Business

America's worst commutes

From the legendary traffic snarls of New York City to the long routes taken by rural Pennsylvanians, here are America's worst commutes.

Viorel Florescu/NEWSDAY

In this file photo, drivers pour in and out of New York City, which Census data reveals is where commuters spend the most time traveling of any metro area.

By David Grant Contributor

October 28, 2009

America's worst commute? Would you believe it belongs to the less than 10,000 residents of a small Pennsylvania "microregion"?

While New York City and northern New Jersey took home the worst commute title for a larger metro region, four microregions (a geographic division for a distinct community away from a metro area) had longer commutes than New Yorkers.

Virginians from Culpeper have a haul to both Richmond and Washington, D.C. averaging 36.6 minutes per commute, for example. But the worst of any region? The East Stroudsburg, Penn. (pop. 9888) area with an average commute of 39.2 minutes, according to data released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau.

For the Americans in larger, congested metroregions, here is the list of those who have it the worst.

Worst commutes (data)

10. Stockton, Calif. (Oakland and Sacramento): 29.7 minutes

9. Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif. (San Francisco): 29.8 minutes

8. Bremerton-Silverdale, Wash. (Seattle): 30.1 minutes

7. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.: 30.4 minutes

6. Atlanta: 30.8 minutes

5. Chicago: 31.1 minutes.

4. Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY (New York City): 31.2 minutes

3. San Juan, Puerto Rico: 31.8 minutes

2. Washington, D.C.: 33.2 minutes

1. New York City: 34.5 minutes