Introduction

With a changing employment landscape, some U.S. commuters aretravelling long times and distances to get to work. One study by Moss andQing (2012) noted that “super” commuters are on the rise in the U.S.where a super commuter is defined as working in the central county of ametropolitan area, but lives beyond the boundaries of that metropolitanarea, commuting long distances by air, rail, car, bus, or some combination.This is a definition based on distance. According to the U.S. CensusBureau (2005), extreme commuters are also growing, defined as workerswho travel 90 minutes or more to work, one-way – a definition based ontime. As part of improving our understanding of the relationship of time anddistance in a commute, this analysis looks at workers who deal with bothextremes.Using the 2006-2010 5-year American Community Survey (ACS), weexamine the spatial patterns, demographic, and transportationcharacteristics of commuters who travel 50 or more miles AND 90 minutesor more to get to work, “mega” commuters, utilizing the mean travel timesand average block-to-block distances traveled for individual home-to-workflows.The analysis• Evaluates the national, county-level and metropolitan area patterns of

“mega” commuting

• Examines time and distance, first, independently, and then jointly• Analyzes county-to-county flow pairs with the highest average distance and

time; noting counties with the highest distance traveled, and extremes ininflow and outflow.

• Maps mega commutes by counties and metropolitan areas• Examines the relationship to travel mode choice and demographic

characteristics such as, age, marital status, presence of children, wages,gender, and occupation

• Compares Washington, DC, mega commuters to all other commuters and

their national counterparts .

Data and Methodology

The ACS is an ongoing survey conducted annually by the U.S. CensusBureau that captures changes in the socioeconomic, housing, anddemographic characteristics of communities across the United States andPuerto Rico. The ACS questions related to travel focus solely oncommuting and do not ask about leisure travel or other non-work trips.Respondents answer questions about where they live, where they work,what time they leave home for work, the means of transportation used toget there, the number of workers riding in a car, truck, or van, and howlong, in minutes, it takes to travel to work (see ACS transportation-relatedquestions below). The full addresses of a worker’s residence andworkplace are collected in the survey. They are each geocoded to theplace-level, and the block-level where possible.We use both travel time and distance to analyze commuting patterns forfull-time workers in the U.S. We obtain travel time from reported values onthe ACS (see Question #33). The ACS does not ask about travel distanceto work. To obtain travel distance, we utilize geocoded residence and placeof work information from the 2006-2010 5-year ACS to calculate theCensus block centroid -to-Census block centroid distance variable for eachindividual home-to-work flow pair based on Euclidean distance (i.e., “as thecrow flies”). From here, we delineate workers who commute 90 minutes ormore and 50 miles or more as “mega” commuters, workers who commute90 minutes or more as “extreme,” and workers who commute 50 miles ormore as “long-distance.”

Top Tens

Mateyka, P. J., Rapino, M. A., and L. C. Landivar, 2012. “Home-based Workers in the United States: 2010,” Household Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau, P70-132, October. Moss, Mitchell L. and Carson Qing, 2012. “The Emergence of the Super-Commuter,” Rudin Center for Rudin Center for Transportation, New York University Wagner School of Public Service, February.U.S. Census Bureau. 2005 (http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/pdf/2005-03-30_Commute_extremes.pdfU.S. Census Bureau. 2006-2010 5-year American Community Survey. 1 Not all metro areas on this list have statistically different mean travel times from those ranked lower. San Francisco, CA, Boston, MA. and, Seattle, WA metro areas have percent mega commuters that are statistically different from all other metro areas on the list at the 90 percent confidence level but not necessarily from metro areas excluded from the list.2 Anchorage, AK and Honolulu, HI have statistically different mean distances from other metro areas at the 90 percent confidence level, but not from each other. None of the metro areas on the list have percent mega commuters that is statistically different from all other metro areas on the list. 3 San Bernadino Co., CA to Los Angeles Co., CA and Fairfield Co., CT to New York Co., NY have commuter flow counts that are statistically different at the 90 percent confidence level. The flow from San Bernadino Co., CA to Los Angeles Co., CA has a mean travel time that is statistically different from the next flow and a mean distance that is statistically different from the other flows in the table at the 90 percent confidence level.4 Alaska as a POW state has the statistically highest mean distance, except for Hawaii, at the 90 percent confidence level. 5 Statistically different from other POW metro areas by percent mega commuters, except Santa Fe, NM metro area, at the 90 percent confidence level.6 Statistically different from other place of work states for mean travel time and percentage of mega commuters at the 90 percent confidence level. 7 Statistically different from other place of work states at the 90 percent confidence level. 8 Statistically different from other place of work counties at the 90 percent confidence level. 9 Not statistically different from all other place of residence states for mega commuters.10 Statistically different from other place of work CBSAs at the 90 percent confidence limit, except for the New York-New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA 

metropolitan statistical area. 11 The number of mega commuters from Spotsylvania County, VA into Washington, DC is statistically different at the 90 percent confidence level from other county flows into Washington, DC.12 Statistically significant at the 90 percent confidence level for full-time commuting US workers versus their mega counterparts. 

