America's Most Expensive Commutes - D.C. Didn't Make the Top 10!

In an article in Forbes Magazine yesterday (America's Most Expensive Commutes, August 8, 2007; Matt Woolsey) we find that the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership (STPP) has ranked America's biggest cities by the proportion that transportation expenses takes out of annual household costs. If you live in one of the top ten cities, transportation will eat up one fifth (1/5) of total household costs. The STPP study, which draws on Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2003, takes into account gas, tolls, car payments and maintenance as well as public transit fares.

It was nice to see that this was one transportation list that the D.C. area didn't make.

       The Top Ten Most Expensive Commutes

              City                 % Transp.  Annual Delay
                                        Costs     Per Traveler

1. Houston,, TX          20.9%      63 hours
2. Cleveland, OH        20.5%      10 hours
3. Detroit, MI             20.5%      57 hours
4. Tampa, FL             20.4%      46 hours
5. Kansas City, MO     20.2%      17 hours
6. Cincinnati, OH       20.0%      30 hours
7. Dallas, TX              19.7%      60 hours
8. Phoenix, AZ           19.6%      49 hours
9. Miami, FL               19.6%      51 hours
10. Denver, CO            19.2%      51 hours

Part of the reason why D.C. didn't make the list, is that we have such high housing costs. Explains Forbes:

"Transit costs are high because Houston has few policies hindering sprawl, which in turn allows for cheaper housing. In San Francisco, which is much more dense and has more prohibitive zoning laws than Houston (pictured here), residents rank 22nd in commute costs but fifth in the combination of housing and transportation. Houston's combined rank is 14."

The study also found that cities with extensive train systems had lower overall transportation costs. Says Forbes:

"Besides saving commuters money on parking, tolls and gas, rail systems are often seen as a way to manage sprawl as train stations create central and desirable points for living and working."

So the area's high real estate prices and our Metrorail system have kept us off of the list. It's about time we got some good news.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.

Comments

[Steve]

Another reason that DC didn't make the list is because incomes are very high here. So the total costs of commuting are probably pretty high, but are not as big a portion of our relatively high incomes.

[Fritz]

I thought "Transportion is 20% of household costs!" but then I added up my expenses and I run at 22%! That's for a one car family in a very high rent area (Santa Cruz County California) and I use public transit every day for my commute. My costs are "artificially" high, however, because my employment and my wife's education occur so far apart. If we could eliminate one or the other, our transportation expenses would drop by at least 5% and probably more.