Commuting in New York: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 11:43 AM
What does a typical morning commute look like in New York?
Map AI9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Commute Time Burden in New York: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in New York spend about 57 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 239 hours, about 10.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 28% more time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 6.3 minutes.
New York holds about 5.9% of US's population but accounts for roughly 7.5% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in New York would save about 96 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,966 at the same national wage assumption used above.
Area
One-Way Commute
Daily Round-Trip
Yearly Time Spent
Estimated Yearly Cost
Local Road Traffic (VPD)
New York
28.7 min
57.4 min
239 hrs/yr
$7,414
1,586
US
22.4 min
44.8 min
187 hrs/yr
$5,790
1,355
The estimated yearly cost applies a single national rule of thumb (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics average hourly earnings), not a measurement of wages in this area - treat it
as a rough estimate, not a paycheck figure. Local road traffic counts, vehicles per day
on non-highway roads, come from proprietary
Ticon and
TrafficZoom data.
On average, it takes
28.7
minutes to get to work in
New York.
That's 28% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the 3 slowest states in US
The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by public transit. About 15.0% work from home.
How People Get to Work in New York
Car:
55.0%unusually low
Public Transportation:
21.7%unusually high
Worked at Home:
15.0%
Walked:
5.6%
Other:
1.1%
Bicycle:
0.8%
Taxi:
0.7%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Driving is 29% less common in New York than the US average (55.0% vs 77.4%).
Public transit is unusually common in New York: 6.7 times more than the US average (21.7% vs 3.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in New York, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in New York get to work, as a share of all workers aged 16 and over, across 16 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) releases from 2009 to 2024. Each release is a 5-year estimate: the 2024 figures cover surveys taken from 2020 to 2024. Because neighboring releases share most of their survey years, the lines move gradually, and a sudden change such as the rise of remote work in 2020 spreads across several releases. Hover over or tap a line to highlight it, and use the legend to show or hide a mode. Driving starts hidden so the smaller modes stay readable.
Share of workers aged 16 and over, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show commute mode data by year
Year
Car
Public Transportation
Worked at Home
Walked
Other
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
61.6%
26.6%
3.8%
6.3%
0.6%
0.4%
0.7%
0.1%
2010
61.5%
26.5%
3.8%
6.3%
0.6%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
2011
61.3%
26.7%
3.9%
6.4%
0.6%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
2012
61.1%
26.8%
3.9%
6.4%
0.6%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
2013
60.8%
27.1%
3.9%
6.4%
0.6%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
2014
60.4%
27.4%
3.9%
6.4%
0.6%
0.6%
0.6%
0.1%
2015
60.0%
27.8%
3.9%
6.4%
0.6%
0.6%
0.6%
0.1%
2016
59.7%
28.0%
4.0%
6.3%
0.6%
0.7%
0.6%
0.1%
2017
59.5%
28.2%
4.1%
6.3%
0.6%
0.7%
0.6%
0.1%
2018
59.6%
28.0%
4.2%
6.2%
0.6%
0.7%
0.6%
0.1%
2019
59.5%
28.0%
4.4%
6.1%
0.6%
0.7%
0.6%
0.1%
2020
58.7%
26.2%
6.9%
6.0%
0.7%
0.7%
0.7%
0.1%
2021
57.6%
24.7%
9.5%
5.8%
0.8%
0.7%
0.7%
0.1%
2022
56.8%
23.4%
11.6%
5.7%
0.9%
0.8%
0.7%
0.1%
2023
55.8%
22.5%
13.4%
5.7%
1.0%
0.8%
0.7%
0.1%
2024
55.0%
21.7%
15.0%
5.6%
1.1%
0.8%
0.7%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 61.6% in 2009 to 55.0% in 2024, down 6.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in New York: its share of workers rose from 3.8% in 2009 to 15.0% in 2024, up 11.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 10.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 26.6% to 21.7% of workers (down 4.9 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in New York
What Time Do People Leave for Work in New York?
The bars show when commuters in New York leave home for work, as a share of everyone who commutes (people who work from home are not counted), from the 2024 ACS 5-year estimates. The thin violet marks show the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMNew York3.9%The U.S.5.5%
3.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMNew York2.9%The U.S.4.0%
2.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMNew York3.7%The U.S.4.9%
3.7%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMNew York7.5%The U.S.8.7%
7.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMNew York8.1%The U.S.9.4%
8.1%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMNew York13.9%The U.S.14.4%
13.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMNew York11.1%The U.S.11.9%
11.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMNew York14.0%The U.S.11.5%
14.0%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMNew York7.7%The U.S.5.5%
7.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMNew York9.5%The U.S.6.8%
9.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMNew York3.7%The U.S.3.1%
3.7%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMNew York1.7%The U.S.1.5%
1.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMNew York6.9%The U.S.6.8%
6.9%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMNew York5.3%The U.S.6.1%
5.3%
New YorkThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in New York is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 14.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.5% across the U.S.. Early starts are less common than in the U.S.: 10.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush looks much like the U.S.'s: 47.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.1%) leave at 9 AM or later, which usually points to shift work, flexible hours or part-time jobs.
When people leave matters as much as how far they go. Rush-hour traffic shrinks how much ground a 20-minute trip covers, so a trade area drawn as a simple circle often takes in neighborhoods that customers or staff would never drive from and misses others that are an easy trip. A drive-time zone, also called an isochrone, outlines every place within a set number of minutes of an address, which makes it the more honest way to size a store's catchment, a hiring area or the commute from a new home.
See it for yourself on the interactive map: click any spot in New York, pick a 5, 10, 15 or 30-minute drive and see the local demographics of the people who live within that exact drive time.
Is New York Waking Up Earlier? Typical Departure Time, 2009-2024
Each line follows the typical (median) departure time: the moment by which half of commuters have already left home. Higher on the chart means a later start. Setting New York next to the U.S. shows whether local mornings are drifting earlier or later than everyone else's. The figures span 16 ACS 5-year releases, so changes build up gradually rather than jumping from one year to the next.
Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show typical departure times by year
Year
New York
United States
2009
7:54 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:54 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:54 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:55 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:56 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:56 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:56 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:57 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in New York were on the road by 7:57 AM, 3 minutes later than in 2009 (7:54 AM). Commuters in New York now leave 19 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). The 2024 release is the latest typical start for New York in the whole series.
How does New York's commute time compare?
Metric
New York
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
28.7 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
15.0%
15.0%
Walked
5.6%
2.4%
Public Transit
21.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in New York is 28.7 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in US.
21.7% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.2% in US. 5.6% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in US.
New York is the largest of the 6 states compared here, 19,748,855 residents against a local median of 3,347,044. The measure that sets New York apart most is one-way commute: 28.7 min, 30% above the local median of 22.1 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
The states themselves spread 5.7 min on one-way commute, so New York sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. New York has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
How much does the average commute cost workers in New York?
Commuters here spend an estimated 239 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,414 at a typical national wage. That's 28% more than the typical US commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in New York?
Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in New York. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How common is public transit use in New York?
Public transit usage is notably higher here than typical: about 21.7% of commuters use it versus 3.2% in the U.S., making it a realistic option for many workers.
How do commute times compare across counties in New York?
Among counties in New York, the shortest average commutes are in Hamilton County (13.6 min), Chautauqua County (15.4 min), Franklin County (16.4 min). The longest are in Bronx County (43.2 min), Queens County (41.8 min), Kings County (41.6 min).