Where and How People Live Without Cars

The “Has Motorization in the U.S. Peaked?” report confirmed the suspicions of many observers that Americans are driving less and own fewer cars and, as a result, attracted plenty of media attention.

With a little more time to analyze the report, Alexander E.M. Hess and Thomas Frohlich recently drilled down on the factors contributing to the choice of more Americans to go without cars—especially in the five cities with lowest rates of car ownership (New York City, Washington D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco).

For one: “The five cities with the highest proportions of households without a vehicle were all among the top five cities in a recent ranking of the quality of public transportation," according to the WalkScore metric.

The article includes a break down of the mix of options and environmental factors that contribute to the low car ownership rates in the “cities where no one wants to drive.”