Incredible US map of avg. commute time by zip code

[lauren_knows]

MMM has always railed on the idea that your commute to work should be as minimal as possible to cut back on costs (both money and time). I saw this map today and thought that it would be pretty interesting to this crowd.

What's the difference between your commute and the average for your zip code?

http://project.wnyc.org/commute-times-us/embed.html?commutetimes#5.00/42.000/-89.500

My ZIP code's average is 31.4 minutes, and I personally average 25 minutes via car. Not super-mustachian, but I'll take the 20% better-than-average value :)

[Mississippi Mudstache]

Cool map. It shows average commute time for my county as 25-30 minutes. I commute 10 minutes (6 miles). Nice to be below average in this case.

[cavewoman]

I dig this. 

Mine is 8-10 minutes, average is 19 minutes.  We're a pretty small city.

Love how purpley it gets around places that are lacking in jobs.  This would be cool to check out prior to a move.

[Jessa]

30 minutes. On my bike, mine is still only 20, so I'm beating it by a long shot. I work at the only major employer in town, though.

[Pooperman]

It says 25 mins, but it's 1 hour for me. Moving closer is actually not worth it. Even paying myself for my time on transport, the rents are just too high that I would spend all I earn on rent and not be able to feed myself, let alone my SO.

Edit: I take public transportation before you get any silly ideas about clown car commutes!

[Tetsuya Hondo]

Cool map. Thanks for posting this.

My area's average commute is around 20 mins. Luckily, my commute is a bit shorter at ~15 seconds depending on whether I hit traffic (toys on floor) or run into a construction zone (vacuum cleaner) on the way into the office.

[Philociraptor]

28.9 average for my zip code, I personally drive 6-8 minutes, woot!

There's a part near the city that's 60+, surrounded by sub-30.  I'm thinking either trendy, upscale area or job desert.

[Roland of Gilead]

45 min for us.  We wanted to live on waterfront, which would be $1m plus in Seattle.  Tradeoffs.

[Patrick A]

Kind of a depressing map.  We will need another energy revolution sometime in the next 200 years in order to keep this ridiculously wasteful structure alive. 

15.9 minutes on average for my Zip.  I take ~12 minutes by bike (3 miles). 

Not a lot of traffic here so a 15 minute commute by car means you live out of town.  My wife and I know far too many people who live 20+ minutes away for marginally cheaper housing and don't bother to even calculate the effect that the commute has on their budget (and social life). 

[MrsSmitty]

This is cool. Average for my zip code is 17.5 minutes. I'm in the central part of a mid-size city so that makes sense. My commute is below average at about 7-10 minutes, depending on traffic.

[seattlecyclone]

My commute is 10-15 minutes by bus, roughly half of the average for my zip code.

[Shortbus]

12.5 minutes is the average, mine is about 15 minutes by bike but I'm on the other side of the island, about as far away as I can get. The difference in quality of life between a short relaxing bike ride and my old stress filled 1 hour drive is incredible, even more so than I had imagined it would be. Don't think I'll ever live that far away from things again.

[dplasters]

My running assumption is that the further from a metro center you get, the less accurate that commute data is (biased downwards).  You have to try and fight the mental battle the person already convinced themselves of.  "Living out here is 'worth it'".  Either that or you have to believe that people who live in Arlington, VA (right next to DC and a large urban center itself, have nearly the same commute as people who live in Asburn, VA many many many miles away.

There is no chance that the average commute from Ashburn, VA is actually 31 minutes.  You can't make it to Tyson's in 31 minutes let alone DC/Arlington.

[lauren_knows]

My running assumption is that the further from a metro center you get, the less accurate that commute data is (biased downwards).  You have to try and fight the mental battle the person already convinced themselves of.  "Living out here is 'worth it'".  Either that or you have to believe that people who live in Arlington, VA (right next to DC and a large urban center itself, have nearly the same commute as people who live in Asburn, VA many many many miles away.

There is no chance that the average commute from Ashburn, VA is actually 31 minutes.  You can't make it to Tyson's in 31 minutes let alone DC/Arlington.

It depends. Maybe everyone that lives in Ashburn is commuting to Reston/Herndon/Chantilly for work, instead of Tysons/Arlington/DC.

[austin]

Average is 24 minutes. My commute is 8.5 miles. I ride my bike most days and it is 35 minutes, but I enjoy every minute of it. I think it takes me about 20-25 minutes to drive.

[dplasters]

My running assumption is that the further from a metro center you get, the less accurate that commute data is (biased downwards).  You have to try and fight the mental battle the person already convinced themselves of.  "Living out here is 'worth it'".  Either that or you have to believe that people who live in Arlington, VA (right next to DC and a large urban center itself, have nearly the same commute as people who live in Asburn, VA many many many miles away.

