Southern California is home to the worst commutes in America, data suggests 

It’s no secret that Southern California freeways can get extremely backed up – especially during rush hour – and new data suggests SoCal workers have some of the longest, most grueling commutes in the nation. 

The study, conducted by business resource LLC.org, analyzed commute times for full-time workers across 530 occupations in America’s 170 most populous cities. 

Flight attendants, LLC.org found, have the longest average commute of any worker in the U.S., with many having a roundtrip journey that lasts nearly two hours, and that’s not counting all the time they spend in the airport and on the plane.

“Overall, the average roundtrip commute for flight attendants is about an hour and 57 minutes,” researchers said. “Aircraft pilots and flight engineers rank close with an average roundtrip commute of one hour and 47 minutes…elsewhere in the travel industry, transportation security screeners rank among the top 25 occupations with the worst commutes, averaging 70 minutes roundtrip.” 

The vast majority of the 25 occupations with the longest commute times are blue-collar jobs, the study found, such as mining machine operators (90 minutes); elevator and escalator installers/repairers (88 minutes); iron and steel workers (84 minutes) and drywall and ceiling tile installers (76 minutes). 

Media and communications workers rank 17th with a 72-minute commute.

When broken down by city, Southern California cities make up half of the top ten with the highest commute times in the U.S., including the top spot: Palmdale. 

The average roundtrip commute for a Palmdale resident is just over 90 minutes, LLC.org said, which equates to roughly 371 hours per year, or about 15 and a half days in total. 

In fifth on LLC.org’s longest commute list is Moreno Valley; although considerably less than Palmdale, Moreno Valley commuters still spend an average of an hour and ten minutes commuting, which is comparable to spending 11.9 days out of the year driving to and from work. 

Directly behind Moreno Valley is Corona, where the 68-minute roundtrip commute is good for sixth-longest in the nation. The two other SoCal cities in the top ten are Fontana (66-minute average roundtrip commute) and Palmdale’s twin city Lancaster (65-minute average roundtrip commute). 

The top 50 cities with the worst commutes in America can be viewed in the table below: 

Rank	City	State	Roundtrip commute	Annual commute
1.	Palmdale	California	91 minutes	371.58 hrs. (15.5 days)
2.	New York City	New York	81.40 minutes	332.38 hrs. (13.8 days)
3.	Jersey City	New Jersey	74.80 minutes	305.43 hrs. (12.7 days)
4.	Yonkers	New York	72.80 minutes	297.27 hrs. (12.4 days)
5.	Moreno Valley	California	70 minutes	285.83 hrs. (11.9 days)
6.	Corona	California	68.40 minutes	279.30 hrs. (11.6 days)
7.	Chicago	Illinois	67 minutes	273.58 hrs. (11.4 days)
8.	Fontana	California	66.60 minutes	271.95 hrs. (11.3 days)
9.	Lancaster	California	65.80 minutes	268.68 hrs. (11.2 days)
10.	Stockton	California	65.40 minutes	267.05 hrs. (11.1 days)
11.	Rancho Cucamonga	California	65.40 minutes	267.05 hrs. (11.1 days)
12.	Hollywood	Florida	65.40 minutes	267.05 hrs. (11.1 days)
13.	Santa Clarita	California	64 minutes	261.33 hrs. (10.9 days)
14.	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	63 minutes	257.25 hrs. (10.7 days)
15.	Pomona	California	62.80 minutes	256.43 hrs. (10.7 days)
16.	Newark	New Jersey	62.80 minutes	256.43 hrs. (10.7 days)
17.	Ontario	California	62.40 minutes	254.80 hrs. (10.6 days)
18.	Elk Grove	California	62.40 minutes	254.80 hrs. (10.6 days)
19.	Boston	Massachusetts	61 minutes	249.08 hrs. (10.4 days)
20.	Garland	Texas	60.40 minutes	246.63 hrs. (10.3 days)
21.	Los Angeles	California	60.40 minutes	246.63 hrs. (10.3 days)
22.	Washington, D.C.	—	60.20 minutes	245.82 hrs. (10.2 days)
23.	Hayward	California	60 minutes	245.00 hrs. (10.2 days)
24.	Pembroke Pines	Florida	59.60 minutes	243.37 hrs. (10.1 days)
25.	Chula Vista	California	59.60 minutes	243.37 hrs. (10.1 days)
26.	Riverside	California	59.60 minutes	243.37 hrs. (10.1 days)
27.	Cape Coral	Florida	59.40 minutes	242.55 hrs. (10.1 days)
28.	Oakland	California	59.20 minutes	241.73 hrs. (10.1 days)
29.	San Francisco	California	59 minutes	240.92 hrs. (10 days)
30.	Long Beach	California	58.80 minutes	240.10 hrs. (10 days)
31.	Escondido	California	58 minutes	236.83 hrs. (9.9 days)
32.	Miami	Florida	58 minutes	236.83 hrs. (9.9 days)
33.	Grand Prairie	Texas	57.60 minutes	235.20 hrs. (9.8 days)
34.	Baltimore	Maryland	57.60 minutes	235.20 hrs. (9.8 days)
35.	Hialeah	Florida	57.40 minutes	234.38 hrs. (9.8 days)
36.	Alexandria	Virginia	57.40 minutes	234.38 hrs. (9.8 days)
37.	Port St. Lucie	Florida	57 minutes	232.75 hrs. (9.7 days)
38.	Modesto	California	57 minutes	232.75 hrs. (9.7 days)
39.	Huntington Beach	California	57 minutes	232.75 hrs. (9.7 days)
40.	San Bernardino	California	56.20 minutes	229.48 hrs. (9.6 days)
41.	Garden Grove	California	56 minutes	228.67 hrs. (9.5 days)
42.	Salinas	California	55.80 minutes	227.85 hrs. (9.5 days)
43.	Aurora	Colorado	55.80 minutes	227.85 hrs. (9.5 days)
44.	Fort Lauderdale	Florida	55.40 minutes	226.22 hrs. (9.4 days)
45.	Aurora	Illinois	55.20 minutes	225.40 hrs. (9.4 days)
46.	Frisco	Texas	55.20 minutes	225.40 hrs. (9.4 days)
47.	Glendale	Arizona	54.80 minutes	223.77 hrs. (9.3 days)
48.	Houston	Texas	54.60 minutes	222.95 hrs. (9.3 days)
49.	Fremont	California	54.20 minutes	221.32 hrs. (9.2 days)
50.	Anaheim	California	54 minutes	220.50 hrs. (9.2 days)

According to LLC.org, commute times are increasing across the country for workers aged 16 and older. Part of that, they say, can be attributed to the decline in Americans who work from home since the COVID-19 pandemic ended. 

“Whether they maintain a hybrid work schedule or work in person at their workplace, this decrease in remote work has led to a spike in commuters,” researchers noted. “Year-over-year, the average roundtrip commute has increased by 392 minutes, which is roughly seven hours more per year.” 

The full study, which includes a breakdown of commute times by occupation, can be read here.