median cost of a funeral (including viewing and burial) in the U.S., according to Policygenius: $7,640

Ranks of Vermont, Utah, Idaho and Ohio as the best places to die, considering cost, palliative care, Medicare providers and probate shortcuts: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Policygenius.

Percentage of homes the Tooth Fairy visited across the country with children ages 6 to 12 who have lost teeth, according to poll released by Delta Dental: 79

Percentage of parents who said their kids waited patiently for their loose tooth to fall out: 61

Percentage who pulled out their own tooth: 18

Source: Delta Dental.

Percentage of U.S. retirees who say they would be motivated to rejoin the workforce if inflation continued to eat into their savings, according to the American Staffing Association Workforce Monitor online survey conducted by The Harris Poll: 30

Percentage of retirees who cited Social Security as their main source of income: 39

Percentage of current retirees who stated they are open to or actively looking for work: 14

Source: American Staffing Association.

Percentage of parents who are spending at least $200 per child this year on back-to-school shopping -- compared to only 29% in 2021, according to the new Debt.com poll: 45

Percentage who will spend more than $300 per child: 27

Ranks of buying generic or store-brand items, reusing old supplies and comparison shopping before buying on the list of the most popular ways to save this back-to-school season: 1, 2 (tie)

Source: Debt.com.

Projected number of hot dogs that were consumed per second in the unofficial summer season -- between Memorial Day and Labor Day -- according to research by WalletHub: 818

Amount Americans spent on hot dogs and sausages in supermarkets during 2021: $7.5 billion

Number of pounds of hot dogs consumed by Los Angeles residents per year, making it the No. 1 city for the hot dog consumption: 30 million

Source: WalletHub.

Idle Thought

"Fatigue is the best pillow." -- Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author and inventor (1706-1790)

Projected average spending for college students and their families on back-to-college items, according to the annual survey by the National Retail Federation: $1,199

Total expected spending on back-to-college items: $74 billion

Since 2019, growth in total expected spending on back-to-college items, with consumers spending $223 more on average than they were prior to the pandemic: $19 billion

Percentage of this increase that comes from spending on electronics and dorm or apartment furnishings: 50

Source: NRF.

Percentage of U.S. consumers who say they are making fewer impulse purchases in-store because of increased prices, according to a survey by Ipsos: 56

Percentage who still say, however, that they've made an impulse purchase within the past week: 33

Source: Ipsos.

Percentage of teens who say they would like to own a home someday, according to a survey by Junior Achievement USA and Fannie Mae: 88

Percentage who believe "owning a home" is part of "the good life," compared to 87% of adults who say the same, based on Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey: 85

Percentage who thought it would be helpful if schools offered lessons that explained homeownership, including mortgages: 97

Source: Junior Achievement.

Ranks of Nantucket, Massachusetts ($525); Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts ($485); Montauk, New York ($416); Long Beach Island, New Jersey ($384); and Bar Harbor, Maine ($383) on the list of the most expensive places to stay in the United States this summer, according to a survey by CheapHotels.org: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Cheaphotels.org.

Percentage increase in electric vehicle sales over the past year, according to research from Parks Associates: 85

Percentage growth in plug-in hybrid electric vehicle sales in the same period: 138

Source: Parks Associates.

Amount the average American household owes to credit card companies, according to a WalletHub credit cards survey: $8,000

Number of Americans who have tried to get a credit card late fee waived: 118 million

Percentage of people who have tried to get a credit card late fee waived who were successful: 90

Source: WalletHub.

Ranks of emergency savings, not going into debt and having a steady job on the list of the most important financial lessons students have learned from the pandemic, according to CreditCard.com: 1, 2, 3

Source: CreditCards.com.

Among employed Americans, percentage who say that they are looking for a new job or are open to a new one, according to a survey commissioned by Justworks: 66

Percentage of U.S. employees who say that having health insurance that meets their specific needs is important to them when looking for a new job: 78

Percentage who say that they would be willing to sacrifice some pay for better health insurance, if they were looking for a new job: 64

Percentage who say that their company's health insurance offerings impact how much they want to keep working there: 63

Source: Justworks.

Percentage of Americans who say they've seen an increase in aggressive driving during the pandemic, according to a survey by Yougov: 30

Percentage who said they have witnessed incidents of angry driving firsthand during this same time frame: 57

Source: YouGov.

Idle Thought

"People's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive." -- Haruki Murakami, writer (1949- )