NYC Has Worst Commute Times of Any US City, Study Finds

NEW YORK, NY — New York City residents can complain about one more thing in relation to their west coast rivals: Our commute times are a lot worse.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its latest numbers on average commute times, and no surprise, New Yorkers spend a long time getting into work every morning. The 2015 commute data, released along with a massive amount of other categories (everything from salaries to health insurance coverage), was released on Sept. 15.

The data is ranked by metro area, but strangely enough New York City is actually ranked second-to-worst. Why? East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The 11,000-person town has the worst commute in the country: 39.6 minutes. The town is located about an hour south of Scranton, Pennsylvania and 90 minutes north of Philadelphia. (The middle of nowhere, in other words.)

The New York-Jersey City-White Plans metro area takes second-to-last on the list with an average commute of 37.4 minutes. New York-Newark-Jersey City is third-to-last on the list at 36.3 minutes.

If you remove the pesky New York/New Jersey areas outside of the five boroughs, New York City reigns supreme (even worse than East Stroudsburg) with an average commute time of 41.2 minutes.

It's no surprise, considering those numbers, that New York state was also first in terms of states with the longest commute. (So California — which ranked sixth — can quit its whining.) New York was almost seven minutes above the national average.

Patch broke it down by cities over 100,000 to give an idea of how New York City commute times compare to other cities around the country.

Top 10 Worst Metro Areas (over 100,000 population):

1. New York City/White Plains: 37.4 minutes
2. New York City/Newark: 36.3 minutes
3. Oakland: 34.8 minutes
4. Washington, D.C.: 34.4 minutes
5. Boston: 33.2 minutes
6. San Francisco: 33.2 minutes
7. Chicago: 32.7 minutes
8. Philadelphia: 32 minutes
9. Miami: 31.9 minutes
10. Riverside, Calif.: 31.9 minutes

Which city in the six-figure population category has the quickest commute? Abilene, Texas at just 15.6 minutes.

It's not much of a surprise, but remember to be nice to your co-workers from the Bronx, they have it the roughest in the city when commuting to work everyday.

Patch broke the numbers down by borough, so you can properly complain to your friends with evidence to back it up:

1. The Bronx — 44.8 minutes
2. Queens — 43.7 minutes
3. Staten Island — 43.5 minutes
4. Brooklyn — 42.2 minutes
5. Manhattan — 31.8 minutes

The census data also breaks down a lot of other numbers for the five boroughs. The highest percentage of commuters taking public transportation comes from Brooklyn (62.2 percent) with the lowest percentage on Staten Island (30.7 percent). In Manhattan, 59.5 percent of commuters use public transit, but it also has the highest percentage of those walking to work (20.5 percent). It's no surprise Staten Island has the highest percentage of those driving to work (63.6 percent).

You'll be happy to know the commute time for Manhattan — Kansas, that is — is a paltry 15.8 minutes.

Photo Credit: Yanping Soong via Flickr/Creative Commons