Phoenix Is The Most Expensive City In The Country To Live And Drive

[Mook]

Phoenix Is The Most Expensive City In The Country To Live And Drive

On average, households in Phoenix spend 52.2 percent of their income on housing and transportation with the former being a tad bigger factor with 27 percent.

www.motor1.com

Rent and Ride

While housing is the largest share of spending for most households, a more robust picture of affordability also should include transportation costs.

cbcny.org

The organization’s latest survey discovered that Phoenix is the country’s most expensive city to live and drive, based on data of housing and transportation costs as a percentage of income collected by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for different types of households in 20 peer cities with the largest economies. It’s very important to note that the study uses data from 2016.

On average, households in Phoenix spend 52.2 percent of their income on housing and transportation with the former being a tad bigger factor with 27 percent. On the other side of the spectrum, Washington DC is the most affordable city to live in with an average of 40.9 percent of the households’ income going for housing and transportation.

Click to read more...

 

[Gone_2022]

What? Factual data is hard to argue with but that makes no sense to me, seeing as tons of people retire there because it’s economically friendly.

Tried reading the first link but couldn’t find a reason why for this when skimming. How does it cost that much to drive there? Are people buying stupid expensive cars? Really high gas prices or tolls every 2 miles? Honestly asking

 

[Mook]

Ya I didnt really read...was waiting for you guys to comb through it lol.

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

Misleading title....it's the most expensive city based on costs as a percentage of income. I have a feeling the high volume of retirees with plenty of money but little/no actual "income" are skewing the numbers

 

[Gone_2022]

^this. I was going to say I’ve been to Phoenix many many times, also I’ve known family who have retired there and it’s a great place.

Just like New York’s transportation numbers are skewed by everyone using the subway system. If you drove to manhattan everyday it would be a 15 dollar toll everyday to use the tunnel. Lol

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

Makes me wonder if they have a good way to capture 401k withdrawals as income.

 

[b00sted]

Misleading title....it's the most expensive city based on costs as a percentage of income. I have a feeling the high volume of retirees with plenty of money but little/no actual "income" are skewing the numbers

Yeah I figured it was misleading after seeing them list San Fran as more affordable than pretty much anywhere else.

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

I find it annoying that the website could publish this data, fully understand that it's counterintuitive, then not discuss possible reasons.

DC is the most affordable city...OK GFY

 

[Sprayin]

The cost of living in Phoenix is very low. I've lived both there and Chicago in the past 5 years and I assure you Chicago is more expensive in every way. It's irresponsible to publish data like this and not analyze it properly. On top of it being a bullshit metric (% of income).

Also, Phoenix is the kind of city that public transportation isn't really feasible. Whereas in Chicago, a huge % of people don't own cars because of public transportation.

Ridiculous "study" is ridiculous.

 

[Mook]

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

It's irresponsible to publish data like this and not analyze it properly. On top of it being a bullshit metric (% of income).

Ridiculous "study" is ridiculous.

Agree 10000000000000000000%

 

[Kensington]

Makes me wonder if they have a good way to capture 401k withdrawals as income.

I would assume 401K withdrawls would show up as income, as they are taxable and need to be reported as income...

 

[1quick]

Income is lower out there if housing and transportation cost as much as here or even close to it, then yeah the % of income to those things wouldn’t look too good

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

Average home costs please.

 

[IceCreamAssassin]

I do know when I was just there regular gas was $4.70 a gallon

 

[10sec]

That's because it evaporates faster there so it costs more to make up for it.

 

[Sprayin]

I do know when I was just there regular gas was $4.70 a gallon

Yeah gas is outrageous out there. Too close to California.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

But then they aren't tolled, tolled, tolled like we are...

 

[Dave M]

I lived in the Phx metro area for 25 years, and it has its plusses and minuses compared to the Midwest. Car registration is recockulous, they charge you 15% of what they think your car is valued at every year. When I bought my 2007 Ram 2500 Cummins, the first year plates were over $900, second year renewal was just under $800. The caveat is it gets cheaper as your car gets older down to as low as $20/year, unlike here. The sales tax is also very high compared to anywhere outside of Cook County, it's around 10% currently. Gas is still over $3.00/gallon and it's shitty California 91 octane, and transplant Californians are only making it worse with the recent gas tax increases there. Car maintenance is hellish out there too... you'll be replacing your battery every 1-2 years, windshield wipers every time it rains, tires every couple of years even if they still look new, on and on. Oh, and while the property taxes there are next to nothing, the schools suck and you haven't lived until you pay your first $500.00+ electric bill . After being gone for 8 years now, and as much as I hate Illinois, I do visit AZ quite often still and I would never, ever move back there.

 

[IDAFC21]

I lived in the Phx metro area for 25 years, and it has its plusses and minuses compared to the Midwest. Car registration is recockulous, they charge you 15% of what they think your car is valued at every year. When I bought my 2007 Ram 2500 Cummins, the first year plates were over $900, second year renewal was just under $800. The caveat is it gets cheaper as your car gets older down to as low as $20/year, unlike here. The sales tax is also very high compared to anywhere outside of Cook County, it's around 10% currently. Gas is still over $3.00/gallon and it's shitty California 91 octane, and transplant Californians are only making it worse with the recent gas tax increases there. Car maintenance is hellish out there too... you'll be replacing your battery every 1-2 years, windshield wipers every time it rains, tires every couple of years even if they still look new, on and on. Oh, and while the property taxes there are next to nothing, the schools suck and you haven't lived until you pay your first $500.00+ electric bill . After being gone for 8 years now, and as much as I hate Illinois, I do visit AZ quite often still and I would never, ever move back there.

I think you've got it pretty much covered Registration is pretty stupid out here, and car insurance is just as inflated. And even tho we get crappy cali gas, its still more expensive out here than it is in Cali. And for the rare times there is rain in the forecast, there's usually lines out the door at o'reillys or auto zone with people buying wiper blades.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

But it's not cold, no snow, and no tolls.

 

[Dave M]

But it's not cold, no snow, and no tolls.

Consider the bloated registration fees your “toll”.
I for got to mention that when the weather does get nice enough to be outside, over a million snowbirds come rolling in to clog everything up all winter.