Skip to Content
Streetsblog San Francisco home
Streetsblog San Francisco home
Log In

Fun With Data: How Workers Commute

driving_alone.jpgImage: Census Bureau via Economix

Bike Pittsburgh has posted some great, sortable data about how commuters get to work in major American cities, drawn from a Census Bureau report. San Francisco ranked near the top of cities with a high percentage of walkers, transit riders and cyclists, and a relatively low percentage of people who commute alone in a car. Only New York City at 23.3 percent and Washington D.C. at 37.2
percent had fewer solo drivers than San Francisco's 38.4 percent. San Francisco also had a high percentage of car-free residents, at nearly 20 percent of the population.

Wichita,
Kansas ranks as the place with the highest percentage of drivers: 85.1
percent of commuters use a car to get to work. The unfortunate national
median for commuting by car is 74.15 percent.

There's also an interesting chart on bike commuting trends by gender, in response to a Scientific American article,
which asserts that cycling needs to be made more attractive to women in
order to boost overall urban cycling numbers. The argument seems to
check out: according to Bike Pittsburgh's data, even in cities with
relatively high levels of bike commuters, men cycle to work
significantly more than women.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog San Francisco

Letter to Readers: Happy Holidays and Thoughts on the Year’s Takeaways

2024 will be remembered as a seminal year for San Francisco streets

December 21, 2024

Remembering Another Person Killed by Traffic Engineers and Politicians

If there isn't money to make a project safe for everyone, regardless of how they get around, then there isn't enough money to build it. Period.

December 19, 2024
See all posts