There is no chance that the average commute from Ashburn, VA is actually 31 minutes.  You can't make it to Tyson's in 31 minutes let alone DC/Arlington.

It depends. Maybe everyone that lives in Ashburn is commuting to Reston/Herndon/Chantilly for work, instead of Tysons/Arlington/DC.

I mean, you're welcome to believe that.  I have little to back up my hunch.  But I was born and raised in the area and now live in Fairfax as well.  I know few people who have lived out there and also worked out there.  Instead I hear "I love Leesburg, the commute isn't that bad".  When its freaking awful.



"..about one-third work in Fairfax County and close to fourteen percent work in Washington, DC, Alexandria or Arlington. "

From Loudoun.Gov  (so I mean close to half of their working population is leaving the county to work and Loudoun isn't tiny.  More to my point, I don't think this trend exists only for the DC Metro area.  I think if you ask the average person how long their commute is they will give you the best case scenario with a few minutes of fudge.  That number isn't exactly "average".

Although it is likely conflated with this: "Among residents with at least one employed person in the household, about one-third (35.3%) reports that someone in their household telecommutes or works full time in a home-based business."

[lauren_knows]

I mean, not to steer this thread in a DC-centric way, but... I know plenty of people that work in the Reston/Herndon tech corridor that also live in Reston or Ashburn.  I live in Fairfax but work in Springfield.  I can believe those numbers on the map, though I totally agree that most people will give their best case scenario and most people are delusional about how "good" their commute is.

[dplasters]

I mean, not to steer this thread in a DC-centric way, but... I know plenty of people that work in the Reston/Herndon tech corridor that also live in Reston or Ashburn.  I live in Fairfax but work in Springfield.  I can believe those numbers on the map, though I totally agree that most people will give their best case scenario and most people are delusional about how "good" their commute is.

No its perfectly reasonable.  I'm just going with my hunch on survey data.  51% work in the county.  I just think its hard to imagine the average being that low when even those "close" places are 20-25 minute drives and we know that a good proportion are traveling even greater distances (in some cases much greater).  Plus the grouping is weird.  There is always a dip for people reporting 25-29 minute commutes on the ACS then a spike for 30-35 minutes then a big drop again for 36-40 or whatever that next grouping is.  My hunch is that the reality is smoother and leads to a fatter tail in the longer commutes and a longer average for many places.

I do Fairfax to Falls Church via bike.

[Bob W]

Interesting. 

  My commute is about 12 miles.   It is about 15 minutes, mostly on a newer 4 lane with a handful of cars.  I put the cruse on,  listen to the radio (any channel of my choosing), don't answer the phone.  Most days it is the most relaxing part of my day.

I've been rolling over the work from home scenario and will probably adopt that in the next couple of weeks.  It will be 3 days per week generally.   That will allow me to save money on gas and afterschool care for my 7 year old.   

 It seems like small money but over a year it will be around $4,000 in savings. (if I use 40 cents per miles as my cost)  Since it is after tax that will be like earning $4,500 per year simply from modifying some behaviors.    I don't earn a lot of money so that is a significant punch up for me. 

[rocksinmyhead]

Wow, I'm way less above-average (below-average?) than I thought! Average for my area is 16-17 minutes. Mine is ~15 minutes biking or driving, ~20 minutes walking. But that is literally from my front door to being seated at my desk, and I work on the 22nd floor.

I'm guessing this is based on zip code where people live... I'm curious what it would be if it were based on workplace zip codes, if that makes sense. Like, I live downtown, so obviously most people that live downtown probably also work downtown... but if we were looking at EVERYONE who WORKS downtown, I'm curious how far people are commuting in from.

[JetBlast]

Interesting map. The average where I live is 21 minutes and that seems about right. Due to the nature of my commute it can't really be compared to the average.

[deborah]

Utah looks like the best place to live.

[MoneyCat]

My area has an average commute of 25-30 minutes.  My commute is about nine miles, which takes me about 18 minutes by car.  It would be impossible to do by bicycle.


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[darkadams00]

Suburb with 20-25 minute average. By car for me, 18 minutes (most direct route is fine for cars but not bike friendly). By bike only, ~38 minutes. By public transit/bike mix, ~45 minutes.

[rubybeth]

Small metro area in Minnesota, average is 20.1 minutes within the metro. My distance is .7, takes roughly the same amount of time to walk as it does to drive, because parking. Once it gets colder and snows, walking will be faster because no scraping of windshield or snow removal will be necessary to walk, just warm boots and coat.