USA Banner

Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Commute Mode Share: 2015

(percent of workers age 16 and older)

Figure

Dataset Table:

Mode Percent
Drive alone 76.6
Carpool 9.0
Transit 5.2
Work at home 4.6
Walk 2.8
Other a 1.2
Bike 0.6

Notes:

Percents may not add to 100 due to rounding. The American Community Survey asks for the mode usually used by the respondent to get to work. For more than one mode of transportation, respondents select the mode used for most of the distance traveled.

aIncludes motorcycle, taxi, and other means.

Description: 

The geography of commuting involves two opposing trends. While workers and their places of work have grown farther apart over recent decades, an increasing number of people are working at home. Part of the longer term growth in working at home had been masked in earlier decades by the number of farmers who worked where they also lived3 . In 2010, 13.4 million people worked from home at least one day per week, an increase of about 4.2 million people (35.4 percent) from 1997. Home-based workers included those who worked exclusively at home as well as those who worked at both home and at a job site. Revealing a similar trend between 2010 and 2014, the American Community Survey reported an increase of over 600,000 people (10.4 percent) who worked at home the week before the survey interview.

Source:

As cited in U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, National Transportation Statistics, table 1-41, available at www.bts.gov as of October 2016.