According to the Statista Consumer Insights, for the period between October 2023 and September 2024, around of U.S. American workers spent an average of half an hour or less commuting to work. In the period between 2019 and 2024, the share of workers commuting less than 15 minutes dropped by seven percentage points to 23 percent, while the share of workers commuting over half an hour decreased from 29 to 25 percent. Rise of hybrid work models The transformation in commute times coincides with a surge in hybrid work arrangements. By the second quarter of 2024, 53 percent of U.S. workers reported adopting a hybrid work model, blending remote and on-site work. This shift, initially sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reshaped how Americans balance their professional and personal lives, offering increased flexibility and potentially reducing overall commute times for many. Driving remains most common form of commuting Among those workers who continue to travel to their place of work, driving remained the most popular mode. Over two-thirds of U.S. Americans drove to work by car, truck or van in 2022 and an additional nearly nine percent used a carpool to get to their job. Public transportation, meanwhile, was only used by 3.1 percent of workers.

When asked about "Duration of daily commute", 29 percent of U.S. respondents answer "15 to 29 minutes". This online survey was conducted in 2024, among 10,138 consumers.

This statistic depicts the average time spent by U.S. workers to commute to work in 2019, by region. In that year, U.S. workers from the Northeast region spent on average 31 minutes to travel to work.

Graph and download economic data for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Middlesex County, MA (B080ACS025017) from 2009 to 2023 about Middlesex County, MA; commuting time; Boston; MA; workers; average; 5-year; and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in St. Louis city, MO (B080ACS029510) from 2009 to 2023 about St. Louis City, MO; commuting time; St. Louis; MO; workers; average; 5-year; and USA.

This layer shows workers' place of residence by commute length. This is shown by tract, county, and state boundaries. This service is updated annually to contain the most currently released American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data, and contains estimates and margins of error. There are also additional calculated attributes related to this topic, which can be mapped or used within analysis. This layer is symbolized to show the percentage of commuters whose commute is 90 minutes or more. To see the full list of attributes available in this service, go to the "Data" tab, and choose "Fields" at the top right. Current Vintage: 2019-2023ACS Table(s): B08303Data downloaded from: Census Bureau's API for American Community Survey Date of API call: December 12, 2024National Figures: data.census.govThe United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS):About the SurveyGeography & ACSTechnical DocumentationNews & UpdatesThis ready-to-use layer can be used within ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, its configurable apps, dashboards, Story Maps, custom apps, and mobile apps. Data can also be exported for offline workflows. For more information about ACS layers, visit the FAQ. Please cite the Census and ACS when using this data.Data Note from the Census:Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see Accuracy of the Data). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables.Data Processing Notes:This layer is updated automatically when the most current vintage of ACS data is released each year, usually in December. The layer always contains the latest available ACS 5-year estimates. It is updated annually within days of the Census Bureau's release schedule. Click here to learn more about ACS data releases.Boundaries come from the US Census TIGER geodatabases, specifically, the National Sub-State Geography Database (named tlgdb_(year)_a_us_substategeo.gdb). Boundaries are updated at the same time as the data updates (annually), and the boundary vintage appropriately matches the data vintage as specified by the Census. These are Census boundaries with water and/or coastlines erased for cartographic and mapping purposes. For census tracts, the water cutouts are derived from a subset of the 2020 Areal Hydrography boundaries offered by TIGER. Water bodies and rivers which are 50 million square meters or larger (mid to large sized water bodies) are erased from the tract level boundaries, as well as additional important features. For state and county boundaries, the water and coastlines are derived from the coastlines of the 2023 500k TIGER Cartographic Boundary Shapefiles. These are erased to more accurately portray the coastlines and Great Lakes. The original AWATER and ALAND fields are still available as attributes within the data table (units are square meters).The States layer contains 52 records - all US states, Washington D.C., and Puerto RicoCensus tracts with no population that occur in areas of water, such as oceans, are removed from this data service (Census Tracts beginning with 99).Percentages and derived counts, and associated margins of error, are calculated values (that can be identified by the "_calc_" stub in the field name), and abide by the specifications defined by the American Community Survey.Field alias names were created based on the Table Shells file available from the American Community Survey Summary File Documentation page.Negative values (e.g., -4444...) have been set to null, with the exception of -5555... which has been set to zero. These negative values exist in the raw API data to indicate the following situations:The margin of error column indicates that either no sample observations or too few sample observations were available to compute a standard error and thus the margin of error. A statistical test is not appropriate.Either no sample observations or too few sample observations were available to compute an estimate, or a ratio of medians cannot be calculated because one or both of the median estimates falls in the lowest interval or upper interval of an open-ended distribution.The median falls in the lowest interval of an open-ended distribution, or in the upper interval of an open-ended distribution. A statistical test is not appropriate.The estimate is controlled. A statistical test for sampling variability is not appropriate.The data for this geographic area cannot be displayed because the number of sample cases is too small.

