Raleigh's post-pandemic commuter trends
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The share of Raleigh workers with relatively speedy commutes has slightly increased compared to prepandemic times, according to a new Axios analysis of census data.
Why it matters: Quicker commutes are tied to better mental health, greater job satisfaction and several other personal benefits.
- Many people also commute via public transit. And the less time Americans spend in cars, the better for the environment.
By the numbers: 20.5% of Raleigh-area workers commuted for less than 15 minutes in 2022, up from 19.2% in 2019.
- 40% of Raleigh commuters had travel times between 15 and 29 minutes, up from 39.5%.
- The number of people who had commute times between 30 and 44 minutes fell by 2%.
The big picture: Nationally, commutes under 30 minutes became more commonplace during that time period, while those 30 minutes and longer became rarer.
Of note: These findings don't include employees who work from home, and thus have a commute time of zero — or maybe a minute or two, if you stop to pour a cup of coffee on your way to your home office setup.
- Instead, the results are based on the approximately 136.2 million Americans ages 16 and older with non-WFH jobs in 2022.
Zoom in: But the effects of WFH cannot be ignored in the Triangle, which has one of the largest shares of remote workers in the country.
- More than 26% of workers in the Raleigh metro area reported working from home last year, according to the Census Bureau. The rate was 21.6% in the Durham metro.
- And while the Raleigh area has more total workers than it did before the pandemic, fewer of them commute to work now than they did in 2019.
The bottom line: This data may not jive with your personal experience, as construction and other factors can mess with particular routes — but in the broad sense, more Americans are enjoying faster trips to work.