According to a community survey report released by the U.S. Census Bureau on the 23rd, the average one-way commute time for Americans is 25.1 minutes, with New Yorkers spending an average of 34.6 minutes, the longest in the country.
Driving is the primary mode of commuting for Americans. 86% of employed Americans over the age of 16 drive to work, with 76% driving alone. Only 5% take public transportation or the subway, 2.9% walk to work, and 4.3% work from home.
Compared to 2000, the average commute time for Americans has decreased slightly, from 25.5 minutes to 25.1 minutes. The fastest increase in commute time occurred in the 1990s, rising from 22 minutes in 1990 to 25.5 minutes.
New York has the longest morning commute time, averaging 34.6 minutes, followed by Washington D.C. at 33.4 minutes. Chicago and Atlanta also exceed 30 minutes.
American men spend more time commuting on average than women, with men at 26.7 minutes and women at 23.4 minutes. 40% of American men leave for work before 7:00 AM, while only one-quarter of women leave that early.
10.8% of immigrants primarily use public transportation to get to work, compared to only 4.1% of native-born workers. Asian and Latino workers have the lowest rates of driving alone to work, both at approximately 70%. Asians and Black workers have the highest rates of using public transportation, at around 15%. Latinos are the most likely to carpool, with 16.4% doing so, while less than 10% of non-Latinos carpool to work.
Nearly one-third of New Yorkers use public transportation to get to work, the highest proportion among all major U.S. metropolitan areas. In San Francisco, Washington D.C., Boston, and Chicago, the proportion of commuters using buses and subways is also over 10%.
