4 ms·

> Outside of a very small number of major metro areas, cities in America are not livable without a car. I guess NYC is one of the "very small number of major m

> Outside of a very small number of major metro areas, cities in America are not livable without a car. I guess NYC is one of the "very small number of major metro areas" and yet OP used it to show how you can't live comfortably without a car if you make $2k/month. I understand how it can be a necessity to have a car, but we are talking about living, so before a car you need a roof, food, water, healthcare and heating. Based on what I've seen those last few months, there are (a lot of) people that owns a car but don't have a roof or can't buy food or can't have healthcare. So to me it's really weird to link "living comfortably" and "having a car".

phil21 6y ago
I think you're talking past each other. > So to me it's really weird to link "living comfortably" and "having a car". It depends on where you live. In the vast majority of the US, you simply cannot "live comfortably" without a car. You will be locked in your house/apartment unable to really do much other than get Amazon and some chain store food delivery options. There simply isn't infrastructure available for not having a car to be an option. In these areas, a car is worth more than a roof over your head if you still need it to get to work and other engagements. In the few major cities in the US where you don't need a car - expenses are crazy. Chicago is considered cheap for a major US city, and is one of perhaps 3 to 6 cities you could say you don't need a vehicle to live in. Even here, you are spending considerable amount of money to be in a decent neighborhood within comfortable walking distance to reliable mass transit. You trade your $300/mo car payment for at least that much more in rent. Cars are unfortunately a "good deal" in most of the US. They are incredibly cheap compared to many areas of the world, and the vast majority of our population requires them to economically sustain themselves. Very few times does the math work out in the other direction - a $3500 beater car is pretty cheap to maintain when it enables you to pay $1500/mo less in rent if you ignore all other quality of life metrics.

phil21 6y ago

I think you're talking past each other. > So to me it's really weird to link "living comfortably" and "having a car". It depends on where you live. In the vast majority of the US, you simply cannot "live comfortably" without a car. You will be locked in your house/apartment unable to really do much other than get Amazon and some chain store food delivery options. There simply isn't infrastructure available for not having a car to be an option. In these areas, a car is worth more than a roof over your head if you still need it to get to work and other engagements. In the few major cities in the US where you don't need a car - expenses are crazy. Chicago is considered cheap for a major US city, and is one of perhaps 3 to 6 cities you could say you don't need a vehicle to live in. Even here, you are spending considerable amount of money to be in a decent neighborhood within comfortable walking distance to reliable mass transit. You trade your $300/mo car payment for at least that much more in rent. Cars are unfortunately a "good deal" in most of the US. They are incredibly cheap compared to many areas of the world, and the vast majority of our population requires them to economically sustain themselves. Very few times does the math work out in the other direction - a $3500 beater car is pretty cheap to maintain when it enables you to pay $1500/mo less in rent if you ignore all other quality of life metrics.