One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Cool Interactive Map: How Long It Takes Us To Get To Work
The average American spends just over 25 minutes getting to work (Photo by Amateur Foto via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
It turns out most people in Los Angeles don't really spend a third of their life in traffic, according to a new, interactive map that shows the average time it takes to get to work, divvied up by ZIP code. The average commute time across the country is 25.4 minutes, and it will surprise no one to learn that Angelenos spend a little more time en route to work than that. However, it's really not that much more. These numbers come from the U.S. Census Bureau and are presented in a cool map by WNYC. Now, the numbers don't take into account whether this time is spent driving from point A to point B, or sitting in traffic and inching along the three miles you live from work. It also doesn't specify how people are getting to work, although other surveys of census data suggest that L.A. is still very much a car city, with a growing number of (mostly male) bikers.
Here are some ZIP codes we pulled:
90020, Koreatown: 29.9 minutes.
90210, Beverly Hills: 25.9 minutes.
90062, South L.A.: 35 minutes.
90401, Santa Monica: 27.4
90028, Hollywoood: 29.1
91311, Chatsworth: 29.6 minutes.
93510, Acton: 46.3
90015, DTLA: 30 minutes.
You can compare these SoCal times to other ZIP codes across the U.S. Like Winnett, Montana, where the average commute time is a slim 9.6 minutes, or Normantown, West Virginia where the average commute is apparently 109 minutes.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
