Average Travel Time to Work (2026 Data)

The average American who travels to a workplace spends 27.2 minutes¹ getting there, one way. That is the usual one-way travel time of workers aged 16 and over who did not work from home, from the 2024 data, the latest release. If the trip home takes as long, the working day carries about 54.4 minutes² of travel, and 143.3 million³ people made that trip in 2024.

The average hides wide gaps. About 4.3 million³ commuters need 90 minutes or more each way, riders of commuter rail, long-distance trains and ferries average 71.0 minutes², and the typical trip in the New York metro area takes 36.5 minutes¹ against 14.5¹ in Great Falls, Montana. The sections below follow the commute year by year, by trip length, mode, departure time, state and metro area, then by distance and speed, and finally across Europe and England.

The average commute in 2024

The one-way commute averaged 27.2 minutes¹ in 2024, with a margin of error of 0.1¹ minute. It has grown almost every year for two decades: 25.0 minutes⁴ in 2006, a peak of 27.6⁵ in 2019, then a drop to 25.6⁶ in 2021, when millions of office workers stopped commuting and roads and trains emptied. Since then it has climbed back by 1.6 minutes², or 6.3%², and stands 0.4 minute² below the 2019 peak. Over the whole period the trip is 2.2 minutes² longer than in 2006.⁴

No figure is shown for 2020: the yearly estimates for that year were released only as experimental data and are not part of the official series.⁴ A straight line fitted to 2006-2024 reaches about 30.0 minutes² by 2050. That is our calculation, not a forecast; no official body publishes one.

Working out the average for a whole country

To calculate average travel time for all commuters, add up every commuter's usual one-way minutes and divide by the number of commuters. In 2024 the aggregate came to 3,895,171,370 minutes¹⁸ for 143,334,079³ commuters, which gives 27.2 minutes², the same figure as the published mean.

Three details shape the number. It is the usual trip in the reference week as each worker reports it, not a timed trip. It is one way, from home to work. And it leaves out the 13.3%¹ of workers who worked from home, so it describes the people who actually travel.

Men and women

Men commute longer than women. In 2024 men averaged 28.8 minutes¹ and women 25.3¹, a gap of 3.5 minutes². Both lines have risen since 2010, when they stood at 26.8⁷ and 23.7 minutes⁷, and both dipped in 2021.

An average hides a long tail, and the tail is where commuting hurts.

How many people face long commutes

Most trips are short. In 2024, 61.3%² of commuters reached work in under 30 minutes, and the largest single band, holding 15.0%³ of commuters, was 15 to 19 minutes. The band from 30 to 34 minutes holds 13.7%³, far more than its neighbors, because many people round their answer to half an hour; it is a reporting pattern, not a real cluster of trips.

At the other end, 6.3%³ of commuters spend 60 to 89 minutes each way and 3.0%² spend 90 minutes or more.

The 60- and 90-minute club is back near its peak

Hour-long trips are more common than in 2010. The share of commuters traveling 60 minutes or more rose from 8.0%¹⁹ in 2010 to 9.8%²⁰ in 2019, fell to 7.7%²¹ in 2021 and is back at 9.3%², or 13.3 million² people. Extreme commutes of 90 minutes or more followed the same path: 2.4%¹⁹ in 2010, 3.1%²⁰ in 2019, 2.4%²¹ in 2021 and 3.0%³ in 2024, about 4.3 million³ people.³

Short commutes are getting rarer

The quick hop to work is fading. Commuters who reach work in under 10 minutes made up 13.6%¹⁹ in 2010 and 12.2%³ in 2024. The straight-line trend of 2010-2024 points to about 10.2%² by 2050, our calculation and not a forecast.

Car, bus or train: time by mode

How people travel decides how long it takes. Driving alone averaged 26.5 minutes² in 2024 and carpooling 27.5². Public transportation is much slower door to door: 45.5 minutes² by bus, 47.6² by subway, light rail or streetcar, and 71.0² by commuter rail, long-distance train or ferry. Taken together, a transit commute averaged 49.5 minutes², 1.87² times a solo drive.

