Hidden Mortgage

This map computes the mortgage equivalent of the commute cost. It is computed by taking the commute cost as defined at the bottom and assumes that for each $400 spent per month one can serve $100,000 of mortgage debt. The commute cost is composed of the commute time cost, cost for the population driving to work and cost for population taking transit to work. We don't include the cost for walking, cycling or car passengers, other than the time cost. The map is intended to give a rough estimate of the cost of the commute people have in different geographic regions. It is only a rough average and will vary substantially from individual to individual. It is meant as a rough guideline to encourage a discussion about tradeoffs made between housing and transportation costs. We can focus in on the tradeoffs made by Canadians by dividing the hidden mortgage by house prices or dividing the commute cost by the running shelter cost. Definitions All quantities are calculated as dollars per household and year. Commute Time Cost: We estimate this by taking the after tax household income and assuming it is earned at 8 hour work days. We then multiply the income by the ratio of the commute time by the total of the 8 hour workday. Driver Time Cost: We estimate the annual driver commute cost by assuming the Car-to-Go rate of 41c per minute and multiplying it by the median commute duration, the average number of work weeks times 5 work days and the average number of people driving (as drivers, not passengers) per household. Transit Time Cost: We assume an annual transit pass cost of $1440 and multiply that by average number of people taking transit per household.

Author: CensusMapper Team

Dataset: CA11F, CA11N