We count, therefore we are

Maybe Americans were feeling lucky. Certainly, the $43.5 billion spent on lottery tickets last year would suggest so.

Rodeo entrants also might've been taking their chances, hoping for some of the $34 million in prize money up for grabs.  And 4.9 million people watched them vie for it.

Once again, the U.S. Census Bureau has compiled its Statistical Abstract of the United States, that massive (1,006 page!) annual summary of everything we do, buy or believe, counted out in hard numbers.

The latest abstract, released Thursday, doesn't skimp.  It will tell you, for example, that the average monthly cell phone bill is now $49.91, which is just about right in my house. That the Coast Guard had 39,254 active personnel in 2003. That the United States produces 3.8 billion cigars, and 497 billion cigarettes, each year.

And so much more.

Feeling fit?  Health expenditures continue to soar to a projected $1.8 trillion in 2004, up from $27 billion in 1960, over 66 times as much. Some 33.7 million Americans were discharged from hospitals, or 118 of every 1,000 people. The percentage of Americans enrolled in HMOs dropped to under 25 percent, from 29.7 percent in 2000, though 71.7 million remained members. Nearly half of Californians belonged to HMOs, versus just 0.8 percent of Mississippians.

2003 witnessed new records for kidney (15,129) and liver (5,671) transplants, but slightly fewer heart transplants (2,057).

Drugs and drugstore items accounted for the largest chunk of e-commerce in 2002, some 35 percent of a $320 billion market.

Carpenter Jesus Garcia works inside a new Glenview, Ill., home in late 2003. Some 1.4 million new single-family homes were built last year.

Always growing: Americans built 1.4 million new single-family homes in 2003; Florida led the growth with 156,900, while Alaska and Rhode Island added less than 2,000 each. The median price for an existing home was $170,000, though bargains could be found in Albany, N.Y. ($141,900) and Gainesville, Fla. ($145,000).

The busiest sector among the 7,700 recorded large mergers last year was commercial banks ($66 billion) followed by insurance ($55 billion); things were less crazed in soaps, cosmetics and personal care products ($425 million). California led the nation with 148,600 bankruptcy filings, versus Alaska, with just 1,600.

Speaking of banks, 89.4 percent were charging an average of $1.36 per transaction in ATM surcharges in 2002. Fees helped pay for 89,096 banking offices throughout the country.

Have the friendly skies returned?  Complaints against U.S. airlines dropped to 4,600 in 2003, nearly as low as in 1995. We also spent $836 billion on our automobiles, according to 2001 data, including $162 billion on gas and oil, and $32 billion on insurance. Which is good, because we had 3.9 million miles of highway to drive. Also 591,200 bridges -- though you should keep in mind that 163,010 were considered deficient or obsolete, as of 2002.

It's all local: There were 87,525 governments across the nation as of 2002, including 3,034 counties and 19,429 townships. New York City raked in the most money of them all, over $58.5 billion, followed by Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.

Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans were the wettest cities around, each with over 64 inches of precipitation a year; Reno, Nev., with 7.48 inches, and Phoenix, with 8.47, might have appreciated just a drop of that water. Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., was the snowiest, with 117.4 inches. Phoenix was also the sunniest, with an 81 percent chance of rays; Juneau, Alaska, got the least, with sun just 23 percent of the time.

Nevada was growing at the fastest rate: 12.2 percent.  North Dakota was shrinking, losing 1.3 percent of its population between 2000 and 2003.

Nearly 40 percent of Californians, and 36.5 percent of New Mexicans, spoke a language other than English at home. That was true for just 2.7 percent of West Virginians.

Roman Catholics had the largest reported religious membership, with 66.4 million Americans, followed by the Southern Baptist Convention, with 16.2 million members (and over 94,000 pastors). Utah had the most self-identified Christian residents -- over 74 percent -- while Nevada and Oregon hovered at just 30 percent. On the more modest side, 11,000 Americans identified themselves as Rastafarians; 4,000 as devotees of Ethical Culture.