Nation vs Washington, D.C.

Mega Commuting in the U.S. 

Time and Distance in Defining Long Commutes using the 2006-2010 American Communi

Melanie A. Rapino, Ph.D. and Alison K. Fields, Ph.D. | Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division | United States Census Bureau | 301.763.5877 | melanie.rapino@

18.1%

10.6%

16.1%

9.1%

US US Mega DC DC Mega

Workers Younger than 30 Years Old

0%

20%40%60%80%

100%

US US Mega DC DC Mega

Sex

Female Male

60.3%

71.6%

53.0%

74.4%

39.7%

28.4%

47.0%

25.6%

US US Mega DC DC Mega

Marital Status

Married Other

$41,298.32

$50,184.62

$71,522.62

$58,967.46

$0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000

US

US Mega

DC

DC Mega

Mean Property Value/

Mean # of Bedrooms

0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%

US US Mega DC DC Mega

Wages/Salary Income

Less than $40,000 $40,000 to $79,999 $80,000 or more

Straight Line Distance = 3949.99 * arcos(sin(LAT_res) * sin(LAT_mig) + cos(LAT_res) * cos(LAT_mig) * cos(LONG_mig - LONG_res))Inflated Distance = Straight Line Distance * 1.25

The Basics

95%

5% Other

LongCommutes

26.1

119.0

42.5

118.6

18.8

166.4

26.3

102.6

US

US Mega

DC

DC Mega

Mean Travel Time vs Mean Distance

Minutes Miles

References & Footnotes

Socio-economic Characteristics

Transportation Characteristics

0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

US US Mega DC DC Mega

Time of Departure

12:00 to 5:59 am6:00 to 8:59 am9:00 to 11:59 am12:00 to 3:59 pm4:00 to 11:59 pm

Percent of Mega Commuters by Metro Area

Less than 0.5%0.5 - 1.49%1.5 - 2.95%

DefinitionsExtreme Commuting: Traveling 90 or more minutes to work.Long-distance Commuting: Traveling 50 or more miles to work.Mega Commuting: Traveling 90 or more minutes and 50 or more miles to work.

Disclaimer: This poster and accompanying report are released to inform interested parties of ongoing research and to encourage discussion of work in progress. The views expressed on statistical or methodological issues are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Presented at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management 

(APPAM) Fall Conference, Baltimore, MD, November 8-10, 2012.

Alaska4

POW state with the

highest mean

distance.

DC6

POW state with the

highest mean

travel time &

percentage of mega

commuters.

Cook Co., IL

POW county among

the highest number

of mega receiving

flows.

Houma‐Bayou

Cane‐Thibodaux,

LA5

POW metro area

with the highest

percent of mega

commuters.

0%

20%40%60%80%

100%

US US Mega DC DC Mega

Work Status of Family Households

No spouse presentSpouse does not workSpouse works part‐timeSpouse works full‐time

Metro Areas with the Highest Mean Travel Time1

Percent 

Mega 

Commutes

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA 2.06New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA 1.90Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 1.89Trenton-Ewing NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area 1.40Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA 1.25Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH 1.17Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA 0.90Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI 0.81Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 0.80Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 0.57

Metro Areas with Highest Mean Distance2

Percent 

Mega 

Commutes

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA 2.06San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 1.90Salinas, CA 1.23

Gulfport-Biloxi, MS 0.94Hinesville-Fort Stewart, GA 0.93Lawton, OK 0.82Fayetteville, NC 0.73Brunswick, GA 0.64Anchorage, AK 0.25

Honolulu, HI 0.08

Basic Statistics for Commutes

Mean Travel 

Time (in min)

Mean 

Distance

No. of Commuters 

(in thousands)

% Drove 

Alone

% Public 

Transportation % Carpool % Nonwhite % Hispanic

All 26.1 18.8 71,203 81.9 5.0 9.5 22.4 12.9

Extreme 117.6 70.9 1,714 59.0 25.3 11.8 27.4 12.8

Long-distance 61.3 247.3 2,242 75.9 4.9 13.3 18.1 11.1

Mega 119.0 166.4 587 68.3 11.3 14.3 19.0 10.4

Of the 5% that are long commutes: 

Top 10 Mega County Commuter Flows by Frequency3 

State County POW State POW County Mean Travel Time Mean Distance

California San Bernardino County California Los Angeles County 104.2 68.0

California Riverside County California Los Angeles County 109.3 77.4New York Suffolk County New York New York County 114.2 64.5

Connecticut Fairfield County New York New York County 104.2 60.4

New York Orange County New York New York County 110.7 62.3

New Jersey Mercer County New York New York County 104.6 59.3

California Riverside County California San Diego County 102.3 75.5New York Dutchess County New York New York County 116.8 76.3

California San Joaquin County California Alameda County 104.1 61.5

Pennsylvania Monroe County New York New York County 120.5 91.1

2.2

2.4

1.8

2.3

00.511.522.53

0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

US US Mega DC DC Mega

Means of Transportation and

Mean Vehicles Available (per household)

Drove alone CarpooledPublic Transportation Other meansMean Vehicles Available