Skip to main content

StreetLight Data reveals longest commutes to work across US

Commuters in the US state of Maine travel 9.8 miles to work on a daily basis, a 72% longer journey than the 5.7-mile median commute in Wyoming, according to the latest report by StreetLight Data. The transportation analytics company conducted its study on nearly 30,000 ZIP codes in areas with over 1,000 residents as part of a strategy to help encourage businesses and governments to start fixing the accessibility gap. The inquiry also highlighted the longest and shortest commutes in each state by ZIP cod
March 12, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Commuters in the US state of Maine travel 9.8 miles to work on a daily basis, a 72% longer journey than the 5.7-mile median commute in Wyoming, according to the latest report by StreetLight Data. The transportation analytics company conducted its study on nearly 30,000 ZIP codes in areas with over 1,000 residents as part of a strategy to help encourage businesses and governments to start fixing the accessibility gap.


The inquiry also highlighted the longest and shortest commutes in each state by ZIP code. California's ZIP 92309 showed the worst median commute of 115.4 miles while North Carolina’s ZIP 28575 had the shortest commute of 0.2 miles.

City by City results revealed that Bishop, California, is the Metropolitan area with the longest one-way commute of 70.2 miles. However, the 4,787-low population core-based statistical area (CBSA) may be over-influenced by a few extreme commuters. Ocean Pines, Maryland-Delaware’s population of 50,375 came second with a median commute distance of 29.2 miles.

Laramie, Wyoming, is the CBSA with the shortest commute of 1.7 miles with a population of 35,221. It is followed by Kansas’ population of 25,292 who travel 2.1 miles to work. The report noted that some of the rural CBSA's may be influenced by people who work on farms located close to their homes.

Additionally, cities such as Oxford, Mississippi, has students that attend Universities as their place of work and who often live nearby. It has a population of 43,250 and a median commute distance of 3.2 miles.

A full copy of the report is available %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external here false https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/519045/Commutes%20Across%20America_180201_LR.pdf false false%>.

Related Content

  • Waymo gets California green light for public driverless tests
    November 2, 2018
    Waymo has been granted a licence to test fully-driverless cars on public roads in California. It is the first company to be given the green light for such trials in the state – and it means there will be no test driver sitting in the driver’s seat. The permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads and highways with speed limits of up to 65mph. Waymo insists: “Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit. We will gradual
  • California Road Charge Pilot Project – request for proposals
    November 10, 2015
    D’Artagnan Consulting has been retained by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as the prime contractor to assist the Caltrans with formulation, design, management and implementation of the California Road Charge Pilot Program. A key element of the program is the California Road Charge Pilot Project, which will demonstrate and evaluate an operational road charge system with 5000 volunteer vehicles from summer 2016 to spring 2017.
  • Bird establishes board to help increase safety for e-scooter riders
    August 14, 2018
    US electric mobility company Bird has formed a global safety advisory board to implement campaigns and products to improve the safety for riders using electric scooters. The board will also seek to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists who share space with riders using low-speed e-scooters. Additionally, Bird intends to carry on working with cities through its Save Our Sidewalks pledge to boost rider safety and improve the quality of bikes lanes. The scope of the work includes repainting an
  • London Science Museum hosts free driverless vehicle exhibition
    March 8, 2019
    Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are at the heart of a new exhibition at the London Science Museum. Driverless: Who is in control? opens on 12 June and looks at “how close we are to living in a world driven by thinking machines”. Continuing until October 2020, the show examines themes familiar to ITS professionals wrestling with the legal, ethical and logistical issues around the introduction of driverless cars to public roads. The museum says it will focus on “how much of this seemingly futuristic technolog