You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
2 percent
The average price of a new car in the U.S. increased roughly 2 percent over the past year, while sales of new cars dropped about 1.5 percent. [Bloomberg]
4.9 to 1
The Black List, a screenwriting trade site, found that the biggest gender skew in its script database was for horror movies; for every one horror script written by a female scribe there were 4.9 written by men. That gender imbalance was lowest in the family film, drama and coming-of-age genres. [The Black List]
10 landings
SpaceX launched a spy satellite for the U.S. government yesterday as its first mission for the military. The company managed to once again land the Falcon 9 rocket after the launch, making this its fourth successful terrestrial landing and the 10th overall successful rocket recovery. [The Verge]
$27.89
Cost of a 22 pound box of Haas avocados from the Mexican state of Michoacan as of last Thursday. That’s the highest it has been in 19 years. Mexico supplies 82 percent of U.S. avocados, and demand multiplied to 1.76 billion pounds in 2015 from 24 million pounds in 2000. [Bloomberg]
32 million
Number of students who received federally subsidized school lunches. The Trump administration has done away with Obama administration regulations that reduced the fat, sodium and calories and increased availability of vegetables, fruits and whole grains in cafeteria food. [The New York Times]
$61 million
As part of the bipartisan funding bill that will keep the government open through September, Congress included a $61 million fund to reimburse local police departments for President Trump’s security and the security of his family. Most of that is getting sent to New York City, where Melania and Barron Trump reside. Finally New Yorkers can return to directing 100 percent of their white-hot fiscal rage at the MTA. [CNN]
If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.