You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
4.6 insurers
Average number of insurers in a sample of 20 states and D.C. that will participate in the Affordable Care Act marketplace in 2018, down from an average of 5.1 insurers in a given state in 2017. Trump administration threats to undermine the stability of the Affordable Care Act system have led insurers to increase premiums for 2018 — in many markets, by double digits — a nonpartisan study has found. [Kaiser Family Foundation, Associated Press]
28 times as likely
A study of English titles in the Google Books catalog found that books published from 2005 to 2008 were 28 times as likely to include profanity than books published in the 1950s, which on one hand, duh, but on the other that’s pretty substantial jump that it’s worth asking questions about. [The New Republic]
48.4 percent
Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan said last week that Wall Street is beating Silicon Valley by a wide margin when it comes to gender equality, and the numbers bear out that thinking: 48.4 percent of top bank’s employees are women, compared to 33.2 percent in the Valley. [Axios]
50.2 percent
U.S. cremation rate in 2016, the first time a majority of Americans favored cremation over the alternatives. The National Funeral Directors Association is forecasting that in 2025, 63.8 percent of people who die in the U.S. will be cremated. [The New York Times]
1,500
Census estimate for the number of people who commute to their job in New York City from their home in Philadelphia, which is one of the nation’s top locations for super commuters. [The Village Voice]
$1.2 billion
Jeffrey Loria will sell the Miami Marlins to a group of investors led by Bruce Sherman and former New York Yankee Derek Jeter. The sale price is reportedly $1.2 billion. [Miami Herald]
If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.