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America's Top 5 Best and Worst Commutes
More than two-thirds of Americans commute to work alone every day. While few would call their daily slog to work pleasant, some commuters have it easier than others. Here are the best and worst commutes in the U.S.
More than two-thirds of Americans commute to work alone every day and another 5% use public transportation, according the latest U.S. Census data.
While few would call their daily slog to work and back pleasant, some commuters have it easier than others. A survey by personal-finance website Bundle.com ranked 90 regions across the U.S. to find which commutes were easiest and which were the toughest.
Not surprisingly, the Bundle survey found that commuters in major metropolitan areas had the worst commutes, particularly workers in Dallas, Miami and Los Angeles. Texas commuters were the big winners, with two of its towns -- Brownsville and Laredo -- making the list of best commutes.
More than half of all commuters leave for work every day between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., and of those who drive the average commute lasted 25.5 minutes one way. Roughly a third of drivers had a 10- to 19-minute average commute, and 8% had an hour-plus drive, Bundle reported.
But it’s not just the length of time spent behind the wheel that determined this year’s best and worst commutes. The Bundle survey also factored in costs associated with fueling and maintaining the vehicles. The average worker spends more than $6,000 a year in transportation costs, with commuters between ages 36 to 40 spending the most: $6,240 a year, according to data collected by Bundle. Commuters over the age of 65 spent the least, averaging $3,820 -- no doubt benefitting from discounts available to seniors.
Which workers had the easiest commutes -- and which suffered through the worst -- in 2010? Here are the cities that made the list of the Top 5 best and worst commutes:
Top 5 Cities With the Worst Commutes
Rank
Region
Avg. Daily One-Way Commute
Total Annual Delay
Monthy Gas Cost
Monthly Auto Expenses
1.
Dallas, Texas
25 minutes
53 hours
$193
$400
2.
San Jose, California
28 minutes
53 hours
$220
$401
3.
Houston, Texas
26 minutes
56 hours
$197
$292
4.
Miami, Florida
26 minutes
47 hours
$215
$276
5.
Los Angeles, California
29 minutes
53 hours
$182
$232
Rank
Region
Avg. Daily One-Way Commute
Total Annual Delay
Monthy Gas Cost
Monthly Auto Expenses
1.
Eugene, Oregon
17 minutes
11 hours
$119
$229
2.
Brownsville, Texas
20 minutes
8 hours
$145
$198
3.
Toledo, Ohio
19 minutes
14 hours
$113
$218
4.
Laredo, Texas
27 minutes
15 hours
$125
$224
5.
Anchorage, Alaska
28 minutes
10 hours
$146
$246
Top 5 Cities With the Best CommutesBundle’s rankings are based on average commute time in minutes, estimated number of commuters during peak hours in thousands, total miles traveled daily, annual hour of delay per commuter during peak hours, and spending on gas and auto expenses between June 2009 and June 2010.
