2Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
Full Story: Best And Worst Cities For Commuters
To find the cities with the best commutes, we measured travel time, road congestion and travel delays for the 60 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we calculated what percentage of commuters in each metro area took an hour or more to get to work in each of these cities in 2008, the most recent year for which these data are kept. To find the areas with the fewest cars on the road, we next factored in the percentage of commuters who carpooled or used alternatives to driving like walking, biking or taking public transportation in 2008. We referred to this as the "green commuter" ranking. Finally, we looked at the Travel Time Index, a measure that the Texas Transportation Institute, a transportation research organization, uses to measure delays. The TTI indicates how long a commute takes during rush hour compared to the same trip in ideal conditions. A short commute is good, but a dependably short commute is even better. The most recent TTI data is from 2007, and was released in July 2009. We ranked the metros on each of those measures, and then averaged the rankings for the final score. We gave heavier weight to travel time and congestion measures, since many of the cities have minimal differences in TTI numbers.
