The Bare Essentials
What are our most basic needs to ensure survival in the modern world?
Food. Clothing. Shelter. And ... transportation?
Average household expenditures in metro Atlanta paint a picture that few of us may have considered until the sour economy caused us to reexamine our spending. According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, Atlanta households spend:
- 38% of income on housing
- 17% of income on transportation
- 12% of income on food
- 4% of income on clothing
Shocking to think that, on average, Atlantans spend more of our income on transportation than we do on food. So, how did transportation muscle its way into what we consider our bare essentials for survival?
It's got plenty to do with explosive population growth in the Sun Belt, combined with an unyielding appetite for suburban living and economic expansion that favors automobile travel. Over the past decade, the region has brought in a wave of new residents equal to the entire population of Denver. And the average household has 1.7 vehicles. Most commuters drive alone to and from work at a cost of 54ยข a mile.
In several ways, this snapshot of household spending hints at our willingness to pay in order to keep distance between work life and home life. But the current recession has created more pressure on household budgets everywhere. Can we afford to keep transportation -- specifically driving alone an average of 39.4 miles a day roundtrip to the jobs that are the source of our household income, as 84% of us do -- as high up on the list of bare essentials as it is?
When times are lean, a typical household's first move is to cut vacations, dining out and big-ticket purchases in order to keep a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food on the table. But, at a hefty 17% of household expenditures, it should be the cost of transportation that warrants a closer look.
Comments
Log in or create a user account to comment.