Commuting Blog
Where do you commute to work?
College Park: The northbound lanes of I-85 and the exit ramp at Riverdale Road as pictured on April 9, 2015. JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
The U.S. Census Bureau released some new statistics this month from the American Community Survey in 2013 that answer the question: where do we live and work?
In several metro Atlanta counties, at least half the people who work there actually live elsewhere. So it's not very surprising that the average metro Atlanta commute takes roughly 30 minutes.
For example, if you work in Fulton County but live in another suburb, you've got a lot of company. Sixty percent of those who have jobs in Fulton travel from elsewhere each workday.
Here's a look at the numbers, county-by-county:
- 51 percent of workers in DeKalb County commute from outside the county. Of those, 8,464 came from Clayton; 15,360 came from Cobb; 37,281 came from Fulton; and 44,956 came from Gwinnett.
- 40 percent of workers in Cobb County commute from elsewhere. Of those, 3,715 came from Clayton; 11,526 came from DeKalb; 25,342 came from Fulton; and 8,668 came from Gwinnett.
- 35 percent of workers in Gwinnett County commute from outside the county. Of those, 1,737 came from Clayton; 8,963 came from Cobb; 26,606 came from DeKalb; 19,368 came from Fulton.
- 60 percent of workers in Fulton County commute from elsewhere. Of those, 36,858 came from Clayton; 91,065 came from Cobb; 112,322 came from DeKalb; and 66,036 came from Gwinnett.
- 61 percent of workers in Clayton County commute from outside the county. Of those, 3,545 came from Cobb; 6,551 came from DeKalb; 10,682 came from Fulton; and 2,153 came from Gwinnett.
The Washington Post created some great maps to illustrate this, as well as other noteworthy aspects of the data from major employment centers nationwide.
