[ghaff]

NYC is also an outlier in that there's really no cultural expectation that you own a car and drive. As an adult professional, I'm not sure there's any other US city where I would choose not to do so simply because friends and activities are so often structured around owning a car and certainly being able to drive--even if there's decent transit. You can work around it to some degree (and I know a couple people who do) but I doubt I'd choose to.

[coldcode]

In San Francisco it's common to not own a car, since parking is expensive and often not available and insurance is high also. At one point in the mid-90s I vaguely remember the ticket for parking illegally was less than the average parking space, until the city realized it. But SF is very small, so public transit/Uber/etc gives you many options to get around. Where I live now, if you have no car you go nowhere.

[ghaff]

SF does have somewhat lower car ownership than the average American city. I know a couple in SF who don't own one. Though I'd observe that, in addition to muni and some cycling, they lean heavily on Uber, Zipcar, and conventional rentals so they're carless mostly in the sense that they don't own one and have to park it but they certainly use and drive cars in some form on an ongoing basis.