January 28, 2024

These 10 Cities Have The Longest Commute Times

Six of these cities are on the East Coast, while the others are in California.

If you hate having to sit in traffic as you commute to work, then you need to stay away from several cities on the East Coast and some in California.

According to Business Insider, out of the 10 cities with the longest commute to work, six of them land along the East Coast, with the remaining four being in California. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, commuters in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, tend to take approximately 36.2 minutes to get to their work destination. And that’s only one way.

As one may expect, the New York City metro area is right behind the Pennsylvania city. Commuters traveling to work in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area should expect to spend just under 36 minutes (35.8) to get to their place of employment. Stockton, California, follows the NYC area, with people arriving at work in 33.9 minutes.

Rounding out the remaining cities on the list are:

The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., area at 32.6 minutes

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W. Va., at 32.3 minutes

Yuba City, Calif., was tied at the fifth spot with 32.3 minutes

Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, N.Y., at 32.1 minutes

Vallejo, Calif., at 31.5 minutes

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, Ga., at 30.9 minutes

Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., at 30.8 minutes

There are many other metropolitan areas where commuters must travel about 30 minutes to get to work. Those places are Chicago, Naperville-Elgin, Ill., San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas.

The city with the shortest commute time is Great Falls, Montana. People who travel to work in that city get there in 15.4 minutes on average. In the Lewiston, Idaho area, commuters expect to arrive in 16 minutes, while commuters living in Manhattan, Kansas, and Casper, Wyoming, could get to their job in 16.2 minutes.

The article also noted that according to a November 2023 Gallup poll, 27% of workers do their jobs remotely, while 52% utilize the hybrid model of working remotely and going to the office.