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Comment by 0xbadcafebee | Hacker News Reader

There is something wrong with the transportation cost. I live in a poor rural county, and it says the 0-child transportation cost is $10k+. People's trucks here don't even cost that much, and they don't drive far. I see it counts as 2 working adults, but it's still grossly inflated.

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Are you factoring in fuel, repairs, maintenance, registration/taxes, and insurance? As well as depreciation?

I think I underestimated the fuel cost, that seems to be the bulk of it. The rest is nothing; two or three oil changes, some other basic maintenance you can DIY, or more serious maintenance you get the neighbor to help out with, and insurance is cheap on old clunkers.

It seems the government data does not agree with you that people don't drive far in rural areas:

https://www.bts.gov/data-spotlight/household-cost-transporta...

I questioned that too, but vehicle costs are based off surveyed data. So if the average 2 adults have a car payment, insurance, fuel, and repair costs, it’s probably reflected in their data. To me, that’s different than saying “a reasonable mode of reliable transportation”

I don't think it's appropriate to use the average vehicle costs for the living wage. It overestimates how much people on that wage spend on their vehicles.

For example, the average new-vehicle price in December 2025 was about $50,000. But people earning the living wage mostly aren't buying that kind of car. They could buy a new car for less than half that, or buy a used car. Or they may choose to take public transit.

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