Cities to Avoid If You Hate Commuting

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on HireAHelper.

Because long commute times and traffic can have a significant impact on personal well-being, they often play a major role when choosing where to live.

Commuting characteristics vary dramatically by location, so accounting for them when considering where to live can be important for quality of life.

To determine the locations to avoid if you hate commuting, researchers at HireAHelper analyzed the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The researchers ranked metros according to a composite score. Find details on their methodology at the end.

Here are the U.S. metropolitan areas to avoid if you hate commuting.

15. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA

• Composite score: 68.6
• Average one-way commute time: 28.8 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 54.0%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Below average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 88.7%
• Population density (people per square mile): 1,871.7

14. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX

• Composite score: 68.8
• Average one-way commute time: 25.8 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 79.9%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 94.8%
• Population density (people per square mile): 355.8

13. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

• Composite score: 68.9
• Average one-way commute time: 34.2 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 50.0%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Below average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 70.2%
• Population density (people per square mile): 2,957.4

12. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

• Composite score: 69.1
• Average one-way commute time: 26.7 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 75.1%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 94.0%
• Population density (people per square mile): 1,279.7

11. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN

• Composite score: 69.6
• Average one-way commute time: 26.2 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 76.6%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Above average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 96.0%
• Population density (people per square mile): 353.9

10. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN

• Composite score: 70.6
• Average one-way commute time: 24.9 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 79.5%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 95.3%
• Population density (people per square mile): 494.5

9. Birmingham-Hoover, AL

• Composite score: 71.0
• Average one-way commute time: 26.2 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 84.0%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Above average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 95.3%
• Population density (people per square mile): 248.2

8. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

• Composite score: 71.0
• Average one-way commute time: 28.4 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 71.6%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Below average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 92.4%
• Population density (people per square mile): 2,678.2

7. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

• Composite score: 72.6
• Average one-way commute time: 28.9 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 79.5%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Above average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 94.2%
• Population density (people per square mile): 871.6

6. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

• Composite score: 75.0
• Average one-way commute time: 27.3 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 76.2%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 95.5%
• Population density (people per square mile): 894.4

5. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX

• Composite score: 75.6
• Average one-way commute time: 26.1 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 63.9%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Below average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 95.9%
• Population density (people per square mile): 557.5

4. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL

• Composite score: 76.1
• Average one-way commute time: 28.3 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 78.1%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Below average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 92.2%
• Population density (people per square mile): 1,202.2

3. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA

• Composite score: 80.4
• Average one-way commute time: 29.6 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 72.2%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 95.2%
• Population density (people per square mile): 707.5

2. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

• Composite score: 82.1
• Average one-way commute time: 32.2 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 83.1%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Above average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 95.6%
• Population density (people per square mile): 170.6

1. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL

• Composite score: 88.1
• Average one-way commute time: 28.3 minutes
• Share of workers who commute using private transportation: 77.2%
• Diversity of times that people leave for work: Below average
• Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle: 95.3%
• Population density (people per square mile): 771.0

Methodology

To determine the locations to avoid if you hate commuting, researchers at HireAHelper analyzed the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey. The researchers ranked metros according to a composite score based on the following factors and weights:

1. Average one-way commute time (40%)
2. Share of workers who commute using private transportation (20%)
3. Diversity of times that people leave for work (15%)
4. Share of occupied households with access to a vehicle (15%)
5. Population density (10%)

The diversity of times that people leave for work is calculated using Simpson’s Diversity Index, where a high level of diversity indicates that people leave for work at times spread out across the day (less congestion) and a low level of diversity indicates that people leave for work largely at the same time (more congestion).

To improve relevance, only metropolitan areas with at least 100,000 people were included in the analysis.