All sprawled out

Pioneer Press Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:57:25 -0600
In transportation costs, the 'burbs get you coming and going

What does it really cost to live where you do? In some suburbs, it can cost more than 60 percent of your income for housing and the cost of getting around. If you live in the downtowns of St. Paul or Minneapolis, the cost of housing plus transportation is about half as much. A foundation in Chicago is measuring the cost of housing choices, for the first time combining transportation and housing costs online. A site the foundation produced, htaindex.cnt.org, shows how transportation costs neutralize a long-standing advantage of the exurbs â€" the promise of bigger houses at a lower cost. The Web site makes St. Paul and Minneapolis look like bargains. Each requires only one-third of a typical household income for housing and transportation costs. The more remote the suburb, the greater the costs â€" about 53 percent in Lino Lakes and Woodbury, all the way to 64 percent in Afton. After decades of rapid growth in the exurbs, the prospect of $4-a-gallon gas "is probably a tipping point," said Linda Young, research manager for the Center for Neighborhood Technology, which produced the site.

[[keywords: LandUse;Living;Metro;]]