U.S. Commuting to Work

How do Americans get to work? The answer varies enormously by city, neighbourhood, and income level. This visualization maps commuting mode data for every census tract across all 50 states — car, public transit, walking, cycling, motorcycle, or working from home — revealing the sharp spatial contrasts between car-dependent suburbs and transit-served urban cores.

The data covers workers aged 16 and over and is based on the American Community Survey 5-year estimates for 2019–2023, providing a statistically robust picture at fine geographic resolution even for smaller communities.

Dataset

Means of Transportation to Work dataset, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. Department of Transportation. Part of the National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). Combines ACS 5-year estimates (2019–2023) with census-tract geographic boundaries. doi:10.21949/1530071

Source

Bureau of Transportation Statistics / U.S. Department of Transportation. U.S. Government work, available for unrestricted public use. Access date: 26/11/2025.