Mobility Challenges for Households in Poverty

This research-to-practice brief highlights data from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey. Data indicates that low-income households spend a higher proportion of their income on transportation expenses. This disproportionately affects African Americans and Hispanics, who experience the highest rates of poverty. Interestingly, this brief explains that low-income individuals experience transportation differently, depending on the city in which they reside. In Los Angeles and Atlanta, low-income populations have shorter travel radiuses between home and work than the average population. In New York, this trend is the opposite – individuals in poverty are more likely to travel further distances to find work. These trends and challenges have implications for all urban residents, which seem likely to persist in the face of rising transportation costs.