Counties with the worst commutes in America
Despite broader adoption of remote work policies, most workers in the U.S. still commute to their jobs—and the majority do it by driving there alone, according to Census data. But which parts of the country have the worst slogs into the office each morning?
Stacker examined the Census Bureau's 2021 American Community Survey to compile a list of counties with the worst commutes. The survey measures the average commute time in minutes for workers 16 years and older. To determine commute times, the American Community Survey asks respondents where they work (including whether they work from home), the time their trip starts, their mode of transportation, and the length of time it takes to get there.
On average, it takes Americans about 25 and a half minutes to get to work. And of course, many who commute to work have similar commute times returning home—if not longer due to traffic congestion. The survey, however, only measures time spent commuting to work, not home from work.
Workers living in counties in the U.S. with the longest commutes to work say they spend around 40 minutes in transit—roughly the length of the average podcast. When considering the Department of Agriculture estimates people spend around that same amount of time preparing meals on any given day, it's no wonder American workers have pushed to reclaim personal time by working from home where possible.
Many of the counties on this list of worst commutes are located in or around urban centers. Counties in New York City had the worst commute times of the 830 counties measured in this survey. City officials have been working for months on a plan to rejuvenate the central business district where more than 1 in 5 offices sat vacant in 2022. While it's unclear how they will get there, officials want to reduce commute times and convert unused office space into residential units.
