The typical U.S. commuter in 2000 left home between 6:30 a.m. and 8:29 a.m. and drove alone for 26 minutes to get to work, the U.S. Census Bureau said today in a report based on Census 2000 results. Overall, people were leaving home earlier and spending more time in traffic in 2000 than in previous censuses.

     According to the report, Journey to Work: 2000, [PDF] about 53 percent of all workers headed to their jobs between 6:30 a.m. and 8:29 a.m. Another 20 percent of workers departed for work between midnight and 6:29 a.m, up 2 percentage points or 4.8 million workers from a decade earlier, the largest hike in any time period of the day.

     The report is based on responses to questions asked on the census long form, which did not include the distance workers traveled in their journey to work. A sample of households, about 1-in-6 nationally, received the long form. The data are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.

-X-