Socioeconomic Differences in Household Automobile Ownership Rates: Implications for Evacuation Policy

Abstract

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina has laid bare many of the disparities that continue to separate Americans by race and class. One disparity that was immediately apparent in Katrina’s aftermath concerned the size and composition of the area’s population lacking access to an automobile. These households, largely dependent on the limited emergency public transportation available to evacuate the city in advance of the storm, were those most likely to be left behind. In New Orleans, this population seemed quite large in size – and overwhelmingly black and poor.