Map: Whose Commute is the Longest?

Newscruncher is a daily series that breaks down the characteristics of your town by the numbers. You can see more posts by clicking the Newscruncher link above the headline or by checking out our weekend roundups. If you see any technical issues with this map, or if you'd like to suggest ideas for future Newscruncher articles, please email data@patch.com.

The map above shows a snapshot of how many minutes it generally takes people to get to work across Martha's Vineyard. You can also read what Islanders and others have to say about their daily trek in "Commute? On MV? Seriously?"

What the map doesn't include is commuting times for workers who live off-Island and work on the Vineyard, or vice versa. If you're among these people, we'd love to hear from you about your commute: Tell us in the comments how you get to work on- or off-Island, how long it takes you and how you like the trip.

Nationally, the number of people traveling more than an hour to work rose to 11.1 million in 2012. That’s up 300,000 from 2011. Which is bad news, because extensive travel times are linked to an increased risk of developing high blood sugar and cholesterol, depression, anxiety and a feeling of social isolation. 

The data in this map are from the United States Census Bureau's 2011 American Community Survey. These values are an estimate for 2011 taking into account 60 months of collected data. You can learn more about the survey here.

Using your cursor, you can hover over any census tract – the geographic region defined by the U.S. Census – and see in the box in the upper right hand corner of the map how many minutes it generally takes people to get to work.

How important is commute time to you? Tell us in a comment or a blog post.