Which States Have the Longest Commutes?
Hannah DeWitt
· 3 min read
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Commuting isn’t the best part of most peoples’ days, especially when it’s long and time-consuming. Many highly-populated areas have long commutes due to traffic, but certain states’ commuters are also traveling for longer distances.
According to data compiled by
Jerry
, the five states with the longest average commutes are Maryland, New York, California, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. Read on to learn more about what might be contributing to these numbers.
Maryland
Maryland has the farthest average commute of all the states, its commuters traveling an average of 51.76 miles round trip per commute. Their average commute time is also high, second to only New Yorkers’ travel time at 32.9 minutes driving one way and 65.8 minutes spent commuting per day.
This means Marylanders spend around 286.23 hours in a year commuting to work.
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New York
New Yorkers may not have the farthest commutes, but they do have the longest average commute time in the nation. On average, they spend 33.3 minutes commuting one way—66.6 minutes a day—with a yearly average of 289.71 hours.
Commuters in the state typically travel around 49.73 miles round trip in their daily commutes, the second farthest average commuting distance.
California
California is known for ridiculous traffic that often lengthens travel times, but their commute time and distance are squarely in the middle of the pack out of the top five. Californian commuters have to travel an average of 46.88 miles a day for their commute.
However, they have the fourth-highest commute time with 29.3 minutes of one-way travel. They also have the lowest yearly average for commute time of the top five with 254.91 hours.
New Jersey
MORE: How Much Does Your Commute Cost?
Commutes in New Jersey are much like California, as they don’t have as far to travel but they are in the car longer on average. The average distance traveled by a New Jerseyan during their commute is 45.65 miles round trip, but it takes them around 31.7 minutes to get to work. That puts their daily total commute time at 63.4 minutes and their yearly average at 275.79 hours.
Washington, D.C.
Finally, Washington, D.C., has the lowest distance but one of the highest commute times on this list. Though commuters in D.C. only cover an average of 32 miles per day going to and from work, they have the fourth-highest commute time, sitting right above California at 30.3 minutes one-way (60.6 per day). This shows in their yearly average commute time of 263.61 hours, also the fourth highest above California.
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