The Coalition for Smarter Growth crunched the latest Census numbers on car-free living in DC:

Just because many people live without a car doesn’t mean we insist that everyone must live without a car. I have a car, and use it sometimes. But I like having many other options so that I rarely actually have to use it (and, if I had no car, could use Zipcar in those cases where I do need one).

Having significant percentages of people living car-free also reduces traffic for everyone who isn’t car-free. Therefore, we should all look for policies that help these numbers grow.

In wealthy parts of the city where many people are living car-free as a choice, like Wards 2 and 6, we should strive to welcome more residents, to give even more people the opportunity to enjoy the wealth of transportation options that exist. In poorer areas like Wards 7 and 8, where the car-free rate comes more from inability to afford a car, we need better transportation options to help car-free residents get to work and to stores.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.