A growing number of Americans are “super commuters” who travel 90 minutes or more to work each day, with data compiled by Apartmentlist.com finding that the number of super commuters grew by 32 percent between 2005 and 2017, more than triple the nine percent increase in people who commute less than 90 minutes. People with the longest commutes live in coastal metropolitan areas near places like New York City and San Francisco, and that’s because high housing costs are leading people to have to look further away from the city center to find something they can afford.
At the same time, there are also long commutes in some rural areas, but for a different reason. In these regions where there’s been economic decline, people are having to travel farther to get to jobs. Super commuters are more likely to work in blue collar professions, such as construction or mining, while white collar jobs, which include social services and education, have some of the shortest commutes.
