How much time do you spend driving? If you live in or near a major city, the answer is probably “a lot”. EducatedDriver.org has put together a data visualization map which details the average round trip commute time that may affect you.

Alex Lauderdale, the author of the article, writes “We did the math for nearly 1,000 US cities. The average American loses 408 days of their life commuting, and in many areas, the toll is even higher.” Let’s dig a little deeper and look at some individual cities listed.

Here’s How Much Time You’ll Waste Commuting in Your Lifetime (by City)

The Cities We Serve

Here at RPS Relocation, we focus on offering a great relocation experience in Dallas, Seattle, Las Vegas, and Boulder; so we’ll use them as examples. What is the average commute time like in each of these cities? We’ve sorted them from worst to best, starting with Seattle which is the worst on this map.

Seattle, WA — Seattle has one of the worst average round trip commute times in the country. If you look closely at the visualization, the city is marked by a red circle which stands for the longest commutes. Indeed, a commuter in Seattle will spend 463 days of their life on the road. The average round trip commute time is 59.2 minutes.

Dallas, TX — Dallas is orange on the map, which is one step better. A commuter in the city will lose 436 days of their life by driving in or around it. The average round trip commute time in Dallas is 55.8 minutes. Dallas must have just missed being in the red due to its close proximity to the commuting times Seattle drivers have to deal with.

Las Vegas, NV — Las Vegas, like Dallas, is also in the “orange zone”. A commuter in Sin City will spend 381 days of their life on the road. The average round trip commute time in Las Vegas is 48.8 minutes.

Boulder, CO — Out of the four cities, drivers in Boulder have it the best. The city is right in the middle when it comes to average commute times. The area is marked by a yellow circle. A driver in Boulder will lose 350 days of their life to commuting. That’s just under one year! The average round trip commute time in Boulder, CO is 44.8 minutes.

Other Major or Growing Cities

Major cities in red on the visualization map seem to be the largest in the country. Many of the ones in yellow seem to be growing or up-and-coming cities. Austin, Charlotte, and Denver come to mind. For the remainder, take a glance at where these cities stand with regards to the average round trip commute time. The number after each city is the round trip time in minutes.

Red Circle
New York 71.8
Washington D.C. 68.8
Chicago 64.4
San Francisco 64.2
Boston 64
Philadelphia 63
Miami 61.2
Los Angeles 60.8
Houston 59

Orange Circle
San Jose 54.6
Denver 54.6
Nashville 54
Detroit 53.4
Austin 52.8
Jacksonville 52.6
Charlotte 52.6
Portland 52.4
Phoenix 52
San Antonio 51.4
San Diego 50.6

Yellow Circle
Kansas City 45.8
Oklahoma City 44.8

Featured photo by Pixabay on Pexels

EducatedDriver.org data visualization map photo is a screenshot by RPS Relocation

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