The Low Cost Housing Trade-Off: High Commuting Costs

NATIONALLY, FOR EVERY DOLLAR a working family saves on
housing, it spends 77 cents more on transportation. This was one of the
dramatic findings from the Center’s earlier study, Something’s Gotta
Give, which reflects the basic tradeoff many working families face
between paying a greater share of their income for housing or enduring
long commutes and high transportation costs.

But how does this
tradeoff play out at the local level? Are there metropolitan areas in
which this tradeoff is more or less pronounced? Where do working
families end up living within each area, and how does the availability of
housing affect their choices? And how does the varying cost of housing
and transportation within a region affect families’ combined housing
and transportation burdens?

A Heavy Load: The Combined Housing and Transportation Burdens of Working Families – Center for Housing Policy http://www.nhc.org/pdf/pub_heavy_load_10_06.pdf

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Driven to save on housing costs

For some, commuting to suburbs costs more than monthly mortgage
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