The True Cost of Living in the Suburbs
The median household in the United States spends 19% of their budget on transportation. However, in the suburbs, that cost can rise to more than 40% of the budget. Suddenly, the suburbs don’t look so cheap — living closer to the city center cuts your transportation costs but housing is more expensive. How does one find the cheapest overall cost of living? Fortunately, someone has made a map showing the total cost of living. From the blog post:
This map combines both housing and transportation costs. The result is maybe a bit surprising. In-city areas tend to look pretty good, while far-flung suburbs — where you get a lot of square footage (and lawnage) for your money — don’t look so good at all. It makes a little clearer the tradeoff between floor space and travel costs, which tend to be higher than buyers imagine.
This will be quite useful for when my wife and I move back to The States. Currently living in a big city with fantastic public transportation, it’s easy to forget how much cars cost.
[Click here to read ‘The True Cost of Suburban Housing’]
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Header photograph by ulybug
Story via WorldChanging.com
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