of commuters spent at least 45 minutes getting to work. Rank 29 of 35, highest first. Approximate 90% margin of error: ±0.7 points.
Before the Workday
See how long people spend getting to work in different parts of the U.S.
Try the project ↓How to use this project
Help
How to explore
Compare two city areas, then see how a weekly commute adds up over a year.
Choose two areas
Start with Indianapolis and New York, or choose another pair.
Compare trip lengths
Choose a block or time label to compare that length of trip.
Try fewer commute days
Move the slider to see how the yearly hours change.
- Metro area
- A city and surrounding communities linked by work.
- Commuter
- Here, someone age 16 or older who traveled to work.
- Percentage point
- The difference between two percentages. For example, 20% minus 15% is 5 points.
- Margin of error
- A plus-or-minus range showing survey uncertainty. A wider range means less certainty.
The trip to work
Before the
workday.
See how long people spend getting to work in different parts of the U.S.
Begin here · 01
Start with Indianapolis
Compare Indianapolis and New York, then try another pair.
What is measured? Time spent getting to work, one way.
Why 45 minutes? This is where we start counting a trip as long.
What is uncertain? The numbers come from a survey. They are estimates.
Choose · 02
Choose two areas
Each area includes a city and surrounding communities. Choose two to compare.
of commuters spent at least 45 minutes getting to work. Rank 1 of 35, highest first. Approximate 90% margin of error: ±0.4 points.
New York-Newark-Jersey City has a higher percentage of long commutes.
Scan · 03
Where are long commutes more common?
First area Second area
Each dot is an area. Right means a higher percentage worked from home; up means a higher percentage of commuters took 45 minutes or more. Choose a dot as your first area. Choosing the second area swaps the pair.
See the numbers in a table
| Rank | Metro area | Commuters: 45+ minutes | Approx. 90% margin | All workers: worked from home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 33.5% | ±0.4 points | 12.9% |
| 2 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 28.9% | ±0.6 points | 19.9% |
| 3 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 27.4% | ±0.7 points | 10.9% |
| 4 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 27% | ±0.7 points | 18.9% |
| 5 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 26.1% | ±0.6 points | 18.8% |
| 6 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 26.1% | ±0.6 points | 16.2% |
| 7 | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | 25% | ±0.6 points | 12.1% |
| 8 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 24.3% | ±0.5 points | 14.9% |
| 9 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 22.7% | ±0.3 points | 14.9% |
| 10 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 22.6% | ±0.8 points | 15.1% |
| 11 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 21.7% | ±0.5 points | 14.3% |
| 12 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 21.7% | ±0.9 points | 19.3% |
| 13 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 21.6% | ±0.6 points | 18.5% |
| 14 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 21.3% | ±0.6 points | 15.4% |
| 15 | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN | 20.7% | ±0.9 points | 16.8% |
| 16 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 19.8% | ±0.5 points | 15.6% |
| 17 | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | 18.9% | ±0.9 points | 23.2% |
| 18 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 18.5% | ±0.9 points | 16.8% |
| 19 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 17.3% | ±0.7 points | 19% |
| 20 | Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | 17.1% | ±0.6 points | 17.8% |
| 21 | Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 16.4% | ±0.6 points | 22.6% |
| 22 | Pittsburgh, PA | 16.3% | ±0.7 points | 15.7% |
| 23 | San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | 16.1% | ±0.8 points | 13.4% |
| 24 | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | 15.9% | ±0.8 points | 16.8% |
| 25 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 15% | ±0.5 points | 12.5% |
| 26 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 14.2% | ±0.6 points | 16.1% |
| 27 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 14.1% | ±0.7 points | 20% |
| 28 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 13.2% | ±0.6 points | 13.3% |
| 29 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | 13.1% | ±0.7 points | 13.6% |
| 30 | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | 12% | ±0.6 points | 12.7% |
| 31 | Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | 10.9% | ±0.8 points | 11.4% |
| 32 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 10.7% | ±0.5 points | 17.4% |
| 33 | Columbus, OH | 10.7% | ±0.6 points | 16.9% |
| 34 | Kansas City, MO-KS | 10.1% | ±0.6 points | 14.7% |
| 35 | Cleveland, OH | 9.5% | ±0.5 points | 13.5% |
Compare · 04
How long does the trip take?
