An LA resident moved to NYC and gave up her car. She never wants to go back to driving: 'I've got more money in my wallet but I also just feel like my life is better'

• Cassy Horton, 34, has lived a "car-free" life for the past year in New York and Chicago.
• Along with environmental concerns, many "car-lite" people point to better quality of life.

When 34-year-old Cassy Horton was growing up in Fresno, California, driving was "freedom."

"You really couldn't get around without a car," she says. When she moved to Los Angeles after college, her job required her to be all over the city, which made a car continue to feel like a necessity.

But when her partner got accepted into graduate school in New York City, she recognized this as an opportunity to try something different. In September of 2021, Horton sold her car and moved to the Big Apple. She works remotely, occasionally traveling to Chicago as she completes a part-time MBA. Over the past year, she's embraced a car-free life, an experience she called "transformational," and one she has no plans to let go of when she returns to Los Angeles this September.

"I've got more money in my wallet but I also just feel like my life is better as a result," she says. "And then when you add kind of the environmental upside as well on top of that, that whole package is really compelling and even though I know it'll be harder when I get back to LA, it makes it really worth it to me to try to live without a car."

Horton is among many millennials taking steps towards car-free — or car-lite — lives. A 2018 survey of over 1,000 Americans by the transportation technology company Arity found 51% of Millennials felt owning a car was not "worth the investment," compared to 47% of Gen X and 31% of Baby Boomers who said the same. While many are doing so for environmental reasons, a myriad of other factors are nudging them as well, including high car expenses, time wasted in traffic, and safety concerns.

For Horton, the car-free lifestyle has enhanced her quality of life. "I didn't really realize from a psychological perspective how stressful being in the car and being in traffic is versus even being on a bus or on the subway system," she says, adding she believes her physical health has also benefited from walking and biking more.

It's getting more expensive to own a car

In June, the average monthly car payment reached a record-high of $712, per a Cox Automotive/Moody's Analytics analysis, driven by rising car prices and interest rates on car loans.

Part of the reason Horton sold her used car last September was that it fetched such a high price — $5,000 more on the online car retailer Carvana than she would have received six months prior, she says.

Then there are all the expenses that go along with owning a car. A recent study by the work-focused blog Overheard On Conference Calls used census and government data to analyze commuting costs — focusing on gas prices, commute distance, insurance costs and maintenance expenses.

It found that the average American driver will spend over $2,900 on their commute in 2022, a 35% increase over the roughly $2,200 spent in 2021. Perhaps unsurprisingly, gas prices were the main culprit: US commuters are on pace to average $657 this year, up from $457 in 2021.

Horton, who says her monthly car and insurance payment was roughly $600 per month, says avoiding this "has been huge" in terms of her financial flexibility, allowing her to put the money towards rent or things she enjoys.

While Horton recognizes that her car-free life won't be without its challenges ahead, she's prepared to give it a shot. She's been googling bus routes and is seriously considering purchasing an e-bike — which she would use to commute to a co-working space roughly three times per week.

"I made this commitment to myself that even going back to LA, which is such a car-centric city, I'm not going to buy a car and I'm going to continue this lifestyle we've been able to build up and really experience during our time here."