Compared to other major US cities, Phoenix commuters have it easy

PHOENIX – The next time you’re stuck in Phoenix traffic, it might be help to know that commuters in almost every other major U.S. city have it worse.

According to transportation analytics company Geotab, the Valley has one of the shortest average commute times among the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas.

Using Census Transportation Planning Products survey data for 2012-16, Geotab found that Phoenix was tied with San Diego at 26 minutes for the shortest overall average commute.

The Canadian company released the study last week along with maps visualizing the range of commute times across each metro area.

How much time do we spend commuting to and from work? Geotab has identified and ranked the best (and worst) commuter cities in America: https://t.co/oRkWWVIsvP

— Geotab (@GEOTAB) April 23, 2019

“These maps provide us with an alternative way of thinking about cities,” Maria Sotra, Geotab vice president of marketing, said in a press release.

“A city doesn’t necessarily stop at the official city boundaries — instead, they continue to sprawl much further thanks to the commuters that travel in and out of these areas for work throughout the week.”

When just looking at commuting by car, Phoenix was tied for second with Minneapolis at 27 minutes, a minute slower than San Diego.

Phoenix also was rated second in terms of being reachable, based on the percentage of commuters able to access the city within 30 minutes. That figure for Phoenix was 69% overall and 71% by car, trailing only San Diego (72% overall, 77% by car).

At the other end of the spectrum, New York workers have the longest average commute at 43 minutes, followed by Washington at 41 minutes.

New York was also the least reachable city, with only 4% of commuters able to reach the Big Apple within 30 minutes.

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