The surge in remote work during (and after) the pandemic has led to fewer Americans commuting to work. Duh, right? But a new study shows it’s had a lasting impact on commutes and cities.
Here’s Five Fast Facts About Commutes:
- 🚗 Movin’ On Up - In larger cities, the Census Bureau shows that the number of commuters has dropped, but the number of residents has increased. In other words, people are moving to larger cities to work from home.
- 🚘 Windy City Blues - Using the Chicago area for reference: it grew by 23,000 residents from 2019 to 2021, but the number of people commuting dropped by 60,000. That’s not a typo. People moved in, but fewer people are driving in as well.
- 🌉 Riding a Desk - Data in San Francisco shows that people who work from home are now the second largest group of “commuters.” Solo drivers still top the list.
- 🚓 Rush Hour - Another study shows that limits to the number of jobs a typical worker can reach within 30 minutes or less was almost entirely eliminated. In other words, you can get farther in 30 minutes than you could pre-pandemic.
- 🚙 Same Roads - A strange bit of data shows that these numbers also take into account that there were no significant changes to highways and other infrastructure in the areas studied. The government didn’t bother trying to make your drive easier. Mother nature did that for us instead.
🔥Bottom line: While the drop in drivers is a no-brainer, the population growth in larger cities is an eyebrow raiser. It looks like people are moving, but they’re not doing it to be closer to work and we know they’re not doing it because rent is cheaper.
Do you still commute to work?
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