This is the question posed on CityNerd video titled “Walkable Cities But They Keep Getting More Affordable”
If you ditched your car, could you afford to leave the suburbs for a great urban neighborhood?
Ray Delahanty answers the question in the 26 biggest US cities.
The analysis assumes the all-in cost of owning and operating a car is $1,000 per month, including purchase, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.
In the city, transportation costs might total about $250 per month for transit passes, biking, ride-hailing, and other small expenses.
This results in an effective $750 per month increase in the housing budget for city center residents who do not own a car.
The results of the video are quite interesting, as you can get more m² in walkable areas in most cities
Technically I’m in a city. It’s just suburban and car-centric. If they wanted to make it more walkable and add public transport, I’d love that, as long as my kids still have their space to ride bikes, and my wife still has her car.
Even then it’s fairly walkable. I walk my daughter to school when the weather and time allow for it. I could walk to a grocery store; I just couldn’t transport my groceries home.
But that wasn’t the question.