Popular animated television series The Simpsons was created to represent how an ordinary lower-middle-class, suburban American family looked.
More than 35 years on from its inception, the show has this month been extended, but the nature of a typical family in the United States has vastly changed in that time.
The longest-running animated and scripted prime time American TV show first hit screens in 1989 and if it sees out the remainder of its four-year extension until 2029, the program will have been broadcast worldwide for 40 years.
The cartoon focuses on a single-income family of five — Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie — who live in a suburban double-storey home with two cars, two pets and an endless carousel of experiences that often feature high-profile celebrities, politicians and international holidays.
But in 2025, US Census data shows that the famous yellow characters are no longer as representative of a typical American family as they once were — and yet their popularity has endured.
How have American families changed since The Simpsons debuted?
On December 17, 1989, when The Simpsons first aired as a half-hour prime time show, the cartoon closely mimicked the make-up of average American families and households.
US Census data shows that in that year, the ordinary American family household was comprised of 3.16 people — typically two parents and up to two young children.
In the decades since, those numbers have slowly been declining as American families have chosen to remain smaller.
[Households graph]Dr Rodney Taveira, the academic director and senior lecturer in American studies at the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre, told the ABC that part of why The Simpsons mirrored a typical nuclear US family can be attributed to the childhood lifestyle of the sitcom's creator, Matt Groening.
"He grew up in the kind of golden era of television watching shows like Leave It To Beaver, so these kind of classic American sitcoms that had this very traditional family structure, which was largely a white family, two or three kids who go to schools and they live in the suburbs," he said.
"He basically made the characters on his own family."
The Simpsons also reflected a stereotypical family life by mostly featuring married parental couples, Dr Taveira said.
"When Bart was born, which was think around 1980 … Most children would've lived with two married parents in their first marriage, that was the norm," he said.
"The show tends to be centred on families that have married parents in their first marriage and that just doesn't reflect neatly what America looks like anymore.
"The ages at which people are getting married has changed over the last 40 years. When Homer and Marge would've got married, the average age would've been something like 20 to 22 years old and now it's going up to almost 30 years old."
[Marriage graph]That change in family dynamic has also been seen in the homes Americans can afford to live in.
While The Simpsons' house is presented as an ordinary, suburban property in "a small town Americana", Dr Taveira says that way of living is no longer as easily attainable by the average person.
"The show's kind of aware of the improbable position that Homer is in … The show confronted this with the character of [Frank] Grimes," Dr Taveira said.
"For a patriarchal father of a family to be able to provide for them, have a double-storey home, take the family on holiday, buy a new car every few years — that was normal for many white, middle-class Americans and that is no longer the case.
"It was decreasingly the case in 1989 and even less-so now … While the median income of families has risen, inequality means that fewer people have that amount of money."
[Affordability graph]While historical housing affordability data shows an up-tick in the rate of married couples who could afford a median-priced home in 2009 to 45.7 per cent, the US Federal Reserve last year said just one in three Americans described their financial wellbeing as "living comfortably".
Why is The Simpsons so popular?
The Simpsons has notched up hundreds of industry awards in the time it's been on-air, including 37 Emmy Awards from more than 102 nominations.
Brendan Dando and Guy Davis — the Australian creators and co-hosts of the world's highest-rated Simpsons-related podcast Four Finger Discount — believe the show's initial popularity came from its broadcast frequency through the 1990s.
"It became such an institution during the 90s … Growing up in the '90s, our viewing habits were a lot different, the TV stations dictated what you watched and during that era it was just Simpsons, Simpsons, Simpsons, Simpsons," Mr Dando told the ABC.
"It just became such a part of our life, like an extension of our life, where watching The Simpsons was what we did.
"As we've gotten older it's just stayed with us and as we've gotten kids, we have since introduced our kids to it.
"I love being able to sit down and re-watch those old classics with my kids now and have them discover the show and watching them watch the show for the first time is something special."
Mr Davis believes the introduction of an animated sitcom to prime time television was a winning move for The Simpsons.
"Animation was probably viewed as 'for kids'. Having an animated family sitcom in prime time that had an adult sensibility — the jokes weren't pitched directly at children — it was literally something the whole family could enjoy," he said.
"I think each member of the family could see themselves reflected in each member of the Simpsons family or in members of the Springfield community. That gave it the opportunity for a wider fan base."
That relatability also contributes to the allure of The Simpsons as a loveable representation of "the American dream", according to Dr Taveira.
"Even a dumbass like Homer Simpson could have a job that he is eminently unqualified for, but still bring home enough money to take care of his family," he said.
"And so while it's fantastical, there's a kind of small town Americana element to the show.
"People are finding something perhaps comforting or idealistic when the world outside of it was not that and has continued to be even less so over the four decades the show has been running."
Streaming platform Disney+ launched in Australia in November 2019 and offered Australian viewers complete online access to every episode of The Simpsons for the first time.
Mr Dando says that shift in viewing method has had an undeniable impact on the show and the audiences it continues to attract.
"For a long time for new episodes of The Simpsons, we were sometimes up to a year behind in Australia and you never really knew when they were going to air," he said.
"Now … we get the show three days after it airs in the States — and that's never happened before."
The change has also been described by Dr Taveira as a "continuing cultural conversation" among audiences of different demographics.
"The fact that it is finding new audiences I think would speak to the various ways in which one can consume television now," he said.
"There's that kind of afterlife that these shows have on social media, the watching of clips of The Simpsons on YouTube and the memeification of various characters and incidents [which] might provide an entry point for a younger audience to go and watch the television show."
Will The Simpsons end after airing its 40th season?
There was no suggestion in the extension announcement from Fox and Disney Television Studios that The Simpsons would come to an end after 2029.
There is also no sign of the show's profitability slowing down. In 2017, the show's revenue was estimated to be around $US94 million ($147.9m) on top of $US245 million ($385.7m) in global merchandise sales.
The Four Finger Discount hosts say they think the show will never be cancelled, even if it stops being aired regularly on traditional television channels.
"I don't think The Simpsons will ever die. I don't think it can — it's been around too long," Mr Dando said.
"Who wants to be the executive that cancels The Simpsons? Who wants that to be on their tombstone? No one wants that, they're making too much money by The Simpsons — the merchandise is through the roof.
"I've always seen The Simpsons like a family member. Even if you don't watch the show anymore, we've all got that family member that we may not visit as often as we should but they're still family and we'll miss them if they go."