This statistic depicts the average distance people ride on their way to work with public transport in Latin America as of May 2018. In that period, in Mexico's capital Mexico City people had to commute a distance of 9.9 kilometers on average.

Graph and download economic data for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Forsyth County, GA (B080ACS013117) from 2009 to 2023 about Forsyth County, GA; commuting time; Atlanta; workers; average; GA; 5-year; and USA.

This statistic depicts the average time people spend on their way to work with public transport in Latin America as of May 2018. In that period, Colombia's capital Bogota was at the top of the list, with an average commute time of 97 minutes.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Commute Time (T3)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Commute time by residential location

LAST UPDATED
January 2023

DESCRIPTION
Commute time refers to the average number of minutes a commuter spends traveling to work on a typical day. The dataset includes metropolitan area, county, city, and census tract tables by place of residence.

DATA SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census (1980-2000) - via MTC/ABAG Bay Area Census - http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/transportation.htm

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey - https://data.census.gov/
2006-2021
Form C08136
Form C08536
Form B08301
Form B08301
Form B08301

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
For the decennial Census datasets, breakdown of commute times was unavailable by mode; only overall data could be provided on a historical basis.

For the American Community Survey (ACS) datasets, 1-year rolling average data was used for all metros, region and county geographic levels, while 5-year rolling average data was used for cities and tracts. This is due to the fact that more localized data is not included in the 1-year dataset across all Bay Area cities. Similarly, modal data is not available for every Bay Area city or census tract, even when the 5-year data is used for those localized geographies.

Regional commute times were calculated by summing aggregate county travel times and dividing by the relevant population; similarly, modal commute times were calculated using aggregate times and dividing by the number of communities choosing that mode for the given geography.

Census tract data is not available for tracts with insufficient numbers of residents. The metropolitan area comparison was performed for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area in addition to the primary metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for the nine other major metropolitan areas.

Graph and download economic data for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Kings County, NY (B080ACS036047) from 2009 to 2023 about Kings County, NY; commuting time; New York; workers; average; NY; 5-year; and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Harris County, TX (B080ACS048201) from 2009 to 2023 about Harris County, TX; commuting time; Houston; workers; average; TX; 5-year; and USA.

In 2022, almost 67 percent of workers in the U.S. commuted by personal vehicle on their own. During the same year, only 3.1 percent of Americans workers traveled to work using public transportation. Meanwhile, around 15 percent of U.S. Americans worked from home.

Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Holmes County, MS was 34.59476 Minutes in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Holmes County, MS reached a record high of 35.88856 in January of 2022 and a record low of 25.66781 in January of 2013. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Holmes County, MS - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on March of 2025.

Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Adams County, ID was 22.65593 Minutes in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Adams County, ID reached a record high of 24.77273 in January of 2019 and a record low of 18.30082 in January of 2010. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Adams County, ID - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on March of 2025.

As of 2022, commuter rail was the most expensive mode of public transportation in terms of the median cost for a monthly pass in the United States, costing 137.5 dollars. The next most expensive modes of transportation were the commuter bus, trolleybus, and heavy and hybrid rail with about 95 down to about 84 dollars respectively. The rest of the modes had quite comparable prices with the bus having the lowest cost, among the priced options, with 55 dollars.

Graph and download economic data for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Fairfax County, VA (B080ACS051059) from 2009 to 2023 about Fairfax County, VA; commuting time; Washington; workers; average; VA; 5-year; and USA.

This statistic shows the major cities in the United States with the longest commuting time in 2016. In that year, Jersey City had the second longest commuting time; U.S. workers spent on average 30 minutes to travel to work.

Graph and download economic data for Mean Commuting Time for Workers (5-year estimate) in Floyd County, IN (B080ACS018043) from 2009 to 2023 about Floyd County, IN; commuting time; Louisville; IN; workers; average; 5-year; and USA.

In 2020, the U.S. average passenger revenue per passenger-mile in commuter rail amounted to 27.6 U.S. cents. The same year, the average passenger fare in commuter rail amounted to 6.41 U.S. dollars