Is hardwood flooring more expensive than carpeting?

A high quality wall-to-wall carpet costs more than most of the hardwood flooring products sold at The Hardwood Flooring Stores.

Looking at flooring as a purchase that will last for generations with proper maintenance, it is clearly a better value. Once hardwood flooring is laid down it doesn't require expensive steam cleaning and may only need an inexpensive re-coating after a generation of use (depending on wear and tear).

Comparing this to carpeting which needs expensive deep cleaning every year or two and replacing after only a few years, hardwood is obviously the better value and much less expensive in the long term.