STPP and the Center for Neighborhood Technology worked together to analyze daily transportation costs, and revealed new links between land use, transportation choice, and how much the average family spends to get around. It turns out that sprawling areas with few travel options turn driving from a convenient choice into an expensive necessity. Transportation Is Expensive 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 on 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. 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-Ft. 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.