Jobs-Housing Balance in California Cities

Abstract

In many U.S. metropolitan areas, housing costs have skyrocketed in recent years relative to average incomes. A worsening shortage of affordable housing may push households away from job-rich cities and expensive neighborhoods into outlying areas, where housing is cheaper but jobs are more distant. Jobs-housing balance — measured as the number of jobs relative to the number of workers in an area — may influence residential location. Therefore, improvements in the proximity of workers to jobs can contribute to shorter commutes, less vehicle travel and, potentially, greater use of modes other than driving. We used data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics to examine whether California cities have become more or less “self-contained” over time with respect to the location of employed residents relative to their jobs. The data shows that lower-wage workers are more self-contained than higher-wage workers. However, overall, California workers are becoming less likely to both live and work in the same city.

About the Project

From 2014 to 2018, California lost more than 165 million annual boardings, a drop of over 11%. This project examines public transit in California in the 2010s and the factors behind its falling ridership. Transit ridership has been on a longer-term decline in regions like Greater Los Angeles and on buses, while ridership losses in the Bay Area are more recent. While overall transit boardings across the state are down since 2014, worrisome underlying trends date back earlier as patronage failed to keep up with population growth. But reduced transit service is not responsible for ridership losses, as falling transit ridership occurred at the same time as operators instead increased their levels of transit service. What factors help to explain losses in transit ridership? Increased access to automobiles explains much, if not most, of declining transit use. Private vehicle access has increased significantly in California and, outside of the Bay Area, is likely the biggest single cause of falling transit ridership. Additionally, new ride-hail services such as Lyft and Uber allow travelers to purchase automobility one trip at a time and likely serve as a substitute for at least some transit trips. Finally, neighborhoods are changing in ways that do not bode well for public transit. Households are increasingly locating in outlying areas where they experience longer commutes and less transit access to employment. At the same time, a smaller share of high-propensity transit users now live in the state’s most transit-friendly neighborhoods.