In terms of PHEVs, they seem to hold their value better and the cheapest one I've seen are the Ford CMAX energi which has 29 miles range, so even if you have to use some gas, you can probably replace many, if not most, of your gasoline consumption with electricity. With the added benefit that you can take it on long road trips and it's still efficient (operates like a hybrid when the battery is depleted).
We went with a PHEV. A 2015 C-Max Energi, purchased for about $13,000 at ~25k miles. It was hard to find many used PHEVs, I don't know if they were ever that popular. My wife really likes the car and having both EV only driving, or hybrid driving. It's warming on me, but my best description would be so-so with many compromises. But it's probably going to be gateway drug to an EV
We're a family of four (+2), and it is our only car. We do many (too many) long road trips, with in town driving mainly limited to short shuttle stops, groceries, etc. So a plug in hybrid seems like it makes sense.
We need to own the vehicle longer to evaluate fully, but my opinion is that while it's nice to be able to drive in electric only for short trips (20 to 30 miles), I'm not impressed with the efficiency in gasoline mode. This might be because Ford isn't great at making a small engine, or because of the comprimises associated with carrying two drive trains + a heavy battery bank.
Consider your needs well. A bike and/or ebike can replace a lot of short trips as well
My wife and I each have a 3 mile commute to work. She has a 2009 Honda Accord, I have a 2002 Subaru Outback.
People already mentioned it, but you know you can get used ebikes for under $500 right? :)