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Commuting

Commuting (Journey to Work) refers to a worker’s travel from home to work. Several Census surveys including the American Community Survey (ACS), Decennial Census (2000 and prior), American Housing Survey (AHS), and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) include questions about the working population’s commutes.  Some of these questions include:  travel time, means of transportation, time of departure for work, vehicles available, and expenses associated with the commute. The ACS also asks workers about their place of work, the geographic location of their job.

American Community Survey

The ACS asks questions about where people work, how they get there, when they leave home, and how long it takes, to create statistics about commuting, or a person’s journey to work. For more information see “Why we ask”.

Survey of Income and Program Participation

The SIPP is a longitudinal survey of about 30,000 - 50,000 U.S. households. SIPP panels last between 2.5 and 5 years, with respondents interviewed every four months to one year of the panel. SIPP panels collect data on means of transportation to work, minutes to work, miles to work, and commuting and work expenses. In 2014, SIPP began to collect data on place of work.

Decennial Census

The U.S. census counts each resident of the country, where they live on April 1, every ten years ending in zero. The Constitution mandates the enumeration to determine how to apportion the House of Representatives among the states.  Prior to the 2010 Census, previous censuses asked about commuting. Commuting data is no longer included in censuses, but rather through the ACS.

Page Last Revised - April 20, 2023
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