[jeffreyrogers]

Houston's housing isn't expensive though. It has few zoning laws and is not land constrained though (unlike NYC or SF).

[mauvehaus]

There's also an awfully short list of places in the US that sprawl more than Houston.

I'm not arguing that sprawl is inherently bad, but it definitely does add the need to own a car (for most people) and spend a lot of time in it (ditto).