Census: Philly commute times are increasing

Does your commute feel like a drag each year that goes by? It’s not just you: The average Philly commute time has increased bit by bit each year, according to new Census numbers.

The U.S. Census just released new stats on commuting around the country, and what researchers found in Philly they also found throughout the rest of the U.S.: Commute times are getting longer and longer.

In Philadelphia, the average one-way travel time in 2016 was 31.5 minutes. That’s a very slight increase from 2015’s 31.3 minutes. But commute times have jumped 2.7 minutes since 2009.

Philly’s 31.5-minute commute is higher than the metro’s average of 29.2 minutes and the national average of 26.1 minutes. But most major U.S. cities have longer commutes in general than other smaller metros and counties: New York metro’s 35.9 minutes and Washington’s 34.4 minutes are some of the highest commute times in the nation.

The U.S. Census American Community Survey didn’t delve into the why of this trend, but past research has pointed to suburban sprawl as one major factor. As people moved out of the city, jobs have followed, thus leading to longer commutes.

In fact, the longest commute time reported in the entire country is in Pennsylvania. People who live in the East Stroudsburg metro commute on average for 38.6 minutes.

As for how Philly folks are traveling to work, 21.3 percent take public transportation, a slight dip from 2015’s 21.5 percent. It’s still much higher than the 9.6 percent of people who take public transit in the Philadelphia metro region.

• Commuting Characteristics [U.S. Census, American Community Survey]