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US Census: 30% Fewer SoCal Drivers w/Crazy-Long Commutes
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US Census: 30% Fewer SoCal Drivers w/Crazy-Long CommutesDaniel Dobbs2025-03-06T13:14:08-08:00
Shorter commutes =
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Covid changed the way the U.S. workforce operates. It mainstreamed working from home, normalized Zoom interviews, and forced many boomers to retire earlier than they had planned, thus creating a labor shortage,
Commute times throughout California have been slashed, which is good news for climate change, better air quality, lower infrastructure costs, and less wear and tear on our roads.
The pandemic helped to slash by nearly one-third the number of SoCal workers with 90-minute-plus commutes.
My (Lasner’s) trusty spreadsheet looked at Census Bureau stats, focusing on what’s dubbed “super commuters”—folks in the five-county region who make workday trips of an hour and a half or longer.
The latest data is for 2022, which we compared with pre-COVID-19 data from 2019.
Quick Analysis
A host of factors — everything from changes in remote work to swings in where people live — dramatically altered how SoCal gets to work.
And it’s probably good news that crazy-long commutes have been trimmed.
SoCal had 299,619 super commuters in 2022, down 30% or 130,640 in three years.
Still, that equals 3.5% of all commuters with these long hauls, compared with 4.5% in 2019. Note that commuting dropped 11% overall in the period.
This is, in no way, just a Southern California quirk.
There were 550,257 supercomputers statewide in 2022, a 32% or 261,030 decrease in three years. That was 3.6% of all commuters compared with 4.6% in 2019. California commuting overall is down 12% in the period.
Nationwide, 3.1 million super commuters — off 23% or 934,510 in three years. Lengthy trips to work are 2.6% of all commutes nationwide, a share down from 3.1% in 2019. U.S. work trips dropped 9% in the period.
Details
Let’s look at the super commuter swings by SoCal with their ranking among the 50 U.S. counties with the most commuters …
• Los Angeles: Commuting is off 15% overall.
One hundred twenty-seven thousand four hundred ninety-seven super commuters (No. 1 in the nation) — off 39% or 81,010 in three years. It’s 3.2% of all commutes (No. 11 share of the 50) — compared with 4.5% in 2019.
Riverside: Commuting is off 0.2% overall.
Sixty-one thousand two hundred ninety-four super commuters (No. 4) — off 24% or 19,800 in three years. It’s 6.2% of all commutes (No. 6) — compared with 8.2% in 2019.
San Bernardino Commuting is off 3% overall…:
Fifty-three thousand three hundred twenty-two supercommuters (No. 6) — off 7% or 4,310 in three years. It’s 6.1% of all commutes (No. 7) — compared with 6.5% in 2019.
• San Diego -Commuting is off 13% overall.
: 28,615 super commuters (No. 13) — off 23% or 8,400 in three years. It’s 2.1% of all commutes (No. 25) — compared with 2.4% in 2019.
• Orange County – Commuting is off 9% overall.
: 13,447 super commuters (No. 27) — off 14% or 2,150 in three years. It’s 2.2% of all commutes (No. 23) — compared with 2.3% in 2019.
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