> for renters or more normal folks who have to park on the street
I think categorizing people into "with garages" and "normal" might be a little contentious. A quick search indicates 63% percent of all housing units have a garage or carport[1]. Housing Unit includes apartments and condos. I'm sure it's very geographic, and in large cities the number will be much lower - but many many Americans live in suburbs, where 80% will have garages - this doesn't make them abnormal or particularly wealthy.
A bunch of American garages are the same way. There are lots of 2 car garages in suburbs that only have enough empty space for 1 car, if any at all. I suspect that this may be more of an international phenomenon.
Growing up, I'd hear of all of these big tech companies that got started in some guy's parent's garage. I considered my parent's 1 car garage: mom complained when she couldn't put the car in it, and the rest was filled with tools and the lawnmower. No way a company other than a car shop could get started there.
> If you don't own your own home with a garage (which I think is the majority of Americans)
I'm not sure why ownership matters... Renting a home with a garage works just as well.
I'm also kind of curious why you think a majority of Americans don't have off-street parking? In suburban and rural areas it's standard to have a garage or at least a permanent parking spot. To me it seems like only in the very densest cities that people have to use street parking. And even in the city there are plenty of apartments/condos with dedicated parking.
What kind of neighborhood is representative of what you're imagining? Maybe I'm just not picturing it right.
> It may also mean you’ll use your garage for something other than a car.
Clearly, the person who wrote this is not a Californian. In suburban California, garages are mostly used as storage lockers for the detritus of our consumer culture.
> You don't need a garage, just some sort of reserved parking space
I don't think the OP was worried about people who have the ability to dig a trench and install underground wiring to a reserved spot in a "car parking area". I suppose it's not technically having a garage but it sure feels like it in spirit.
I live in the Midwest, and no one in my area parks their car in the driveway unless the garage already has a car in it. The lucky ones use their third car garage for a workshop/storage area.
Seems like you're outside the US, so I can share some fun little garage facts:
(context: I live in the american quintessential "suburbs", cul-de-sac and all.)
Around my parts, garages are ironically barely, if EVER, used for the cars! Something that surprised us when we moved here. Many houses around here are good examples of american excess; I've seen a couple houses with like between 4-6 cars(!) and all of them are just parked in the driveway (remember with all that space we also have room for like 6-8 cars in a driveway parked 2-by-2 behind each other). People just park all ("all" lol) their cars in the driveway, and then the garage is used for any number of things:
- "shops" for wood/metalworking, or crafts
- table/chairs for those "garage startups"
- giant freezers for meats/breads/etc for larger families
- massive amounts of STUFF -- I've seen way too many garages here that are just filled with hoarder-levels of STUFF. It's disturbing.
Personally, our garage is a 2-car garage, and we put our 1 car in there, and I use the rest for my little hobbyist carpentry area. Not enough space for a full workshop, but when I need more room I pull the car out to the driveway for a bit, then put things away and pull the car back in when I'm finished. That works well enough for me for now.
American suburbs are a bizarre place for sure. Hope that clears some stuff up!
Home ownership in the USA is higher than Europe. But not all those homes come with usable garages, a lot of home owners still park on the street in some urban locales.
Citation? I'm very curious about if this literally means "garage" as opposed to "any kind of off-street parking".
Our tesla charges in.. our driveway. Our garage is too small to hold a car. When we remodel, I hope to convert our single into a tandem with a lift, holding 3 cars.
A lot of garages in the United States are 2 car garages where the cars are parked side by side. So you need a wide garage door to get the cars in and out.
Many places in North America (including where I live) have a rule that cars can only be parked on a driveway, and a driveway can only be as wide as the garage. Combine with expensive frontage and you get houses whose fronts are almost entirely garage.
Source? That seems highly unlikely
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