Ongoing research of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States draws a direct connection between housing affordability, auto ownership, auto use and transit ridership. By factoring in the cost of transportation, the index puts an emphasis on location efficiency rather than simply the cost of housing.
The Housing+Transportation Affordability Index has been an ongoing project by the Center for Neighborhood Technology along with the Center for Transit Oriented Development with support from the Brookings Institute. The recently expanded website includes analysis of more than 330 metro areas in the United States that account for more than 80% of the population, thanks to funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.
“Compact neighborhoods with walkable streets, access to transit, and a wide variety of stores and services have high location efficiency. They require less time, money, and greenhouse gas emissions for residents to meet their everyday travel requirements. The savings add up for households and communities. Transportation costs can range from 15% of household income in location efficient neighborhoods to over 28% in inefficient locations. Greenhouse gas emissions fluctuate too, depending on household reliance on costly, carbon-intensive automobile travel.”
Be sure to check out this application to see how your neighborhood rates.
