| Location |
Total Workforce |
Super Commuter Workforce |
Super Commuters as a Share of Workforce |
| State |
County |
Metro |
2009 |
2017 |
Change |
2009 |
2017 |
Change |
2009 |
2017 |
Change |
| Hawaii |
Hawaii County |
Hilo, HI |
73,336 |
75,902 |
3.50% |
3,238 |
2,677 |
-17.30% |
4.40% |
3.50% |
-0.90% |
| Hawaii |
Honolulu County |
Urban Honolulu, HI |
431,546 |
476,923 |
10.50% |
7,846 |
14,244 |
81.50% |
1.80% |
3.00% |
1.20% |
| Hawaii |
Kauai County |
Kapaa, HI |
29,873 |
32,914 |
10.20% |
85 |
236 |
177.60% |
0.30% |
0.70% |
0.40% |
| Hawaii |
Maui County |
Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI |
67,541 |
77,451 |
14.70% |
590 |
757 |
28.30% |
0.90% |
1.00% |
0.10% |
Super Commuting Patterns at the County Level
By Chris Salviati, ApartmentList.com, August 13, 2019 (excerpts)
Earlier this year, we released a report digging into the changing nature of American commute times, noting a sharp rise in the share of workers who bear through commute times of 90 minutes or more each way. The number of “super commuters” grew by 32 percent from 2005 to 2017, more than triple the 9 percent growth rate for workers with commutes shorter than 90 minutes. Our original analysis explored this trend for the nation’s 100 largest metros, but today we’re drilling down a level deeper with a detailed map showing the share of the workforce that super commutes for every county in the country.
While this new view confirms patterns identified in our original report, it also unearths new ones. Beyond the super commuters who drive from distant exurbs to work in the downtown offices of pricey superstar cities, we also see high rates of super commuting in some counties that are much closer to the urban core. This is evidence of the large number of super commuters who rely on public transit. Super commuting is also common in certain pockets of rural America, particularly those with active drilling and mining industries.
… We find that workers who rely on public transit are most likely to be super commuters, by a wide margin. Among those who get to work by public transit, 14.0 percent are super commuters, compared to just 2.4 percent of those who travel to work by car. Transit use is also disproportionately common among those at the low end of the income distribution, indicating that relying on public transit is more often a matter of necessity than of choice. That said, living car-free is one of the single most effective ways for an individual to reduce their carbon footprint. The high rate of super commuting among transit users speaks to the need for investment in robust transit options in order to grow our cities in inclusive and sustainable ways….
While the prospect of a three hour daily commute may seem like a burden that few would be willing to bear, we find that such arrangements have grown increasingly commonplace in recent years. This trend is often attributed to workers in superstar cities being priced out to far flung exurbs, a pattern that can certainly be observed in the map above. However, we also find that super commuting is common in areas closer to the urban core, where workers who rely on public transit may face rides of 90 minutes or more, even if they’re not traveling great distances in terms of mileage. Super commuting hot spots also show up in pockets of rural America, where blue collar workers in select occupations commute far distances to remote job sites. Explore the map above to unearth super commuting patterns in your area and around the country….
Link: County-Level Data
read … Full Report
PBN: Number of 'super commuters' in Honolulu jumps 81% since 2009, study finds
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