Better transportation and growth polices could help families spend less on transportation and direct more money to investments that build wealth, such as home ownership. The high cost of housing makes headlines and dominates water-cooler conversations across the United States every day. Transportation costs do not get the same level of attention, even though for most Americans transportation is an expense second only to housing. The average American household devotes 18 cents out of every dollar it spends to getting around. In some metro areas, households are spending more on transportation than shelter.
Most American families spend more on driving than on health care, education or food.
And the poorest families spend the most sometimes more than one-third of their income goes to transportation. This analysis excludes spending for air travel and ship travel. Where Transportation is Most Expensive Consumer Expenditure Survey data show that in 1997 and 1998 households devoted the highest portion of their budget to transportation in Houston, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, and Detroit. Less sprawling places with more efficient land use tend to cost people less. In places with more characteristics of sprawl, households use more of their spending power to pay for transportation.