That viral 'average commute' stat ignored the middle of nowhere

Tbh, I drove through western Kansas last month and the Census data claiming the average one-way commute is 27 minutes just doesn't add up for folks out there. I stopped at a gas station in Oakley and asked three people, two of them drove 45 plus minutes just to get to work in Hays. The numbers lump everyone together, but rural drivers are skewing that average way harder than the city folks they quote. Has anyone else seen a stat that totally misses the reality of their own region?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_gonzalez11d ago

Driving across Nebraska last spring and the GPS said 35 minutes between two towns that looked like dots on the map. Stopped in Gothenburg and a waitress told me she drives 50 minutes each way just to her shift at the diner. These averages must be counting people who live right on top of their jobs in cities. Out here the whole "27 minutes" thing is a joke when your nearest grocery store is a county away. The real number for rural folks is probably double that, and nobody's asking us.

ryan7931d ago

That waitress driving 50 minutes just to get to her shift really got me. I used to hear those average commute numbers and figure they covered everyone pretty well, but you're right, they're basically city math. Driving through the rural parts of my own state I see the same thing, people going a half hour just for a gallon of milk. It's like the map dots make the distances look small but the actual drive is a whole different story.