Historically, driving has been Americans’ preferred way to get to work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the share of workers who drive to work alone never dipped below 75%. Only the increase in remote work following the pandemic put a dent in these numbers: The share of workers driving to and from the office daily declined slightly, but hovers around a fairly high 69% to this day.
And that’s no wonder. Navigating the city by car shaves hours off of a commuter’s weekly traffic time. It’s also much more comfortable than getting up earlier to walk to the metro or bus station and then walk some more to the office. However, to save that time and keep a certain level of comfort, the typical American commuter spends thousands of dollars just to cover the commute costs.
Alternatively, the annual costs associated with commuting by public transportation are significantly lower. On average, whereas a car commute might equate to a little more than $8,000, taking the bus costs just $972 per year. This means that a commuter willing to ditch the car in favor of the bus could potentially save around $7,000.
Of course, that’s a substantial amount for anyone, but it’s renters who would benefit the most: With a monthly income of around $4,000, the average U.S. renter household would save the equivalent of nearly two months’ salary by choosing public transit. Homeowners who commute would get the same discounts should they choose public transportation. But, given that the median monthly income for owner households is around $8,000, those savings represent a far smaller share: For owners, the costs related to car commute represent 8% of their average annual income, whereas driving to work bites more than 15% out of a renter’s salary.
So, how much money can commuters, and especially renters, save by switching from a car commute to using public transportation in the 30 largest U.S. cities? And conversely, how much time could they save if they went for the car, instead of the bus?
Commute Savings: In the 30 Largest U.S. Cities, Commuters Can Save Either Time or Money
- Commuting by car instead of public transit saves up to 218 hours (or nine days) per year in Las Vegas, while ditching the car in favor of the bus saves up to $10,000 per year in San Francisco.
- Renters versus owners in the 30 largest U.S. cities: Saving thousands of dollars is great for anyone’s budget, but renters would benefit from ditching the car more so than owners. Average savings represent approximately 8% of owners’ income, but a massive 15% of renters’ median income.
- Best cities for budget-conscious renters: In 27 of the 30 cities in the analysis, renters would save more than the equivalent of a month’s salary if they ditched the car in favor of public transportation.
- In fact, in three cities (Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore), yearly savings would exceed the equivalent of two months’ salary.
- Best cities for commuters pressed for time: When it comes to how much time they can save, both renters and owners who drive to work would spot the biggest difference in Las Vegas (where the car commute takes 52 minutes less compared to a public transit commute) and San Jose, CA (51 minutes less), adding up to nine days per year.
Time Is Money: U.S. Car Commuters Save Time, but Driving to Work Costs $7,165 More Per Year, on Average
For owners, yearly car costs may mean just 8% of their average annual income, but driving to work consumes more than 15% of a renter’s salary.
From parking and fuel costs to insurance and maintenance, commuting by car is thousands of dollars more expensive than commuting via public transportation. To be more precise, it’s a hefty $7,165 more. With a monthly income of a little more than $4,000, the typical renter household has to set aside the equivalent of nearly two months’ worth of income every year just to be able to cover the costs of getting to work by car.
The median income of a renter household is around half that of the typical owner household. According to the latest Census numbers, while the former is $51,393 per year, the latter hovers around a much more comfortable $97,352. Right off the bat, this means that renters need to develop budgeting skills that owners can, in theory, do without.
And one glaring budget drain is car costs. Adding up the average annual insurance ($2,670) and maintenance ($1,500) costs, as well as annual fuel ($1,699) and parking ($2,268) costs reveals that car commuters spend around $8,000 just to get to and back from work. While this represents less than 8% of owners’ income, it’s more than 15% of renters’ annual income.
It is, however, faster. How much faster? The average American car commuter shaves off almost 33 minutes from their round-trip commute each day simply by choosing the car instead of the bus. This adds up to nearly six days per year.
Plus, while paper math might make it seem easy to choose between saving money and saving time, commuters who are juggling taking the children to school, getting to work in time and possibly running multiple errands each day have a lot more to take into consideration than just money.
Also, switching to mass transit to save money sounds great, but some cities are simply too steeped in car culture. While New York, for example, distinguishes itself from other U.S. cities for its low personal car ownership and its significant use of public transportation, cities like Oklahoma City, OK; Jacksonville, FL; and Memphis, TN, are car-dependent, having very low transit scores. According to Walkscore, these cities have minimal public transportation, not many bike lanes, and some of the lowest walkability scores out of all of the cities in the analysis.
