Jobs-Housing Balance: The Right Ratio for the Right Place

Abstract

The concept of Jobs-housing balance (JHB) has attracted many city and transportation planning agencies for the interest of increasing place quality and reducing travel demand. Operationalizing JHB, however, has been a challenge. There are several critical questions in the application of JHB: what is a good ratio? How should JHB be quantified for guiding land use development? And, to what extent could jobs-housing ratio be effectively used as an intervention instrument? This study aims to provide theoretical and empirical evidence of jobs-housing balance and examines the applicability of jobs-housing ratio for different planning purposes in local context. Based on a thorough literature review, the study removes the “deceptive simple concept” of JHB on the surface and gathers insights on JHB from existing exemplary studies. Absent a single consensus of a good jobs-housing ratio, the goal of this study is to present the possible ways of measuring and defining JHB in a complex urban development. This study analyzes existing JHB of the Austin Region, presenting the limitation of jobs-housing ratio in guiding the distribution of employments and housing. Local municipalities might consider more factors in terms of the application of jobs-housing ratio in local context.