Compared with European averages, U.S. and Canadian residents spend 30-50 percent more money and time on transport due to dispersed, automobile-dependent development.
According to data published by economists Stephen Redding and Matthew Turner, the average American household spent approximately 18 percent of its budget on transportation compared with just an average of 12.8 percent among its peer. That means a typical U.S. household spent about five percentage points more of its income, about $1,500 annually, on transportation than the residents of other developed countries.
Table courtesy of City Observatory.
Similarly, the average American worker spent about 51 daily minutes commuting, compared with 39 average daily commute minutes for all other countries. This means that over the course of a year with 250 working days, the typical American commuter spends about 51 more hours commuting than workers in other high income countries. Valued at $15 per hour, the additional cost of commuting to US workers comes to $770 per worker worker per year.
While there may be other reasons for these disparities, they probably reflect American cities' more sprawled, automobile-dependent development patterns.
Read the full story: Sprawl Tax: How the US stacks up internationally
Cost of living too high? Planners to the rescue!
Excessive costs of living force many people to work more than optimal hours, leaving less time for family and fun. Local policies that favor affordable housing and transportation increase freedom, opportunity and happiness.
Houston More Expensive Than New York? Not So Fast
A recent study claiming that transportation costs in Houston, among other expenses, raise the cost of living almost to the same level as living in New York City. Some took exception to the study's methodology.
Houston Just as Expensive as New York City, Study Says
The extra costs of automobile dependency turn assumptions about affordability on their head, according to a recently published report by the Citizens Budget Commission.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority