Commuting in the U.S. Facts and Statistics

In 2022, the most recent year that the U.S. Census collected data, the average commute time for American workers was 26 minutes. However, for more than half of workers, their commutes were between 10 and 29 minutes long, a reasonable amount of time to be trapped in a car, bus or train, among other modes of transportation (more on that below).¹

March 2024 data from Statista Consumer Insights Global shows that, for the plurality of U.S. commuters, it takes 16 to 29 minutes to get to work, school, or university. Over half of commuters have commutes less than 30 minutes long.²

By State

The most recent 2022 U.S. Census data tell us that the state with the longest travel time to work was New York, which had a mean commute time of 33 minutes. Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota tied for the lowest mean commute time of only 18 minutes, on the other hand.

By City

As New York has the longest commute times of any state, it’s not surprising that New York City has the longest commute of any metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with populations of at least 1 million people. NYC residents spent an average of 38 minutes commuting in 2019 (2022 estimates are unavailable for MSAs).

Another New York city, albeit one with a decidedly smaller population than NYC, had the shortest commute of any MSA: Rochester. Rochesterians spent just over 20 minutes commuting in 2019.

By Mode of Transportation

Biking took 71 minutes for the average commuter in 2019, while the average travel time by bus was just 13 minutes.

Interestingly, carpooling took less time on average than driving alone — by 2 minutes. Not to mention, time usually feels like it’s flying by when you’re enjoying a ride with your colleagues.

After peaking in 2019 with average commute times of 28 minutes, the average commute time in the U.S. was 26 minutes, up one minute from 2021. What do Americans do with this extra time they gain by having shorter commutes? We’ll explore this further down.

Aside from devastating the health and lives of millions worldwide, one of COVID-19’s largest effects was on the way people work. In 2019, 6 percent of U.S. workers ages 16 and older worked from home. After peaking at 18 percent in 2021, remote work rates have decreased to 15 percent in 2022. More people are returning to in-person work, and according to February 2023 data from the Pew Research Center (PRC), 59 percent of U.S. workers are extremely or highly satisfied with their commutes.³

Many people who can do their jobs from home go into the office at least some of the time. The same PRC survey found that, of employed U.S. adults with “teleworkable” jobs, only 35 percent work at home all of the time. A year earlier, that percentage was 43 percent, meaning that even for employees who could do their jobs from home, only about a third actually take advantage of that all the time. 71 percent of workers say that remote work helps them balance their work and personal lives. The survey did not ask the respondents about gas savings, but presumably, many of them could also benefit from pay-per-mile insurance.

Worldwide, 28 percent of workers work from home all or most of the time, a number that has been increasing since 2015, according to PayScale.⁴

While remote work has peaked in the U.S., it’s still on the rise globally.

Although public transportation is a more environmentally friendly option than driving alone, many places in the U.S. aren’t well-equipped with the necessary infrastructure. As a result, the majority of Americans — an estimated 69 percent in 2022 — drive to work solo. Now, that’s down significantly from 2020 estimates of 84 percent, but it’s not because more people are taking public transit (it’s the opposite, in fact).

The reason for the decrease in car commutes between 2019 and 2021 is due to the increase in people working from home; more on that below.

By State

Residents of which state drive to work the most? The answer is Mississippi, where more than nine out of 10 people drive to work, the majority of them alone. Aside from Washington, D.C., where over a third of all workers are remote, New York has the lowest car commuting rates — only 56 percent.

In contrast to having the lowest car commuting rate, New York has the highest rate of public transportation commuters (22 percent) of any state. But if you’re part of the 56 percent who drive, you should take advantage of some cheap New York car insurance.

By City

The U.S. Census does not collect MSA-specific information on modes of transportation, only travel time. However, the data does show what percentage of a metropolitan statistical area’s residents take public transportation for their commute, and New York City had the highest amount. About a third of the city’s residents used public transit to commute in 2019, with San Francisco, California, coming in second.

Dallas had the lowest public transportation rates as only 1 percent of the residents used public transportation to commute in 2019, leaving the majority to worry about finding cheap Texas car insurance.

Which Mode is Safest?

Scheduled airlines are the safest way to travel, according to 2022 data from the National Safety Council. That being said, most people don’t take commercial flights to work, and 77 percent of U.S. commuters drive. Unfortunately, passenger vehicles are the most dangerous form of transportation, with 0.54 deaths per 100 million passenger miles.⁵

Like most things in life, long commutes have both negative and positive effects. However, it’s fair to say that the negatives outweigh the positives here.

Environmental Impact

It’s clear that long commutes are bad for the environment, particularly if you’re driving (and driving alone is even worse). Driving causes smog, nitrogen oxide and greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector contributes 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and 22 percent of this is from personal vehicles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.⁶

Financial Impact

Long commutes are also expensive, not just for drivers but for the companies that employ them. A study published by the Harvard Business School focused on an inventor firm over a five-year period found that the opportunity cost of commuting may exceed the worker’s hourly wage, meaning workers were spending more to commute than they would make at work during the same time period.

Another factor for drivers is the price of gas. AAA found that, on average, driving gas-powered cars costs 15.93 cents per mile, with an average per gallon cost of $3.99 in 2023. Electric vehicles will also hit your wallet at a rate of 15.8 cents per kilowatt hour.⁷

Physical Impact

Assuming your commute takes place in a car as it does for the majority of Americans, it could cause negative physical health effects, such as:

• Tightness in hip flexors
• Lower back pain
• Spine damage
• Worse cardiovascular health
• More exposure to pollution
• Less time to exercise
• Difficulty sleeping, which could lead to diabetes/obesity

Mental Health Impact

Long daily commutes can affect your mental health as well as your physical health. They’re known to increase stress, make it less likely you’ll want to drive for social purposes and decrease job satisfaction.⁸

However, an article published in Harvard Business Review noted some positive effects of commuting on one’s mental health. Commuting is a structured ritual that allows people to separate work from home, share the commuting experience with co-workers and prepare for the day. A drawback of working from home instead of commuting is the lack of separation between work and home life, which can lead to burnout.

Work Impact

Meanwhile, commuting may make people less productive workers. Remember that firm of inventors Harvard Business School studied? It found that commuting had an inverse relationship with productivity.

For every six miles a commute increased, there was a 5 percent decrease in the number of patents developed and a 7 percent decrease in their quality. The effects were even worse for inventors in the top 10 percent of their field.⁹

While there’s still more research needed on this topic, it’s generally agreed upon that although short commutes can have their benefits, long commutes are bad for the environment and the physical, mental and work health of commuters.

Believe it or not, some people cross country lines to do their jobs. International commuters maintain a permanent residence in their home countries but work abroad on a semi-permanent or permanent basis for two to three years. Often, they travel to their country of work weekly, every other week or every three weeks.

As of July 2024, there are very few studies on international commuters in the U.S. However, the existing research is clear that having commutes this long promotes fatigue, stress and conflict with both work and family. Another finding is that international commuters are most likely to be young, educated males.¹⁰ This is one type of commute that most people don’t envy.

Commutes have changed a ton in the past few years, so it’ll be interesting to see what the data for 2025 and beyond say. For more information on transportation in the U.S., read our statistics on car ownership.

We used data from the following third parties in this report on commuting in the U.S.:

• Environmental Protection Agency
• Bureau of Transportation Statistics
• Harvard Business School
• Keck Medicine of USC
• Harvard Business Review
• McKinsey
• National Bureau of Economic Research
• PayScale
• Research Handbook of Expatriates
• U.S. Census