Due to continued suburban sprawl over the last several decades, the United States faces escalating crises for both the environment and for affordability.
Unabated, this growth pattern has sharpened an urgency which has never been greater to challenge the status quo and rally public will to address sprawl.
Far too many of us remain uninformed or willfully ignorant of these issues. Some even continue to promote sprawl as the solution to the lack of affordable housing. Truth be told, sprawl is a root cause of these crises, and continuing to segregate building uses while prioritizing private-vehicle travel will only worsen these problems.
Suburban sprawl has well-documented devastating effects on the natural environment and our social, mental and physical well-being. Beyond these downsides, there is a quieter, more urgent crisis: such sprawl is quite literally pricing us out of our lives.
The conversation around housing affordability is often centered around home prices, but that is only one slice of the crisis. The average U.S. household spends $12,295 annually on transportation, or about $1,025 per month. That’s more than half the mean housing cost of $24,298 each year. This is the hidden price tag of suburban sprawl that few want to address. If we aren’t factoring the costs of cars, gas and maintenance into our definition of affordability, we aren’t being honest about our cost of living.
In my own case, I live in an apartment in the heart of our town, close to a bus stop to minimize reliance on driving. My family can walk to many destinations, and I bus to work whenever possible. As a family of five with two vehicles, our monthly transportation costs — including payments, insurance, gas and maintenance — come to about $625. That’s $400 less than the national average, a significant amount for any family in need of affordability.
Beyond direct costs, suburban commuting brings hidden opportunity costs. The average American spends nearly one hour commuting per day. At $36 per hour (the average private-sector hourly wage), that amounts to a monthly total of $770 of lost-time value. Suburban sprawl has more than just a negative impact on our wallets; our communities suffer as well. Walkable urban neighborhoods support more local businesses with steady foot traffic, create full-time jobs and keep money close to home. Suburban shopping centers do the opposite. They swallow land for parking lots, offer mostly part-time work and send profits elsewhere.
In Pleasant Grove, the east side of Main Street sustains 17 local businesses and more than 20 housing units on less than an acre. Just two miles away, a large shopping center hosts but 15 shops across 13 acres, two-thirds of which are chain stores.
Suburban development carries hidden and often-overlooked long-term costs. Utilities built all at once typically fail together, making replacements a huge financial burden for local government. Cities often favor new developments over repairs due to this cost, fueling an unsustainable cycle. Not only are we bankrupting our local communities, we are collectively hemorrhaging wealth to maintain the status quo on a national level. The cost of building and maintaining roadways is staggering. The U.S. highway and road systems — the most expensive public-works project in history — cost roughly $200 billion annually. Imagine how our taxpayer money could be redirected toward infrastructure projects that genuinely strengthen communities, were we not so dependent on cars.
The nation’s infrastructure has been built around the stereotypical “American dream” of owning a large house on a big lot and multiple cars. However, prioritizing this lifestyle for decades has created a very un-American lack of choice. Many younger Americans prefer walkable neighborhoods with nearby amenities, but these areas are scarce and expensive. At the same time, housing is treated as a profit engine for developers and real estate investors rather than a necessity.
There are better ways to address the housing crisis than continued sprawl, which mainly benefits developers. We need more housing, but it must be built responsibly. Mixed-use, walkable developments like Daybreak and Utah City should be the norm, not the exception. By prioritizing denser mixed-use walkable neighborhoods, reinvesting in downtowns, and reforming zoning, we can improve housing affordability, protect the environment and build stronger, more connected communities.
This bit of civics is supported by the Center for Constitutional Studies. Learn more about how we are marking the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary.