Which state rides the bus or train most?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states have the biggest share of workers using public transportation? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… California — huge cities everywhere!
Answer
The real order is…
New York is in a league of its own — about 2.45× the share of #2 New Jersey.
📚 Background New York is in a league of its own — about 1 in 4 workers gets to work by bus, train, subway or ferry, more than twice the share of #2 New Jersey. In the lowest states it's under 1 in 100. (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🚶『Fifty states, fifty ways to get to work』→ I bet… California — huge cities everywhere!
Compare
Share of workers using public transportation (%, ACS 2023)
Highest: New York (23.5 %); lowest: North Dakota (0.2 %).
Note: buses, trains, subways and ferries all count — taxis do not.
Geography is destiny!
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 New York is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 50)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | New York | 23.5 % |
| #2 | New Jersey | 9.6 % |
| #3 | Massachusetts | 7.3 % |
| #4 | Illinois | 6.6 % |
| #5 | Maryland | 4.9 % |
| #6 | Hawaii | 4.1 % |
| #7 | Washington | 4 % |
| #8 | Pennsylvania | 3.8 % |
| #9 | Connecticut | 3.7 % |
| #10 | California | 3.1 % |
| #11 | Virginia | 2.5 % |
| #12 | Delaware | 2.3 % |
| #12 | Nevada | 2.3 % |
| #14 | Oregon | 2.2 % |
| #15 | Rhode Island | 1.9 % |
| #16 | Minnesota | 1.7 % |
| #17 | Colorado | 1.6 % |
| #17 | Utah | 1.6 % |
| #19 | Florida | 1.4 % |
| #20 | Arizona | 1.2 % |
| #20 | Wyoming | 1.2 % |
| #22 | Georgia | 1.1 % |
| #22 | Ohio | 1.1 % |
| #22 | Wisconsin | 1.1 % |
| #25 | Michigan | 0.9 % |
| #25 | Texas | 0.9 % |
| #25 | Vermont | 0.9 % |
| #28 | Alaska | 0.8 % |
| #28 | Iowa | 0.8 % |
| #28 | Louisiana | 0.8 % |
| #28 | Maine | 0.8 % |
| #28 | Missouri | 0.8 % |
| #33 | Indiana | 0.7 % |
| #33 | Kentucky | 0.7 % |
| #33 | New Hampshire | 0.7 % |
| #33 | New Mexico | 0.7 % |
| #33 | South Dakota | 0.7 % |
| #38 | Idaho | 0.6 % |
| #38 | Montana | 0.6 % |
| #38 | North Carolina | 0.6 % |
| #41 | Nebraska | 0.5 % |
| #41 | Tennessee | 0.5 % |
| #41 | West Virginia | 0.5 % |
| #44 | Kansas | 0.4 % |
| #44 | South Carolina | 0.4 % |
| #46 | Alabama | 0.3 % |
| #46 | Arkansas | 0.3 % |
| #46 | Oklahoma | 0.3 % |
| #49 | Mississippi | 0.2 % |
| #49 | North Dakota | 0.2 % |
| 🇺🇸 USA (national figure) | 3.5 % |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2023 (ACS 1-year estimates))
Sources
Data as of: 2023 (ACS 1-year estimates)
U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2023 1-year profile DP03_0021PE (share of workers using public transportation) (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-02) — Official published survey estimates (the committed raw file is the API response, unchanged).
↳ On data.census.gov, open profile table “DP03” for 2023 and read DP03_0021PE (share of workers using public transportation) by state.