There are many reasons why America is so car-dependent, but ultimately what’s more important to address is the financial burden that the costs of owning a car place on American households. According to the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy:
In terms of total national household spending, transportation accounted for a total of $1.6 trillion USD, making it the fourth highest category of household expenditure in the country. After a decline in 2019-2020 due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, between 2020-2021 the total national household spending on transportation continued to increase by nearly 30%.
[…] many US cities lacking reliable, well-funded, and inclusive public transport options, people are forced to travel by personal vehicles to access essential destinations, like school or work. The lack of affordable, sustainable public transport options thus creates a noticeable financial burden on average American households – with fewer mobility options, many are forced to make difficult financial decisions that can impact quality-of-life.
Best Cities for Budget-Conscious Renters: Ditching the Car Saves Most Money in San Francisco, New York City & San Diego
Translating savings into monthly income, it’s Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore that shine on the podium with yearly savings equal to at least two months’ worth of income.
The renters in America’s 30 largest cities could benefit the most from switching to public transit commutes. With renter household incomes hovering around half that of homeowners’, it’s no wonder commute savings would have a bigger impact on renters’ wallets. However, that financial impact also depends on the city they commute in. Commuters in large, busy and densely-populated coastal hubs would benefit the most from taking the metro.
Costs associated with car commutes in San Francisco and New York surpass $11,000, and they’re nearly $10,000 in cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia. Yearly mass transit, however, costs around $1,000 to $1,500. Commuters who switch from car to metro could easily pocket the thousands of dollars difference.
Click here to get straight to the full data on all 30 large U.S. cities
With savings of around $10,000, San Francisco commuters who ditch the car for a year would see the most significant financial improvement. As the second-most densely populated major U.S. city, commuting by car in San Francisco might take a toll on commuters’ wallets, and their lifestyle, as well.
Next comes the most densely populated U.S. urban area: In New York City, commuters know the drill as 51% already use public transit to get to and from work. But, the 20% who use a car stand to save $9,538 if they decide to join the majority.
These savings are sizeable, but there are cities where commuting renters who ditch the car stand to gain even more. That’s because both San Francisco and New York renters would only save the equivalent of one month’s salary if they crossed to the public transit side. However, in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Baltimore, giving up a car commute and taking the bus to work for a year would translate to more than two months’ average salary.
The shares of car commuters are indeed below 50% in extremely busy cities like New York City (31%); Washington, D.C. (46%); San Francisco (48%); and Boston (49%). However, commuting by car is the absolute norm in the other 26 large cities in the study, with commuters who drive to work in Fort Worth, TX; Oklahoma City, OK; and Memphis, TN, representing the crushing majority at 96%. In fact, in 17 of these 26 car-centric cities, car commuters represent more than 90% of all commuters.
This means that a significant number of renters could save the equivalent of at least a month’s salary if they had the option to leave the car at home. But, do they? Public transit infrastructure is complex and extremely well-developed in many cities, especially in densely populated coastal urban hubs, but it’s often less efficient in more sprawling, lower-density cities where people need to cover long distances to get to work.
The least-lucky commuters are car commuters from San Jose, CA; Charlotte, NC; and Seattle: Although they come very close, the total yearly savings that renters would see if they switched from a car commute to public transit don’t add up to a month’s salary.
Best Cities for Commuters in a Hurry: At 45 Minutes, the Shortest Car Commutes Are in Memphis, TN, & Columbus, OH
Ditching the car would take a toll on Las Vegas and San Jose, CA, commuters as it would add almost an hour to their daily round-trip.
Money is important, but many commuters choose to drive to work because it’s faster and more comfortable. What’s more, quite a few of them jump in the car in the morning because they have a lot more ground to cover than just the route to and back from the office. Dropping the kids to school and taking them back; going to another part of town to run an errand; or maybe going to the gym at lunch are all tasks that would be nearly impossible, or, at the very least much harder to get to without a car.
Click here to get straight to the full data on all 30 large U.S. cities
For commuters looking to save time, there are two possible scenarios: Either they live in a city where car commutes are short compared to other large cities or the difference between taking the car and taking the bus is so big that they have no choice but drive to work to make it work.
In the first scenario, commuters in five of the 30 largest cities are the luckiest, with average daily commutes just under 50 minutes. Despite living in big urban hubs, car commuters in Memphis, TN; Columbus, OH; Louisville, KY; El Paso, TX; and Oklahoma City, OK spend half the time behind the wheel compared to NYC commuters. What’s more, taking the bus would add at least 30 minutes to the time they spend in traffic every day. Granted, they would save a lot of money, but saving time is also a big plus.
