From $585 to $1,384: How Commute Costs Swing by Job and City

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Gas prices may rise and fall, but for millions of Americans, one thing stays the same: Commuting is expensive. We looked at how much it costs workers nationwide to drive to work, based on fuel prices, drive time, and occupation. By digging into U.S. Census and Department of Transportation data, we uncovered where commuters spend the most and who’s getting hit hardest in the wallet.

Key Takeaways

• The average American driver spends over $900 a year on commuting. In 12 major cities, driving to work costs more than $1,000 annually.
• Commute costs have jumped 1.4x since 2017, with drivers now spending $274 more per year just to get to work.
• New York City drivers pay the steepest price to commute at $1,258 a year. That’s 2.5% of their annual income just to get to work.
• Lubbock, Texas, has the cheapest commute in the U.S. at just $585 a year, which is less than half the cost of commuting in NYC.
• Brickmasons and flight crews have the priciest commutes in America. They pay over $1,300 a year just to get to work.

$900 a Year to Drive to Work? It’s Real.

• The average American commuting by car will spend $908 in 2025.
• Commute costs have jumped 1.4x since 2017, when it was $634 annually. Drivers now spend $274 more per year just to get to work.
• Daily commute costs have risen from $2.44 to $3.49 from 2017 to 2025.

The Cities Where Commuting Costs the Most

• New York City drivers pay the steepest price to commute at $1,258 a year or 2.5% of their annual income.

• In 12 major cities, driving to work costs more than $1,000 a year.

• Lubbock, Texas, has the cheapest commute in the U.S. at just $585 a year. That’s less than half the cost of commuting in New York City.

• Even in lower-cost cities like Lincoln, Nebraska, Wichita, Kansas, and Des Moines, Iowa, commuters still spend over $600 a year.

Disparities in Commute Burden: Who Pays More To Get to Work

• Brickmasons and flight crews have the priciest commutes in America, paying over $1,300 a year just to get to work.

• Some low-income workers face high commute burdens despite lower costs. For example, fast food workers have the cheapest commutes, at $623 a year, but it still takes up 4.2% of their annual income.

Methodology

We collected data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 1-Year American Community Survey (ACS), the ACS 1-Year Estimates Public Use Microdata Sample (2023), Census Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas Population Totals (2020–2024), the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2022 National Household Travel Survey, AAA fuel price data, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center.

We analyzed commuting and income data across both geographic and occupational categories, focusing specifically on personal vehicle commuters. The city analysis included only areas with 100,000 or more workers aged 16 and older, yielding a sample of 72 qualifying cities. Census-Designated Places (CDPs) were excluded to ensure consistency and relevance in city-level comparisons. For the occupation-level analysis, we limited our scope to occupations in the 50th percentile or higher based on the number of workers who commute by car, resulting in an analysis of 266 occupations.

Cities and occupations that did not meet these thresholds or lacked complete data were excluded from the analysis to maintain statistical reliability and national representativeness.

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