Long Commutes Are on the Rise

4/5/2013

Some 8.1% of full-time workers have a commute of an hour or longer each way, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly 2.5% have commutes of 90 minutes or more each way, up from just over 1.5% in 1990. Commuters who travel 50 miles or more and spend 90 minutes in transit each way are considered mega-commuters.

Mega-commuters are more likely than the average commuting worker to be married men with nonworking spouses, and to leave for work before 6 a.m. Mega-commuters spend a mean of 119 minutes and travel a mean of 166 miles each way, compared to 26 minutes and 19 miles for commuters overall.

Mega-commuters tend to be more affluent than the typical U.S. commuter. The mean annual salary for mega-commuters is $75,414, compared to $52,676 for commuters overall. Mega-commuters are more likely than commuters overall to carpool (14% vs. 10%) or take public transportation (11% vs. 5%) and less likely to drive alone (68% vs. 82%).

Mega-commuters are much more likely than commuters overall to live in one metro area and work in another (58% vs. 6%) or to live outside of any metro area and work in a metro area (10% vs. 1%). The San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. metro area has the highest proportion of mega-commuters (2.1% of all commuters), followed by the New York City-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y. area and the Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Va. area (1.9% each).]

Sources: “Mega-Commuters in the U.S.: Time and Distance in Defining the Long Commute Using the American Community Survey,” Working Paper 2013-03, Melanie Rapino, Ph.D., lead author, and “Out-of-State and Long Commutes: 2011,” February 2013, Brian McKenzie, author, U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 Silver Hill Rd., Washington, DC 20233; 301-763-3030; melanie.rapino@census.gov or pio@census.gov; www.census.gov.

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