People who walk have the shortest trips, at 12.9 minutes², because only people who live close to work walk.^{18 32}

These means are our division of total minutes by the number of workers for each mode; the published tables give the totals, not the averages.

How workers get to work

Out of 165.4 million³² workers in 2024, 69.2%² drove alone, 9.2%² carpooled and 3.7%² took public transportation. Another 13.3%² worked from home and 4.6%² walked, cycled or used a taxi, motorcycle or another means.

Working from home is the big change of the decade. It was 4.3%⁷ of workers in 2010 and 5.7%⁵ in 2019, jumped to 17.9%⁶ in 2021 and has settled at 13.3%¹, 4.6 points² below the 2021 level and 7.6 points² above 2019.

Public transportation has not fully recovered from the pandemic: 5.0%⁵ of workers used it in 2019 and 3.7%¹ in 2024. Driving alone lost ground too, from 75.9%⁵ to 69.2%¹, as home working took its place. The table shows every year since 2010.

The average rush hour travel time

Most commuters leave between 6 and 9 in the morning. The busiest half hour is 7:00 to 7:29 a.m., when 14.3%³³ of commuters set off; their trips average 28.7 minutes². In all, 37.8%² leave between 7:00 and 8:29 a.m.

The longest trips belong to the earliest risers. People who leave between 5:00 and 5:29 a.m. average 35.1 minutes², 6.4 minutes² more than the 7:00 group, and 14.3%² of all commuters are out of the door before 6 a.m. Those who leave from 8:30 to 8:59 a.m. have one of the shortest trips, 23.1 minutes².³⁴

Trip length changes through the morning. Commutes that start between midnight and 6:29 a.m. all average 30.0 minutes² or more, while every group leaving from 7:30 a.m. onward averages less than 27 minutes².

So where is the commute longest?

Commute times by state

New York has the longest commute of any state, 33.2 minutes¹ one way in 2024, followed by Maryland at 32.3¹ and New Jersey at 31.9¹; the District of Columbia averages 31.0¹. North Dakota has the shortest, 17.5 minutes¹, with South Dakota at 18.5¹. The New York trip is 15.7 minutes² longer, 1.90² times the North Dakota one.

Some of the longest commutes have shortened since 2019. New York is 0.8 minute² shorter than its 34.0⁵ of 2019 and Maryland 1.4 minutes² shorter than its 33.7⁵. Minnesota, a shorter-commute state, also fell by 1.7 minutes². Others grew: Mississippi rose from 25.1⁵ to 26.4 minutes¹, 1.3² more.

Where hour-long commutes are common

In New York, 17.2%¹ of commuters travel 60 minutes or more each way, the highest share of any state. New Jersey follows at 15.2%¹ and Maryland at 14.5%¹, the same three states that top the average commute.

Where most people are at work in 10 minutes

Rural states have the quickest trips. In Wyoming, 32.6%¹ of commuters reach work in under 10 minutes, the highest share of any state; North Dakota (30.0%¹) and South Dakota (29.9%¹) follow.

The longest commutes among big metro areas

Among the 51¹ metro areas with at least 500,000 commuters, the New York metro area has the longest trip at 36.5 minutes¹. Riverside-San Bernardino in California follows at 34.2¹, then Washington, DC, at 33.8¹, San Francisco at 32.7¹ and Atlanta at 32.4¹. Riverside is a car-commuting region, with 0.9%¹ of workers on public transportation, while New York's 27.2%¹ transit share is the highest of the group; long commutes come from both long drives and slow transit.

Across all 535¹ metro and micro areas, New York has the longest average (East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, is within the margin of error) and Great Falls, Montana, the shortest, 14.5 minutes¹, though a few small areas such as Walla Walla, Washington, are within its margin of error.