At the office: Some 132.3 million Americans worked in 2003, including 31.9 million who worked less than 35 hours and 36.8 million who worked more than 40 hours. That included 10.3 million "self-employed" folks, though no word on whether they were asking themselves to shorten their own coffee breaks. Over seven million Americans held multiple jobs, and 18 million had a work disability.

All that work helped Americans set a new record net worth in 2003 of $44.4 trillion dollars; unsettlingly, that also included a new record for debt of $9.7 trillion, up from $1.4 trillion in 1980. Some folks were saving, though; 30.2 million full-time employees had 401(k) accounts. And Americans gave $30.4 billion to 64,843 nonprofit groups in 2002.

Median income for married couples with a working husband was $75,876 if his wife also worked, $49,076 if she didn't; with two or more kids, that dropped to $71,277 and $50,449. The District of Columbia (46.4 percent) and Massachusetts (37.6) had the most college graduates; West Virginia lagged behind, with 15.3 percent.

Education pays: A master's degree netted Americans a median $60,445 in 2002, while a high school graduate could expect about $27,280 -- $21,141 if you were a woman, $22,823 if you were black.

The nation's 6.7 million civilian scientists, engineers and technicians comprised 998,600 scientists, 2.9 million computer specialists and 1.5 -- make that 1.4783 -- million engineers.

Where exactly were the eggheads? California led the nation in patents, with 22,075, followed by New York (6,921) and Texas. And in 2003, five of the seven Nobel winners in the sciences were Americans.

In our spare time: Some 63.8 million Americans, nearly 29 percent of the population, volunteered their time in 2003. Women (32.2 percent) were more likely to than men (25.1 percent). The most popular activities were for religious organizations, followed by educational or youth groups.

We also spent $2,200 per person in 2002 on entertainment and reading.  Probably no shocker in the breakdown: $2,079 on entertainment, $139 on reading. Still we managed to leaf through $35.8 billion in books and another $34.2 billion in newspapers and magazines, well more than the $9.6 billion spent on movie theater tickets. We had a choice of 1,456 daily newspapers last year.  Or maybe you were one of the nation's 65.9 million cable subscribers, paying an average $36.59 a month.

No matter what, you probably saw plenty of the $249 billion in U.S. advertising, including $49 billion in direct mail.

As for sports, were you ready for some football? Nearly 21.6 million people watched pro games, though that paled compared to baseball, which drew 69.5 million to major league games.

Nearly half of adults dined out, some 103 million, far more than barbequed (69 million) or baked (37 million). Over 49 million played cards and over 48 million went to the beach, more than played video games (29 million), visited a zoo (26 million) or flew a kite (6.7 million).

Chowing down: We got far less of our calcium from whole milk than in 1970 -- down to 11 percent from 35 -- and more from low-fat milk and cheese. We also ate more red meat (114 pounds per capita) in and poultry (70.7 pounds) in 2002, but fewer watermelons (13.9 pounds) and carrots (9.5 pounds).

Ground 100-percent beef was at $2.23 a pound in 2003, up from $1.63 just three years earlier. Red delicious apples were also up to 96 cents a pound from 82 cents, while bananas gained just a penny, to 50 cents a pound.

We slaughtered 8.5 billion broiler chickens last year, down slightly from 2002, and 274 million turkeys. The U.S. pig population was up in 2004 to 60.4 million, while the cattle population was down slightly to 94.9 million.

Potatoes were the most valuable U.S. crop, worth nearly $2.7 billion, followed by tomatoes and strawberries. Spinach managed a smaller $217 million. Sorry, Popeye.

Pesticide use continued declining, down to 2.1 pounds per planted acre as of 2002. The largest amount was used on corn. Speaking of corn, plantings of genetically modified corn crops soared between 2000 and 2003, from 25 to 40 percent of the total crop.

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