Average commute time by state

New York has the highest estimate (33.2 min); North Dakota has the lowest (17.5 min). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 1-year, 2024.

Data year: 2024Source released Sept. 11, 2025Last updated Oct. 23, 2026GCT0801

50 ranked states; DC and Puerto Rico appear as reference rows where the source supplies them. Highest does not mean best. Ranks reflect point estimates; close values may not differ statistically.

Lowest state estimate 17.5 min North Dakota

Highest state estimate 33.2 min New York

Each dot is a state. The scale runs from the lowest to highest estimate; intervals are not shown here. Read about uncertainty.

State distribution and comparisons

The middle of the 50-state distribution is 25.7 min: the average of the 25th and 26th ordered state estimates. This treats each state equally, so it answers a different question from a population-weighted national estimate.

No other state is statistically tied with New York at 90% confidence. Every other state differs from the highest point estimate under this pairwise test. This is not a confidence interval for rank, and testing multiple pairs increases false-positive risk.

See the top ten estimates with their 90% margins of error

Shared axis spans the complete 50-state estimate ± MOE range. Intervals describe individual estimates; overlapping intervals alone are not our significance test.

How does this compare with driving alone to work?

These states’ ranks change the most between average commute time and driving alone to work. These comparisons identify different questions worth investigating; a rank gap does not measure a causal effect or a statistical difference between unlike units.

State	Average commute time	Driving alone to work
New York	33.2 min · #1	48.7% · #50
New Jersey	31.9 min · #3	63.3% · #48
Massachusetts	30.6 min · #4	62.0% · #49

Inspect these states, definitions and pairwise differences.

Values over time

Annual ACS 1-year estimates, 2021–2024. Each year is a separate published survey release; 2020 is excluded because the Census Bureau did not release standard 1-year estimates for that year. Ranks are recalculated among the same 50 states for each year.

Choose a state

The state-by-state view

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Ranked among 50 states; District of Columbia and Puerto Rico shown for reference. Rank 1 = highest value.

Average commute time · 2024 · Minutes
Rank	State / jurisdiction	Value	90% margin of error	Difference from previous rank
1	New York	33.2 min	± 0.2 min	Highest estimate
2	Maryland	32.3 min	± 0.3 min	Different at 90%
3	New Jersey	31.9 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
4	Massachusetts	30.6 min	± 0.3 min	Different at 90%
5	California	29.7 min	± 0.1 min	Different at 90%
6	Georgia	29.4 min	± 0.2 min	Different at 90%
7	Florida	28.9 min	± 0.2 min	Different at 90%
8	Illinois	28.3 min	± 0.2 min	Different at 90%
8	Virginia	28.3 min	± 0.2 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
10	New Hampshire	27.5 min	± 0.5 min	Different at 90%
10	Texas	27.5 min	± 0.1 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
12	Washington	27.2 min	± 0.2 min	Different at 90%
13	Pennsylvania	27.1 min	± 0.2 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
14	Connecticut	27.0 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
15	Delaware	26.8 min	± 0.8 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
16	Hawaii	26.7 min	± 0.4 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
17	Tennessee	26.5 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
17	West Virginia	26.5 min	± 0.5 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
19	Arizona	26.4 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
19	Mississippi	26.4 min	± 0.4 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
21	Rhode Island	26.3 min	± 0.6 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
21	South Carolina	26.3 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
23	Louisiana	26.2 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
24	Alabama	26.0 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
25	Colorado	25.7 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
25	Nevada	25.7 min	± 0.4 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
25	North Carolina	25.7 min	± 0.2 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
28	Maine	25.6 min	± 0.6 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
29	Indiana	24.6 min	± 0.2 min	Different at 90%
30	Kentucky	24.5 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
31	Michigan	24.3 min	± 0.2 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
32	Missouri	24.0 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
32	New Mexico	24.0 min	± 0.5 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
34	Vermont	23.9 min	± 0.8 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
35	Ohio	23.8 min	± 0.2 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
36	Oregon	23.2 min	± 0.3 min	Different at 90%
36	Utah	23.2 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
38	Arkansas	22.7 min	± 0.4 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
38	Minnesota	22.7 min	± 0.2 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
38	Oklahoma	22.7 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
38	Wisconsin	22.7 min	± 0.2 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
42	Idaho	22.2 min	± 0.5 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
43	Iowa	20.4 min	± 0.3 min	Different at 90%
44	Kansas	20.0 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
45	Nebraska	19.9 min	± 0.3 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
46	Alaska	19.8 min	± 0.7 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
47	Wyoming	19.7 min	± 1.0 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
48	Montana	19.5 min	± 0.6 min	Not distinguishable at 90%
49	South Dakota	18.5 min	± 0.7 min	Different at 90%
50	North Dakota	17.5 min	± 0.6 min	Different at 90%
Ref.	District of ColumbiaNot ranked among states	31.0 min	± 0.8 min	Reference jurisdiction
Ref.	Puerto RicoNot ranked among states	28.6 min	± 0.5 min	Reference jurisdiction

50 states plus 2 reference rows.

What this ranking measures

Mean one-way travel time to work for workers age 16 and older who did not work from home.

An average can hide very long journeys. People working from home are excluded, and this is not a road congestion index.

The size of the gap

The difference between the highest and lowest state estimates is 15.7 min. The U.S. benchmark is 27.2 min. It is not a simple average of the states.

11 states have point estimates above the U.S. benchmark and 38 below it, with 1 equal to it. These counts do not establish statistical significance.

How much should you read into a rank?

Each estimate has a 90% margin of error published by the Census Bureau. For two different states, we flag a difference only when its absolute size exceeds the square root of the sum of their squared margins of error. The comparison tool applies this check to every selected pair.

Non-significance is not proof of equality. These pairwise tests are not adjusted for multiple comparisons and do not form ranking confidence intervals. Statistical method and limitations.

Ranks use the full precision of the source file, so only truly equal values share a rank (1, 2, 2, 4).

Keep exploring

Read the ranking methodology.

Explore the same states in a side-by-side comparison, or combine this measure with others in the custom ranking tool.

Source and method

Producer: U.S. Census Bureau
Product / file: ACS 1-year · GCT0801
Period: 2024
Unit: Minutes
Calculation: Published estimate; no transformation of the value. Rank = 1 + number of eligible jurisdictions with a higher value.
Coverage: The 50 states are ranked. Washington, D.C., can be added with the toggle above the table; Puerto Rico is shown for reference only, where the source covers it.
Cadence: Annual. 2025 ACS 1-year estimates scheduled for October 29, 2026 (Census ACS updates page); adoption follows editorial review.
Independence: Rank the States is independent. The agencies that produce the source data do not endorse these rankings.

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Download the default full table (CSV) or use the download above for the table’s current filter and order. Data dictionary and source metadata

Suggested citation

Rank the States. Average commute time, 2024. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 1-year, GCT0801; released 2025-09-11. Edition 2026-10-23. https://rankthestates.com/data/editions/2026-10-23/average-commute-time.csv

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Updates and corrections

Last updated Oct. 23, 2026. Earlier editions stay available on the data page, and every change is listed in the update log. If a number or definition looks wrong, report an error with the state, value, and source you checked.

Related rankings

State distributions: each mark is one state, from lowest to highest. Each row uses its own scale.

Driving alone to work

2024 · Census ACS

81.2% Mississippi · highest estimate 02

Carpooling to work

2024 · Census ACS

14.5% Hawaii · highest estimate 03

Public transit commuting

2024 · Census ACS

24.2% New York · highest estimate