The average cost of purchasing or leasing a vehicle has increased by 56% over the past 10 years; New York City households are spending $13,000 annually on transportation alone.
According to the “New York City Transportation Costs” report released by the New York State Comptroller on the 16th, the average annual transportation cost per New York City household in 2022-23 is tallied at $12,836. This is a whopping 56% increase compared to $8,235 in 2012-13, 10 years ago.
Items included in this transportation cost calculation are the combined cost of ▲vehicle purchase and lease ▲automobile insurance and other vehicle costs ▲fuel costs ▲public transportation costs, etc. Of these, costs spent on vehicle purchase and lease were the highest at an average of $4,469. This is a whopping 116.2% increase from $2,067 in 2010. Other vehicle costs, such as auto insurance, followed with an annual average of $3,984. However, fuel costs decreased by 9.8% from $2,180 10 years ago to an average of $1,966 due to the drop in gasoline prices.
Car ownership households in the five boroughs of New York City accounted for 43.8% of all households, less than half of the 91.6% nationwide. In Manhattan, 21% of all households and in Queens, 61.4% owned a vehicle. More than half of households without a vehicle used public transportation to commute to work, 15% worked from home, and 12% walked. According to this report, 48% of New Yorkers are expected to use public transportation to commute to work in 2022-23.
In addition, the average cost of public transportation was found to be $2,412, a 105% increase from $1,177 10 years ago. According to the Comptroller, public transportation costs in New York City decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic but have recently increased again. This is because the public transportation fare, which was $2.25 in 2013, increased 29% to $2.90 in 10 years, and is expected to increase by 4% next year. Comptroller DiNapoli warned that “transportation costs are still a huge burden on New Yorkers,” and that “in particular, the increase in public transportation fares directly affects low-income households in New York City.”
Meanwhile, the national average annual transportation cost in the U.S. from 2022 to 2023 is expected to be $12,735, up 41.5% from $9,001 a decade ago. The largest city in the country with the largest transportation cost burden is Houston, Texas, with an average of $16,159. The largest city with the largest increase in transportation costs compared to 10 years ago is Miami, Florida, with an average of $14,424, up 119.4%.