How Long Americans Commute, by ZIP Code

The U.S. national average one-way commute is 26.8 minutes (ACS5 2019–2023). That figure has barely moved in twenty years, despite the rise of remote work — because the Census measures only commutes that actually happen. Workers who never go to a workplace are excluded from the denominator.

Why the spread is huge

South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas have average commutes under 19 minutes. Maryland, New York, and New Jersey average above 33. The driver isn't physical distance — it's congestion and mode share. A 12-mile drive in Sioux Falls takes 15 minutes; a 12-mile commute in northern New Jersey takes 50.

Commute as a hidden cost of living

When comparing two places with similar incomes, commute time is the cleanest single proxy for time-tax. A 45-minute one-way commute is 7.5 hours a week — almost a full additional workday — that you don't see in income or housing-cost numbers.

Why remote work hasn't moved the national average much

It's a common assumption that the rise of remote and hybrid work would have pulled the national average commute down significantly. It hasn't, for a structural reason: the ACS commute question only surveys people who report commuting to a workplace at all. Fully remote workers are excluded from the calculation entirely rather than counted as a zero-minute commute, so their growth doesn't drag the average down — it simply shrinks the pool being measured.

What has shifted more is the composition of who's still commuting: a higher share of in-person commuters now work in roles that inherently require physical presence — healthcare, manufacturing, retail, construction — which explains why the average has stayed fairly stable even as remote work has grown substantially in knowledge-economy sectors.

Using commute data to evaluate a specific move

State averages are a useful starting point, but the number that actually matters for a relocation decision is the commute time for the specific ZIP code you'd be living in relative to where you'd realistically be working — which can vary dramatically within a single state or even single metro. A ZIP just outside a major job center can have a commute time twice as long as one closer in, even at similar housing costs. Compare commute times ZIP by ZIP rather than relying on the state-level figure alone before finalizing a decision.