Originally Posted by tandempower

Imagine you move into a given area. One side of town is very sprawling and hostile toward car free living, but jobs provide high income, though they are typically far from residences. The other side of town is less sprawling, more bikable, has better transit, and is generally more friendly to car free living BUT the jobs in this area pay mostly low wages and/or offer only part-time schedules, etc.

If you had to choose between these two sides of town, would you choose to live car free with low income or accept having to drive everywhere in exchange for higher income? Also, note that traffic-flow is not smooth on the wealthier side of town. There is a lot of sitting in slow-moving traffic as a cost of better income prospects.