Maryland, the District and Virginia all rank in the top 10 for longest average commuting times, according to new data from the 2024 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
Marylanders are stuck in traffic for an average of 32.3 minutes, the second-longest nationwide. District residents commute for an average of 31 minutes, the fourth-longest, and Virginians commute for 28.3 minutes on average, tied with Illinois for tenth-longest.
Both states and the district also saw increases in average commute time compared with 2023. Maryland’s average commute time went up from 31.4 minutes, the District’s went up from 30.4 minutes and Virginia’s went up from 27.5 minutes.
In 2024, New York led the nation in average commuting time at 33.2 minutes; New Jersey came in third at 31.9 minutes, Massachusetts was fifth at 30.6 minutes, California came in sixth at 29.7 minutes, Georgia was seventh at 29.4 minutes, Florida came in eighth at 28.9 minutes and Puerto Rico was ninth, at 28.6 minutes.
Experts say the shift to and from remote work has caused the increase in average commuting time.
“This trend that we’re seeing, with commute times going up, is consistent with [the idea that] people had moved further from their work – or taken jobs farther away because they could work remotely or have a hybrid schedule. So, we see the average going up as more of them had to go back to work,” Chester Harvey, transportation policy research group director for the National Center for Smart Growth, told the Capital News Service.
