“Swift swings” takes a quick peek at one economic trend.
The number: The pandemic helped to slash by nearly one-third the number of Southern California workers with 90-minute-plus commutes.
The source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at Census Bureau stats focusing on what’s dubbed “super commuters” – folks in the five-county region with workday trips of an hour and a half or longer. Sadly, the latest data is for 2022, which we compared with pre-coronavirus 2019.
A host of factors – everything from changes in remote work to swings in where people live – dramatically altered how Southern Californians get to work. And it’s probably good news that crazy-long commutes have been trimmed.
Southern California had 299,619 super commuters in 2022, down 30% or 130,640 in three years. Still, that equals 3.5% of all commuters with these long hauls, compared with 4.5% in 2019. And note that commuting overall dropped 11% in the period.
This is, in no way, just a Southern California quirk.
Statewide, there were 550,257 super commuters in 2022, a drop of 32% or 261,030 in three years. That was 3.6% of all commuters compared with 4.6% in 2019. California commuting overall is down 12% in the period.
Nationwide, 3.1 million super commuters – off 23% or 934,510 in three years. Lengthy trips to work are 2.6% of all commutes nationwide, a share down from 3.1% in 2019. US work trips dropped 9% in the period.
Let’s look at the super commuter swings by Southern California county, with their ranking among the 50 US counties with the most commuters …
Los Angeles: 127,497 super commuters (No. 1 in the nation) – off 39% or 81,010 in three years. It’s 3.2% of all commutes (No. 11 share of the 50) – compared to 4.5% in 2019. Commuting’s off 15% overall.
Riverside: 61,294 super commuters (No. 4) – off 24% or 19,800 in three years. It’s 6.2% of all commutes (No. 6) – compared to 8.2% in 2019. Commuting’s off 0.2% overall.
San Bernardino: 53,322 super commuters (No. 6) – off 7% or 4,310 in three years. It’s 6.1% of all commutes (No. 7) – compared to 6.5% in 2019. Commuting’s off 3% overall.
San Diego: 28,615 super commuters (No. 13) – off 23% or 8,400 in three years. It’s 2.1% of all commutes (No. 25) – compared to 2.4% in 2019. Commuting’s off 13% overall.
Orange County: 13,447 super commuters (No. 27) – off 14% or 2,150 in three years. It’s 2.2% of all commutes (No. 23) – compared to 2.3% in 2019. Commuting’s off 9% overall.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
