Which state’s commuters most often get to work in under 10 minutes?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Some grown-ups are at work almost as soon as they leave home. Out of every 100 people who travel to work, which state has the most whose trip usually takes less than 10 minutes? Tap the states most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→3 in order
Rhode Island is the smallest state, so everything must be close by. I’m guessing Rhode Island! 🐾
Answer
The real order is…
Wyoming — 31.9 out of every 100 people who travel to work get there in under 10 minutes. For the whole country it is 12.7, so Wyoming’s share is about two and a half times the national one, and about 1.12× second-place South Dakota (28.4). And the state Biscuit picked? Rhode Island, the smallest state, comes in at 11.8 — below the national figure. Meanwhile Alaska, the biggest state, is fourth at 25.4. A small state is not the same as a short trip: what counts is each person’s own trip from home to work, not how big the map is.
📚 Background A Census Bureau report on travel time to work (2021) looked at cities and their suburbs, not whole states. It found that “Within large metro areas, where dense concentrations of people and industry contribute to diverse transportation options, workers generally had longer commutes,” and that “Workers in the smallest metro areas, those with fewer than 300,000 residents, had the shortest average travel time.” Wyoming has the fewest people of any state. Is that why it leads this quiz? The report did not study states, so it cannot tell us — it is a guess worth testing, not an answer. (U.S. Census Bureau, “Travel Time to Work in the United States: 2019,” American Community Survey Reports ACS-47 (March 2021)) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🚌『Why are school buses yellow?』→ Rhode Island is the smallest state, so everything must be close by. I’m guessing Rhode Island! 🐾
Compare
Commuters whose trip to work takes under 10 minutes (% of workers 16+ who did not work from home, ACS 2020–2024 5-year)
Most: Wyoming (31.9 %). Lowest: Maryland (8.2) — about 1 commuter in 12.
Note: from the American Community Survey, which the Census Bureau sends to a sample of addresses, not to every home — so every number here is an estimate published with a give-or-take. These are the five-year estimates (2020–2024), which average five years of answers. Wyoming’s (±0.8) and South Dakota’s (±0.7) ranges do not overlap, so Wyoming stays on top even after both published margins of error are applied; South Dakota’s and North Dakota’s (28.3) ranges overlap, so the second and third places shown are too close to call. The share counts only workers who left home to go to work — people who worked from home are left out — and kids going to school are not part of this survey question. The 50 states are shown; the District of Columbia is not ranked. U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates.
Wyoming: lots of quick trips to work! 🐾
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 Wyoming is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 50)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Wyoming | 31.9 % |
| #2 | South Dakota | 28.4 % |
| #3 | North Dakota | 28.3 % |
| #4 | Alaska | 25.4 % |
| #5 | Montana | 25.1 % |
| #6 | Iowa | 24 % |
| #7 | Nebraska | 23.3 % |
| #8 | Kansas | 22.5 % |
| #9 | Idaho | 19.9 % |
| #10 | Vermont | 18.3 % |
| #11 | Wisconsin | 18.1 % |
| #12 | Arkansas | 17.7 % |
| #12 | Maine | 17.7 % |
| #14 | New Mexico | 17.5 % |
| #14 | Oklahoma | 17.5 % |
| #16 | Oregon | 16.8 % |
| #17 | Minnesota | 16.7 % |
| #18 | Utah | 16.2 % |
| #19 | Missouri | 15.5 % |
| #20 | Indiana | 15.1 % |
| #21 | Kentucky | 14.8 % |
| #22 | Ohio | 14.7 % |
| #23 | West Virginia | 14.5 % |
| #24 | Michigan | 14.4 % |
| #25 | Mississippi | 14.1 % |
| #25 | New Hampshire | 14.1 % |
| #27 | Pennsylvania | 13.5 % |
| #28 | Louisiana | 13.2 % |
| #29 | Colorado | 13.1 % |
| #30 | Washington | 12.6 % |
| #31 | Illinois | 12.5 % |
| #32 | North Carolina | 12.4 % |
| #33 | Arizona | 12.2 % |
| #34 | Alabama | 12.1 % |
| #35 | Tennessee | 12 % |
| #36 | Connecticut | 11.9 % |
| #37 | Rhode Island | 11.8 % |
| #37 | South Carolina | 11.8 % |
| #37 | Texas | 11.8 % |
| #40 | Hawaii | 11.5 % |
| #41 | Delaware | 11.1 % |
| #42 | Massachusetts | 10.8 % |
| #43 | Virginia | 10.5 % |
| #44 | Georgia | 10.2 % |
| #44 | Nevada | 10.2 % |
| #44 | New York | 10.2 % |
| #47 | New Jersey | 10 % |
| #48 | California | 9.7 % |
| #49 | Florida | 8.9 % |
| #50 | Maryland | 8.2 % |
| 🇺🇸 USA (national figure) | 12.7 % |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2020–2024 (ACS 5-year estimates))
Sources
Data as of: 2020–2024 (ACS 5-year estimates)
U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year subject table S0801_C01_037E (travel time to work — less than 10 minutes) (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-09) — Official published survey estimates (the committed raw file is the API response, unchanged). The American Community Survey goes to a sample of addresses, not to every home, so every figure here is an estimate published with a margin of error; these are the 5-year estimates, which average five years of answers (2020–2024). The share is out of workers 16 and over who did not work from home. The figures cover the 50 states.
↳ On data.census.gov, open subject table “S0801” (Commuting Characteristics by Sex) for the 2020–2024 ACS 5-year estimates and read S0801_C01_037E (Workers 16 years and over who did not work from home — Travel time to work — Less than 10 minutes) by state.