Neighbor News
Average Commute Time in NYC is 33% Higher Than That of LA
According to the U.S. Census data of 2015, New Yorkers commute each morning 33% longer than Angelenos.
Every resident of Los Angeles has heard smack from those of other cities. The traffic, the smog, the lack of public transportation — yeah, you're not clever when you talk about LA in that way. On the flip side, many people from other cities boast transportation amenities that , they say, make the city crawl so much easier. The data, however, paints a slightly different story.
The average commute time of someone in L.A. County is 30.0 minutes, while that of a N.Y.C. resident is 39.9 minutes. This data includes all types of commutes — driving, biking, subway riding, etc. The difference between the commute times of the two metros is approximately 33%. And while more New Yorkers take public transportation than Angelenos, it begs the question: is your city's array of transportation options that much more convenient if it takes you ~20 minutes longer each day, round trip? If we put that in yearly terms (assuming 50 weeks of work, 5 days per week), that is about 83 hours of additional travel time for New Yorkers in comparison to Angelenos.
Of course, these are averages and circumstances differ for each individual. It's worth noting what the data shows, even still. You can access the database at the American Fact Finder website.