Read each row as 100 commuters. Short trips are on the left, long trips on the right. Wider blocks mean more people. Choose a block or time label to compare it. Highlights are coral under 45 minutes and lime from 45 minutes up.
Indianapolis-Carmel-GreenwoodAverage one-way trip: 25.6 minutes
New York-Newark-Jersey CityAverage one-way trip: 36.5 minutes
Selected time45 minutes or longer
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood13.1%
New York-Newark-Jersey City33.5%
20.4 percentage points apart for this trip length.
Compare travel methods · 05
How do people get to work?
These bars include everyone age 16 and older who worked, including those who worked from home. Longer bars mean a higher percentage.
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
2.2 million residents · 960,422 commuters
- Drove alone74.6%One person in a car, truck, or van
- Carpooled8.3%Shared a car, truck, or van
- Public transportation0.6%Bus, rail, streetcar, subway, or ferry
- Walked or bicycled1.6%Walking and bicycling combined
- Worked from home13.6%No commute trip reported
- Other travel1.4%Taxi or ride-hailing, motorcycle, and other means
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
19.9 million residents · 8,545,850 commuters
- Drove alone44.5%One person in a car, truck, or van
- Carpooled6.6%Shared a car, truck, or van
- Public transportation27.2%Bus, rail, streetcar, subway, or ferry
- Walked or bicycled6.3%Walking and bicycling combined
- Worked from home12.9%No commute trip reported
- Other travel2.4%Taxi or ride-hailing, motorcycle, and other means
Translate · 06
How much time in a year?
Choose how many days you travel to work each week. See how the average trip adds up over a year.
213 hours
about 27 eight-hour days of travel per year, at 5 commute days a week
304 hours
about 38 eight-hour days of travel per year, at 5 commute days a week
This assumes 50 workweeks and equal trips to work and back. It is an example, not your predicted commute. A full ring is 400 hours. The slider leaves the survey figures unchanged.
Why this exists
The question
Where are long trips to work more common?
What to try
Choose two areas to compare their trips to work.
Method and limits
About the data
I used four tables from the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey one-year Summary File. B01003 gives population, B08013 gives total travel minutes, B08301 gives travel methods, and B08303 gives one-way trip lengths. The project includes the 35 largest metropolitan areas by estimated population.
Travel-time shares divide each time-band count by workers age 16 and older who traveled to work. Travel-method shares use all workers age 16 and older, including those who worked from home. The average one-way time divides total travel minutes by commuters. Displayed percentages and averages are rounded to one decimal place.
The share traveling at least 45 minutes adds the 45–59, 60–89, and 90-plus minute counts before division. Its approximate 90% margin of error combines the three count margins by squaring them, adding them, and taking the square root. It then applies the Census formula for a percentage drawn from part of a total. In repeated sampling, about 90% of ranges made this way would contain the population value. Uncertainty ranges are shown only for this combined share. They are not shown for individual bands, travel methods, or average times.
Yearly hours use the displayed average one-way time, two trips per commute day, one to five days a week, and 50 weeks. The formula is average one-way minutes × 2 trips × days per week × 50 weeks ÷ 60. These are scenario assumptions, not observed annual travel.
The survey has sampling error and can also contain reporting or processing errors. These metro totals do not link travel methods to individual trip lengths. Housing, job locations, and transport access differ between areas. The comparisons cannot explain causes or predict one person’s commute.
Skills used
- Data engineering
- Statistical reasoning
- Product thinking
- Visual design
- Editorial storytelling
- Interaction design
- Accessibility
What the data shows
- An estimated 13.1% of Indianapolis-area commuters took at least 45 minutes to get to work in 2024. In the New York area, it was 33.5%. Their approximate 90% margins of error are ±0.7 and ±0.4 points.
- New York ranks first and Indianapolis 29th for long commutes among these 35 areas. The figures do not explain why.
- At five commute days a week for 50 weeks, the average trip adds up to 213 hours in Indianapolis and 304 in New York. This assumes equal trips to work and back. Your own travel time may differ.