The Center for Neighborhood Technology has put out a pretty cool interactive map comparing housing affordability in 330 metro areas with and without transportation costs mixed in. Unsurprisingly, the results show that seemingly affordable areas away from urban centers become more unaffordable when commuting costs are factored in.

I’m surprised to see that my childhood home in Indiana is rendered unaffordable by transportation while houses just on the other side of the St. Joseph River (seemingly in the same transit space) are unaffected. Our old place in Pasadena falls under the same categorization, while our current apartment in Chicago is affordable under both measures (but just barely!). Same for our old places in Wrigleyville (public transit must really factor in).