The War on Cars America's Hidden Desire to Live Car-Free
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Mar 10, 2026 Hue-Tam Jamme, researcher exploring urban planning and car-free communities. Deborah Salon, urban planning researcher studying predictors of car-free interest. Nicole Corcoran, researcher analyzing urban and suburban attitudes toward car-free living. They discuss a survey showing strong and potential interest in car-free lifestyles. They consider who is open to car-free living, where it is feasible, and what policy and market changes could enable more car-free choices.
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Large Untapped Interest In Car-Free Living
- Nearly 1 in 5 American car owners are strongly interested in living car-free today.
- An additional ~40% say they might consider it, based on a nationally representative ASU survey of ~2,000 urban and suburban residents.
Walkable Neighborhoods Are Rare And Often A Luxury
- Only about 12% of U.S. residents live in census blocks that meet EPA walkability thresholds for high-quality car-free living.
- Many people who are carless in the U.S. are carless by constraint (poverty or disability), not by choice.
Behavior Beats Demographics In Predicting Interest
- Travel behavior and prior experience, not income or education, best predict interest in car-free living among car owners.
- Regular transit riders and people with past car-free experience show stronger interest; avid drivers show less.
