Access to Cars in New Orleans

Abstract

The devastation caused by hurricane Katrina has uncovered many of the disparities that continue to separate Americans by class and race. One disparity that was immediately obvious in Katrina’s aftermath concerned the composition and size of the area’s population that lacked access to an automobile. These households, in large part 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 very large in size—and overwhelmingly black. This paper asks, and tries to answer, some important questions regarding access to cars in New Orleans. What do we know about differences in access to automobiles across the nation and within New Orleans in particular? Was the evident disparity a matter of class, race, or both? Who was most likely to be affected? In the tables herein, the authors utilize data from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (the most recent data available that can speak to this issue) to explore disparities in access to automobiles. While the tables and figures show many patterns, the key points are as follows: (1) Access to automobiles was especially low in and around New Orleans. (2) Black households across the nation are much less likely than white households to have access to an automobile, but this disparity is even more pronounced in New Orleans. (3) The racial divide in automobile ownership partially—though not fully—reflects racial differences in income. (4) Vulnerable populations—the elderly and children—were particularly likely to live in households that lacked access to cars.