KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Maryland ranks 3rd in 2024, with 14.5% of commuters classified as super commuters, meaning nearly 1 in 7 workers spends 60 or more minutes traveling one way.
- Its average one-way commute reached 33.0 minutes in 2024, up from 31.2 minutes in 2021, the 2nd longest average commute in the nation across all four years.
- Maryland commuters spend an average of 267.5 hours per year traveling to and from work, based on a four-year average commute of 32.1 minutes and 250 workdays, the 2nd highest total in the nation.
Maryland sits at the very top of the national commuting map, ranking 3rd in the country for super commuters and 2nd for total annual hours spent commuting. With 14.5% of its workforce clocking 60 or more minutes one way in 2024 and an average one-way commute of 33.0 minutes, Maryland workers face one of the most demanding daily travel burdens in the United States. The gap between Maryland and the national average of 27.2 minutes has held above 5.5 minutes in every year of the study, and the state has ranked within the top three across every metric examined.
According to Grigor Law Injury and Car Accident Lawyers, this analysis draws on U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-year estimates spanning 2021 through 2024. The study ranks all 50 states by their 2024 average one-way commute time and examines how commute patterns have shifted across the four years. The ACS methodology excludes remote workers from all calculations.
States With the Highest Share of Workers Commuting 60 or More Minutes One Way
| State | Super Commuters 60+ min (%) 2024 | Rank |
| New York | 17.2% | 1 |
| New Jersey | 15.2% | 2 |
| Maryland | 14.5% | 3 |
| Massachusetts | 13.3% | 4 |
| California | 12.1% | 5 |
| Georgia | 11.3% | 6 |
| Illinois | 10.4% | 7 |
| Virginia | 10.0% | 8 |
| New Hampshire | 10.0% | 9 |
| West Virginia | 9.8% | 10 |
Maryland ranks 3rd in the nation for super commuters at 14.5%, more than 1.5 times the 9.3% national average, with nearly 1 in 7 commuters traveling 60 or more minutes one way. New York (17.2%) and New Jersey (15.2%) rank above Maryland, placing all three mid-Atlantic states at the very top of the national ranking. Massachusetts (13.3%), California (12.1%), and Georgia (11.3%) also rank above the national average. Maryland’s rate of 14.5% is more than three and a half times Nebraska’s 4.0%, the nation’s lowest, reflecting the heavy commuting pressure concentrated along the mid-Atlantic corridor.
Looking at the study, Chrissy Grigoropoulos, founder of Grigor Law Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, commented:
“Maryland commuters are spending 33 minutes one way just getting to their workplace, and across 250 workdays that adds up to 267 hours of annual commute time, the second highest toll in the country. The daily exposure to heavy traffic on routes connecting Maryland to the Washington D.C. metro area and beyond is not a minor inconvenience. It is a cumulative fatigue factor that raises road accident risk in measurable ways, and it is one that employers and policymakers operating in this corridor cannot continue to treat as simply the cost of doing business.”
Maryland Commute Trend Compared to the National Average: 2021 to 2024
| Year | Maryland Avg Commute (min) | National Avg Commute (min) | Maryland Above National |
| 2021 | 31.2 | 25.6 | +5.6 min (+21.9%) |
| 2022 | 31.9 | 26.4 | +5.5 min (+20.8%) |
| 2023 | 32.3 | 26.8 | +5.5 min (+20.5%) |
| 2024 | 33.0 | 27.2 | +5.8 min (+21.3%) |
Maryland’s average one-way commute rose from 31.2 minutes in 2021 to 33.0 minutes in 2024, a 1.8-minute or 5.8% increase. The state has consistently ranked above the national average, with the gap holding above 5.5 minutes in every year of the study and reaching its widest point of 5.8 minutes in both 2021 and 2024. In 2024, Maryland’s 33.0-minute average was 21.3% longer than the national average of 27.2 minutes, reinforcing that its elevated commute burden is a structural feature of working life in the state.
States With the Longest Average Commutes and Annual Hours Lost to Commuting
| State | Avg Commute 2021 (min) | Avg Commute 2022 (min) | Avg Commute 2023 (min) | Avg Commute 2024 (min) | Avg Annual Commute 2021-2024 (min) | Annual Hours Commuting (250 days) | Rank |
| New York | 31.5 | 32.5 | 33.2 | 33.5 | 32.7 | 272.3 | 1 |
| Maryland | 31.2 | 31.9 | 32.3 | 33.0 | 32.1 | 267.5 | 2 |
| New Jersey | 30.2 | 31.0 | 31.7 | 32.0 | 31.2 | 260.2 | 3 |
| Massachusetts | 28.0 | 29.0 | 29.6 | 30.0 | 29.2 | 242.9 | 4 |
| California | 27.7 | 28.5 | 29.2 | 29.8 | 28.8 | 240.0 | 5 |
| Illinois | 27.4 | 28.0 | 28.4 | 29.0 | 28.2 | 235.0 | 6 |
| Georgia | 27.3 | 27.9 | 28.4 | 28.7 | 28.1 | 234.0 | 7 |
| Virginia | 27.0 | 27.8 | 28.5 | 28.6 | 28.0 | 233.1 | 8 |
| Florida | 27.0 | 27.5 | 27.9 | 27.9 | 27.6 | 229.8 | 9 |
| Washington | 26.3 | 27.0 | 27.6 | 28.0 | 27.2 | 226.9 | 10 |
Maryland ranks 2nd nationally for annual commute time, with workers spending 267.5 hours per year traveling to and from work, based on a four-year average one-way commute of 32.1 minutes and 250 working days. Only New York (272.3 hours) ranks above Maryland, while New Jersey (260.2 hours) follows in 3rd place. Massachusetts (242.9 hours) and California (240.0 hours) round out the top five, both more than 25 hours below Maryland. The state’s average commute remained above 31 minutes in every year studied, confirming that its high ranking reflects a sustained and persistent burden.
Methodology
The analysis used U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-year estimates for its production. Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-year estimates, specifically table codes ACSST1Y2021.S0801, ACSST1Y2022.S0801, ACSST1Y2023.S0801, and ACSST1Y2024.S0801.Each state’s four-year average one-way commute time (2021 through 2024) is used to calculate annual commute hours by multiplying it by 2 to get a daily round-trip figure, then multiplying by 250 workdays and dividing by 60 minutes to convert to hours. The 250-workday benchmark is the standard used by both the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics in commute research, derived from 52 weeks multiplied by 5 weekdays, minus 10 federal holidays. This analysis excludes remote workers from all commute calculations, following the ACS survey design.
Data Sources
- 2024 ACS Commute Data: https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2024.S0801
- 2023 ACS Commute Data: https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2023.S0801
- 2022 ACS Commute Data: https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2022.S0801
- 2021 ACS Commute Data: https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2021.S0801
- Research Dataset: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mDps83dp4hveNMI8Sqd_zjPFPMhaqs4uMHJMAByTcZg/edit?gid=0#gid=0
- Research by: https://grigorlaw.com/
About Grigor Law Injury & Car Accident Lawyers
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