Average travel times in Chicago

The Chicago metro area averages 30.9 minutes¹ one way, with a margin of error of 0.2¹, or 3.7 minutes² above the national average. There, 12.4%¹ of commuters travel an hour or more, 9.0%¹ of workers use public transportation and 14.9%¹ work from home.

The shortest big-metro commutes

At the other end of the big-metro list, Buffalo averages 21.5 minutes¹, the shortest of the 51¹, followed by Grand Rapids at 21.9¹ and Milwaukee at 23.2¹. A Buffalo commuter saves 15.0 minutes² each way against one in the New York metro area.

How far the average person travels for work

A separate national travel-diary study records the actual trips people made on an assigned day, with the distance measured along the road network. It is a different measure from the usual one-way time above: an actual trip on one day, with transit time counting the walk to and from the stop but not the wait. In 2022, the average commute trip covered 13.43 miles³⁵ (21.6 km²) and took 27.72 minutes³⁵, at an average speed of 25.51 mph³⁵ (41.1 km/h²). The 2017 diary recorded 11.46 miles³⁵, but the 2022 diary used a new method, so the two years are separate snapshots rather than a trend.

By car the commute trip averaged 13.56 miles³⁵ (21.8 km²) in 26.94 minutes³⁵. Transit trips were shorter, 7.53 miles³⁵ (12.1 km²), but slower: 43.05 minutes³⁵ at 10.68 mph³⁵ (17.2 km/h²). Walking commutes covered 1.28 miles³⁵ (2.1 km²) in 25.05 minutes³⁵. Measured on trips with both distance and time recorded, the average travel speed on foot was 2.80 mph³⁵ (4.5 km/h²).

Speed by metro size

Commutes are slowest in the largest metro areas.³⁵ In 2022 the average commute speed in metro areas of 3 million people or more was 23.2 mph³⁵ (37.3 km/h²), against 31.4 mph³⁵ (50.5 km/h²) in rural areas outside any metro area. The published 2022 values for every metro size except rural areas are identical to the 2017 values, so the table is shown as published and no change between those two years is read from it.

Usual mode over two decades

Over two decades the car has stayed dominant as the usual way to work: 90.8%³⁵ of workers in 2001 and 90.5%³⁵ in 2022. Transit reached 6.9%³⁵ in 2017 before falling to 4.1%³⁵ in 2022, while walking held near 2.9%³⁵.

Everyday travel beyond the commute

Counting every trip, not only the commute, the average travel distance per day was 28.55 miles³⁵ (46 km²) per person in 2022, down from 38.67³⁵ in 1995. Over a full year that adds up to an average travel distance per year of about 10,400 miles² (16,800 km²). Trips to and from work accounted for 5.61 miles³⁵ a day, or 19.6%² of all daily miles; social and recreational trips covered more, 11.43³⁵ miles.

People also made fewer trips: 2.28³⁵ a day in 2022 against 4.30³⁵ in 1995. The 2022 data were collected with a new method, and distances before 2009 were reported by respondents rather than calculated, so the years are best read as separate snapshots.³⁵

By purpose, work trips are a steady slice of daily travel. The miles traveled to and from work per person peaked at 8.69³⁵ a day in 1995 and were 5.61³⁵ in 2022, while shopping and errands fell from 13.51³⁵ to 5.79³⁵.

Average travel time to work by country

Europe's commuting figures come from a one-off 2019 module of the European labor force survey. It asked employed people aged 15 to 74 how long their one-way trip to work takes without detours, in whole minutes, and counts everyone with a trip of at least one minute. That is close to, but not the same as, the US measure, which is the usual one-way time of workers 16 and over from a different national survey, so the two are set side by side here and never mixed in one chart.³⁶

Across the 27 EU countries the average was 25 minutes³⁶ in 2019. Latvia had the longest trips, 33 minutes³⁶, then the United Kingdom at 30³⁶ and Hungary and Luxembourg at 29³⁶. Iceland had the shortest, 15 minutes³⁶, 18 minutes² less than Latvia. The US average for the same year, 27.6 minutes⁵, sat about 3 minutes² above the EU average and about 2² below the UK.

