Allison Carter

allison.carter@indystar.com

In a keen new study, number-crunching site FiveThirtyEight found that both Indiana and Indianapolis are among the areas that most closely resemble the demographics of 1950s America.

The investigation started as an attempt to understand what the elusive "normal" America that presidential candidates are always talking about really is. What does that phrase mean to you? Small towns, high school football games, diners where you can get a milkshake with two straws? That might have once been the case, but in 2016, small towns and rural areas are more representative of the past than the future.

The study looked at how similar each U.S. metropolitan area and state is to the U.S. overall, based on age, educational attainment, and race and ethnicity. It also made the same comparison based on 1950s numbers to chart the change.

In the 1950s, the article says, America was whiter, younger and less-educated than it is today. And that's what lands Indiana in the top three states most like the 1950s, just behind Kentucky and West Virginia. The greater Indy metro area just squeaked into the top 10 for cities that resemble the 1950s, with Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, Lancaster, Penn. and Chattanooga, Tenn. as the top three.

This isn't to say that the city or state demographics have remained unchanged over the last 64 years. "Nearly every place in the U.S. today looks more like 2014 America than 1950 America," Jed Kolko notes. But the days when middle-America meant a small, mostly white, town are gone.

So if we don't look like "normal America" anymore, what does? It's mostly middle-sized metro areas, the study found. The most representative states are Illinois, New York and New Jersey. The most representative metro areas are New Haven, Conn., the Tampa Bay - St. Petersburg - Clearwater area in Florida and Hartford, Conn.

It's time to change perception. If you're thinking quintessential America now, don't think of small town squares and cornfields. Instead, look for cities of 1-2 million people in the Northeast or Midwest.

See the full results here.

Allison Carter is an engagement producer at IndyStar. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonLCarter.