Chart: America's driving capitals

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Yeah, probably. Without congestion it takes about 30 minutes to drive 30 miles on most freeways. That matches up with average commuting distance for cities on the higher end according to this list.

Once again the numbers on this list are for total average weekday miles driven for all adults.

They are not average one-way commute distances.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Once again the numbers on this list are for total average weekday miles driven for all adults.

They are not average one-way commute distances.

True, but point still stands. All of the cities with longer distances still have averages distances of less than 60 miles. That would be the upper limit of an all freeway, congestion free, daily commute by car for most humans.

[Steely Dan]

^ yeah, I was just clarifying.

And wanted to add that this is about all weekday driving, not just commuting. Running regular errands and shuttling kids around also count here.

But your larger point about time being the more significant factor, rather than distance, for most people when it comes to daily travel still stands.

In metros where traffic flows more freely, people who drive daily will tend to rack up more miles behind the wheel.

It's no coincidence that the most congested metro areas in the country are found at the bottom of this list, despite many of them being quite geographically large.

The one wrinkle in the discussion is that with record numbers of people now falling into hybrid work models, those that only have to go to a physical workplace once or twice a week might now be more willing to spend LOTS of time going longer distances, just fewer times per week, such that their averages might not be terribly different.

[Doady]

Not surprising to see a city in North Carolina at the very bottom.

The lay out of the roads might be a factor too. The distance they drive can be much longer straight-line distance between the origin and destination.

The arterial roads in Las Vegas for example are laid out in a distinct grid and no mountains or rivers as obstacles (which also helps transit), so it is ranked highly.

Baltimore is ranked in the bottom half, and of course we still remember what happened there recently.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Gantz

Genuine question for people living in these cities and commuting long distances. Why not just live closer to work? Its not like there is any significant advantage achieved by living that far away when it comes to housing cost. And ya'll go to and commute to the same stores anyway.
I am very ignorant on this topic.

Being most familiar with Nashville of those top 5 listed - you buy where you can afford AND are lucky enough to get an accepted offer through before everyone else and then you just deal with it - and employment is all over the place. Matching where you work with where you can actually get a house is NOT that easy in Nashville.

Illinois commuters definitely increase the avg mileage for St. Louis since there is a lot of white collar employment all along the central corridor (I-64) corridor all the way up into St. Charles County. There's always been a substantial number of Illinois commuters all the way through metro St. Louis everywhere I've worked due to the relative lack of professional class employment in the metro east and there is a reverse traffic jam for that reason (plus tons of City reverse commuters to central and western suburbs which I was for years).

That's not to say that metro St. Louis doesn't have a major decentralization issue with monster-sized exurbs in addition to interstate commutes. Metrolink was too late, too limited, and too slow to make a huge difference.

[Emprise du Lion]

Originally Posted by Gantz

Genuine question for people living in these cities and commuting long distances. Why not just live closer to work? Its not like there is any significant advantage achieved by living that far away when it comes to housing cost. And ya'll go to and commute to the same stores anyway.
I am very ignorant on this topic.

Originally Posted by Gantz

Do people in those cities average sub-30 minute commutes door to door?

I figured I'd throw my 2¢ in since my daily roundtrip commute is approximately the same as those in the top 5.

I actually pay more to live that far away from my job because I'm reverse commuting from St. Louis proper to a suburb in Illinois. I have lived in said suburb before, but I chose to move to the city for better restaurants, bars, etc.

I have thrown around the idea of moving back, but the reality is that I would still end up driving or Ubering over to the city to do what I want to do a lot of the time. My job is paying for my mileage, and my commute is usually 25 minutes or less because traffic is going the opposite direction of me during rush hour.

I'm also an attorney who obtained his Illinois law license first, so that certainly complicated my job hunting and career path. I now have my Missouri law license as well, but all of my connections are where I am working in Illinois.

Originally Posted by Centropolis

Illinois commuters definitely increase the avg mileage for St. Louis since there is a lot of white collar employment all along the central corridor (I-64) corridor all the way up into St. Charles County. There's always been a substantial number of Illinois commuters all the way through metro St. Louis everywhere I've worked due to the relative lack of professional class employment in the metro east and there is a reverse traffic jam for that reason (plus tons of City reverse commuters to central and western suburbs which I was for years).

That's not to say that metro St. Louis doesn't have a major decentralization issue with monster-sized exurbs in addition to interstate commutes. Metrolink was too late, too limited, and too slow to make a huge difference.

Yeah, the biggest employer in the Metro East is Scott Air Force Base, and it's not even close. They employ something like 13,000 people. Outside of government employers, most of the professional / white collar jobs are in Missouri.

If Metro St. Louis is decentralized, the Metro East in particular is on another level. With the demise of East St. Louis at its peak, there's not one city that can hold sway across the Metro East. It's really just a collection small towns and cities that don't have much to do with each other besides being in close(ish) proximity to St. Louis.

[edale]

Originally Posted by Gantz

Genuine question for people living in these cities and commuting long distances. Why not just live closer to work? Its not like there is any significant advantage achieved by living that far away when it comes to housing cost. And ya'll go to and commute to the same stores anyway.
I am very ignorant on this topic.

I live in Los Angeles, so not one of the cities on the top of the list, but I was recently rotated to a new position within my organization, and my commute went from 3.5 miles to 14 miles each way. It's less than ideal, but I like where I live, and would not want to live near where I am now working, so I deal with the longer drive. Also, there's a great possibility I could get reassigned back downtown or to another office at some point, so it doesn't really make sense to move to be close to the office in my case. Thankfully, my new commute largely goes against traffic, so even though my distance traveled has nearly tripled, my overall commute time has only increased by 5-10 mins (most days).