US cities where the average commute has grown most since 1990

The average commute has gotten longer almost everywhere. The typical large US city saw mean one-way commute time move from 20.0 min in 1990 to 24.7 min today, an increase of +4.7 min.

The 25 cities where the typical commute grew most are below. San Jacinto, California leads at +19.8 min added to the average one-way trip.

#	Place	1990	Latest	Change
1	San Jacinto, California	20.7 min	40.5 min	+19.8 min
2	Poinciana, Florida	27.9 min	46.8 min	+18.9 min
3	Lehigh Acres, Florida	21.7 min	38.2 min	+16.5 min
4	Kyle, Texas	19.9 min	36.4 min	+16.5 min
5	St. Cloud, Florida	20.4 min	35.9 min	+15.4 min
6	Kissimmee, Florida	18.4 min	33.7 min	+15.3 min
7	Apple Valley, California	25.8 min	41.1 min	+15.3 min
8	Antioch, California	26.8 min	42.0 min	+15.1 min
9	Hemet, California	21.4 min	36.4 min	+15.0 min
10	Tracy, California	27.8 min	42.5 min	+14.7 min
11	Everett, Massachusetts	20.4 min	35.0 min	+14.6 min
12	Victorville, California	25.9 min	40.4 min	+14.5 min
13	Homestead, Florida	21.6 min	35.8 min	+14.2 min
14	Beaumont, California	21.7 min	35.7 min	+14.0 min
15	Merced, California	14.8 min	28.6 min	+13.8 min
16	Manteca, California	24.2 min	37.6 min	+13.4 min
17	Hesperia, California	29.5 min	42.9 min	+13.4 min
18	Stockton, California	18.8 min	31.7 min	+13.0 min
19	Bridgeport, Connecticut	17.8 min	30.5 min	+12.7 min
20	Lake Elsinore, California	30.5 min	42.9 min	+12.5 min
21	Quincy, Massachusetts	23.1 min	34.7 min	+11.6 min
22	Buckeye, Arizona	21.7 min	33.3 min	+11.6 min
23	Winter Haven, Florida	16.8 min	28.4 min	+11.5 min
24	Murrieta, California	26.0 min	37.4 min	+11.4 min
25	Revere, Massachusetts	22.9 min	34.2 min	+11.3 min

Key findings

• San Jacinto, California leads the list at +19.8 min.
• The 25th-ranked city on this list — Revere, Massachusetts — shows +11.3 min.
• Across the full universe of 843 city rows with both data points, the typical change was +4.5 min.
• The top gainers concentrate in California (13 of the top 25), Florida (6 of the top 25), Massachusetts (3 of the top 25).

Where the pattern sits geographically

California (13 of the top 25), Florida (6 of the top 25), Massachusetts (3 of the top 25) together account for the bulk of the top of this list. Click any city above to open its CensusEasy page, which carries the full historical time series for every metric we publish (income, education, housing, commute, race composition, industry mix), plus its rank within its state and its national percentile on each metric.

How to read this

This ranking is sorted by absolute change, not by percentage change. Absolute change is the figure that lines up with how readers experience these numbers in everyday life ("the typical household here earns $X more than in 1990"). The percentage-change framing surfaces a different set of city rows — usually places that started from a low base — and we publish those rankings separately on the rankings pages.

A single metric never tells the whole story. The smallest gain on this list can reflect either change in the same population staying in place, or compositional change as some residents leave and others arrive. Companion studies on poverty, education, and housing cost together describe the fuller picture.

The remote-work shock of the early 2020s reduced the share of workers commuting at all, but for those who still commute, the trip has not gotten shorter; ACS measures only people who commuted in the reference week.