This is the question posed on CityNerd video titled “Walkable Cities But They Keep Getting More Affordable”
If you ditched your car, could you afford to leave the suburbs for a great urban neighborhood?
Ray Delahanty answers the question in the 26 biggest US cities.
The analysis assumes the all-in cost of owning and operating a car is $1,000 per month, including purchase, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.
In the city, transportation costs might total about $250 per month for transit passes, biking, ride-hailing, and other small expenses.
This results in an effective $750 per month increase in the housing budget for city center residents who do not own a car.
The results of the video are quite interesting, as you can get more m² in walkable areas in most cities
My electric car costs about us$25 to charge and US$800 to finance and insure monthly. My other car is owned outright and is under $100 for fuel, and $100 for insurance. I’m disregarding depreciation because it’s about cash in hand, and including maintenance puts it about $1000-1100 total.
I think it’s not unreasonable, but you need to assume a fairly short commute. With a pickup truck doing marathon 60 mile commutes, it’s more like $2000 for sure. Per car.
You can’t disregard depreciation. That’s real cost, and regardless how well you take care of your car is not literally going to run forever.
But regardless, you are forgetting to consider maintenance and a lot of other things. And if you are in one accident, especially one where you are at fault, you will find that your cost will rise considerably.
I addressed both depreciation and maintenance.
When I purchase a car, I pay, for example, $50,000. If I enter that as an asset, I need to depreciate it as time and mileage add up - ($10,000) year one, (5000) year two.
If I consider the payments simply as a cost, without considering the value of the vehicle as an asset, I don’t need to consider depreciation. It’s right there on the books as (50,000) in 2026. So that $800 for car payments plus insurance is the total cost of the vehicle. This calculation would only be a problem while I have money owing on the vehicle and try to sell it - which I personally won’t do. I’d rather own a car for 15-20 years if I can.