City dwellers in the EU commuted longest, 27 minutes³⁶, against 24³⁶ in towns, suburbs and rural areas.

Hour-long commutes across Europe

The United Kingdom had the largest share of hour-long commutes in 2019: 14.1%² of commuters needed 60 minutes or more, just ahead of Latvia at 13.9%² and Ireland at 12.2%². The EU average was 8.5%², and Cyprus was lowest at 2.8%².³⁶

Average travel time to work in the UK

In the 2019 European survey the UK average was 30 minutes³⁶ one way, and 14.1%² of UK commuters needed 60 minutes or more. England's travel diary gives a longer view, on a third definition: the average time per commuting trip, including waiting, across every commuting trip recorded on the diary days, not a usual one-way commute. On that basis a commuting trip in England took 31.5 minutes³⁷ in 2025, up from 26.5³⁷ in 2002, or 18.8%² longer. The trip covered 9.19 miles³⁷ (14.8 km²).

A straight line fitted to 2002-2025 reaches about 34.1 minutes² by 2050, our calculation and not a forecast.

People in England also commute far less often. Commuting trips per person fell from 154.7³⁷ a year in 2002 to 105.1³⁷ in 2025, about 50² fewer, with the steepest drop in 2020. Because that fall is a one-off break rather than a steady trend, no trend line is drawn for it.

The 2020-2022 figures were affected by changes to data collection during the pandemic, and in 2025 most diaries were digital, which records fewer short trips. The trip length has moved little, from 8.52 miles³⁷ in 2002 to 9.19³⁷ in 2025, a rise of 7.9%² against 18.8%² for the trip time, so the average commuting trip in England has become slower.

School and college trips

School and college trips in England have barely changed. The average education trip took 20.8 minutes³⁷ in 2025 against 20.6³⁷ in 2002, over an average distance of 2.90 miles³⁷ (4.7 km²). Measured the same way as the commuting trip, per trip and including waiting, the average travel time to school is about 10.7 minutes² shorter than the commute. The flat trend points to about 20.4 minutes² in 2050, our calculation and not a forecast.

What the commute means for daily life

At 27.2 minutes¹ each way, the commute takes about 54.4 minutes² of a working day if the trip home is as long as the trip in. For the 4.3 million³ people who travel 90 minutes or more each way, the same arithmetic gives at least three hours a day.

The commute also sets the start of the day. 14.3%² of commuters leave home before 6 a.m., and they have the longest trips of all departure groups.³⁴ Where people live is part of the choice: the quickest commutes are in small cities and rural states, the longest around New York, Washington and the big California metro areas.

Working from home remains the largest escape from the commute: 13.3%¹ of workers did not travel to work at all in 2024, more than double the 2019 share. For those who still travel, the trip is back near its longest.

Conclusions

1. Fewer people commute, but the commute is as long as before. The average one-way trip is back to 27.2 minutes, close to its 2019 peak, even though 13.3% of workers now work from home; the 2022 diary recorded longer commute trips, 13.43 miles against 11.46 in 2017, though the diary method changed.^{1 35}
2. The longest commutes come from slow transit and long drives. New York has the longest state commute, 33.2 minutes, with 24.2% of its workers on public transportation, whose trips average 49.5 minutes against 26.5 for a solo drive, while car-bound Riverside-San Bernardino averages 34.2 minutes with 0.9% on transit.^{1 18}
3. Early starters, not rush-hour travelers, have the longest trips. People leaving at 5:00-5:29 a.m. average 35.1 minutes, against 28.7 for the 7:00-7:29 a.m. peak.³⁴
4. England's commute per trip has grown faster than the US one. A commuting trip in England, measured per trip including waiting, is 18.8% longer than in 2002, while the US usual one-way commute is 2.2 minutes longer than in 2006; the two are different measures and are compared only as trends.^{37 4}