Fairfield County has the largest number of commuters with more than a 90-minute journey to work, according to a new survey of Census Bureau data by Apartment List.

Of the 437,458 workers in the area 6.4 percent, or 28,082, are super commuters. While some of this reflects traffic on Interstate 95 and Route 15, some of it also includes the county’s status as a popular home for people who work in Midtown and Downtown Manhattan. Among workers in the Hartford metro who rely on public transit, 6.2 percent are super commuters, compared to 1.2 percent of those who commute by car, the report found.

The number of American workers who bear through commute times of 90 minutes or more each way grew by 32 percent from 2005 to 2017, Apartment List found. This is more than triple the 9 percent growth rate for workers with commutes shorter than 90 minutes.

Nationally, 2.9 percent of workers are super commuters. Recent increases in super commuting are often attributed to middle-class workers in superstar cities being priced out to far-flung exurbs. However, county-level data shows that super commuting is also common among low-income workers who rely on public transit, as well as blue-collar workers in certain pockets of rural America.

 

County Metro Area Total Workforce Super Commuter Workforce Super Commuter Rate
Fairfield County Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT 437,458 28,082 6.4%
Hartford County Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT 419,296 6,075 1.4%
Litchfield County Torrington, CT 90,689 2,714 3%
Middlesex County Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT 82,044 1,804 2.2%
New Haven County New Haven-Milford, CT 400,255 10,733 2.7%
New London County Norwich-New London, CT 131,473 2,444 1.9%
Tolland County Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT 73,200 1,399 1.9%
Windham County Worcester, MA-CT 54,428 1,034 1.9%