Sydney tops the nation for the proportion of people using public transport to travel to work with about one in five residents catching trains, buses, trams or ferries for their daily commute.

In a further sign of the demand for Sydney's rail and bus network, the city has easily earned the title of the country's public transport capital with 20.9 per cent using it to travel to work, followed by Melbourne (13.4 per cent), Brisbane (10.5 per cent), Adelaide (8.3 per cent) and Perth (8.1 per cent).

Sydney's train network is under strain from a fast-growing population. Credit:Peter Rae

But the latest release of data from the 2016 census shows the household car remains by far the preferred mode of transport to work for people across the nation, including Sydney.

Adelaide scored the highest proportion of people driving to work by car at 79.9 per cent, followed by Perth (79.3 per cent), Hobart (76 per cent) and Brisbane (75.3 per cent).