In the second scenario, it’s commuters from two cities who would feel the biggest difference. Public transit commuters in Las Vegas and San Jose, CA, would spend almost one hour more in traffic, every day, if they gave up their cars. In El Paso, TX; Fort Worth, TX; San Antonio; Phoenix; and Detroit, they would be forced to endure the mind-numbing traffic conditions for an extra 40 to 50 minutes. This adds up quite fast.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are a few large cities where taking the car would greatly increase commute costs without offering a huge time advantage in exchange: In Washington, D.C. and Boston, commuters would have to spend around $8,000 more to commute by car, but would only save around 20 minutes per day. With daily savings of around 25 minutes, commuters in Charlotte, NC; New York City; Philadelphia; and San Francisco wouldn’t be much better off.
Commuting in NYC: The Bronx Renters Would Save $8,700 by Choosing Public Transit, the Equivalent of 2+ Months’ Salary
Manhattan commuters can’t catch a break: Whether by car or metro, getting to and from work takes forever. So they might as well choose the money.
Although car culture dominates in the U.S., New York City, quite unsurprisingly, deviates from the norm: Mass transit, and especially the subway, are much more representative for the Big Apple. And that makes sense in America’s most populous city, and its most densely populated one, as well. Space is a most valuable commodity in the City That Never Sleeps and that includes parking spaces and garages: Finding a spot to park your car is a challenge in itself. Add this to all the other usual costs and it becomes obvious that owning a car and driving around in America’s largest city comes at a premium, more so than in any other city in the U.S.
Most households in NYC (54%) don’t own a car and people here rely on public transit to commute and move around. More precisely, according to the most recent Census data, of all of the residents who commute to work in the city, 32% use the subway, 12% take the bus, 10% walk to work, 4% travel by commuter rail, 5.6% carpool, 3.1% use a taxi, 1.7% ride their bicycle to work, and the smallest share (0.4%) travel by ferry.
However, 30% of all commuters drive to work alone. Car ownership is significant in a few boroughs, and it’s those commuters who would benefit the most from switching sides. In Staten Island, 68% of commuters drive to work, followed at a distance by Queens, where 43% rely on their car to move around. In The Bronx, 30% drive to work, while Brooklyn commuters who use a car are fewer, representing 26% of all commuters. Manhattan, the city’s main employment center, has the lowest share of car commuters: Less than 10% of all employees here drive to work.
Yet, Manhattanites would see the biggest savings: Given that car commuting costs in this borough are nearly $15,000 and mass transit costs are almost 10 times lower at $1,584, drivers who give up driving would save $13,294 per year. The average Manhattan renter household makes around $7,000 and the typical owner household earns a little more than $16,000, which means the math is mathing in NYC’s poshest borough.
Savings would be quite impressive in Brooklyn, as well. At $9,634, commute savings represent much more than a renter household’s monthly income ($5,363) and are almost equal to an owner household’s income (around $10,000). Not to be outdone, Queens and The Bronx are almost neck and neck, with annual savings of $8,902 and $8,698, respectively.
And, although The Bronx seems to trail behind these other boroughs, it’s actually way ahead of the pack: Renters who rely on the subway instead of a car could save more than the equivalent of two months’ median salary, which is more than renters in any other borough. At $7,186 per year, Staten Island mass transit commuters would see the smallest savings, but that amount would still represent more than the local renter’s median monthly income.
How about saving time? Most NYC commuters use public transportation, but even the few ones who insist on driving should give it up and never look back: A car commute shaves so little time from the daily commute and is so much more expensive that it’s almost not worth it. Driving to work only saves around eight minutes in Manhattan, and around 20 minutes in Brooklyn and The Bronx.
Deciding between the car and the subway in Queens and Staten Island is a tougher choice, though: Giving up the car adds more than half an hour to an employee’s daily commute in Queens and, in Staten Island, a mass transit commute takes 50 minutes more than a car commute.
Compare commute times and commute savings in the 30 largest U.S. cities plus the five NYC boroughs:
Methodology
Point2Homes.com is a real estate listing portal for rental homes across the United States. Part of Yardi Systems, Point2Homes covers housing trends and news through comprehensive studies that draw from internal data, public records, governmental sources, and online research.
- For this study, we took into consideration the 30 most populous U.S. cities, per the U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS 2023).
- Data about means of transportation to get to work, tenure by vehicles and commute time for the 30 largest U.S. cities were also sourced from the U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS 2023).
- Data on fuel and maintenance costs was sourced from AAA, car insurance costs from Bankrate, and parking rates from Spothero.
- Data on the financial cost of public transit commuting in each city was sourced from APTA and local transit authority websites.
- The median income for the renter and owner households at the national level and also for the 30 cities used in the analysis were sourced from the U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS 2023).
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