It's bad enough in Germany where nearly every employer expects "mobility" (i.e. driver's license+car), and that with our quite generous mass transit. US is definitely worse.
But I just moved back to Washington, and there's no way you could do without a car here. The busses only cover about half the city, and they're few and far between (and they only run until 10pm). I'm 10 minutes away from a grocery store by car, so walking is out of the question. Cities that aren't packed full of people don't have a reason to invest in their public transit systems, because the payoff isn't worth the cost (there's just too much space to cover for so few people).
>Darlena Cunha is a former television producer turned stay-at-home mom to twin girls.
...maybe someone from the Boston area can chime in on the state of public transportation.
There are many people here in Minnesota who drive comparable distances to make less money. When you live in the sticks and the closest job is a gas station 30 miles away that pays minimum wage, you're pretty much screwed.