The market size referred to in this post is the number of refrigerators that were in place in residential housing units in the United States in 2009. While the source does not specify that this is the number of full sized and primary refrigerators per residence, it would seem that that must be the case, since we all know somebody with an old refrigerator (or two) in the basement…
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: 126,534,000
Source: “Housing Units—Characteristics by Tenure and Region: 2009,”
Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011, Table 983, U.S. Census Bureau, page 616, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
If we accept 117 million households in the United States as accurate (most recent data), this would suggest that just a tad fewer than 8 percent of households have a second refrigerator. I know of one case where No. 2 does not even fit into the house — and must be kept in the garage!
That is true… but from another point of reference, namely 130 million plus residential units in the country, there must be a whole lot of them without a refrigerator at all. Then again, as many are vacant, perhaps not even finished, this could well be the case…
And, after all, one can certainly trust the Census Bureau’s data. When questions arise about their figures, they are answerable with a closer look at exactly what is being counted!