NYU study examines correlation between transportation access and income

A report by New York University's Rudin Center for Policy and Management links earning power to transportation access.  It examined 177 zip codes in the New York metropolitan area and found that Chelsea, a Manhattan neighborhood with the best access to transportation, had the highest median income and lowest unemployment rate, broadly concluding that in high income neighborhoods, 79% commute by walking or public transit, and only 10.9% by car.

Comparatively, neighborhoods with the worst access to transit (South Staten Island) had lower median incomes ($61,381) and slightly lower unemployment rates (9.7%), but more than 50% commuted by car.The neighborhoods with limited access to public transit, like the Flatlands in Brooklyn, fare the worst: their unemployment rate is nearly 12%, and their median household income is around $46,000.

“In New York, mass transit is the path to economic mobility, not education,” Mitchell Moss, Rudin's director, told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s far more important to have a MetroCard than a college degree.”

Source: Gothamist