1. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island

Think you’ve got the worst commute out there? If you’re one of the millions of New York-area workers trudging daily through crowds to reach their cubicle, you may be right, according to new government data. At 34.6 minutes, the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island metropolitan statistical area topped a longest mean travel time to work list, compared with a national average of 25.3 minutes in 2010, according to Census data released Thursday. The mean travel time is for workers who are at least 16 years old and did not work at home. But a long commute time doesn’t mean that all these workers are suffering in traffic. While most workers across the country drive alone to work, almost 31% of New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island metro area workers use public transportation to get to work, compared with 4.9% nationally.

Jack Nutter

2. Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro area has the second-longest commute, with a mean travel time of 33.9 minutes. Larger metro areas tend to have longer commutes. “Large metropolitan areas like New York, Washington DC, show up year after year. In these places, people are having to move very far away from their workplaces to find affordable housing, not by choice, but by necessity. This additional distance from job centers may present an added burden for workers who do not have the benefit of regular access to an automobile, as many outlying areas do not offer many alternatives to driving,” said Brian McKenzie, a Census analyst who works on commuting statistics.

Otto Yamamoto

3. Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, N.Y.

The Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY metro area had the third longest commute, with a mean of 31.9 minutes. This area is a relatively smaller metro area, but it’s “influenced by a substantial percentage of its residents commuting to the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island” metro area, according to the Census release.

View from a CTA bus crossing the Franklin Street Bridge in Chicago shows various other transit modes, including an elevated CTA train, a Metra commuter train and a water taxi. MarketWatch/Tim Rostan

4. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville

The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill. metro area has the fourth longest commute time at 30.7 minutes. Across the country in 2010, almost 77% of workers drove alone to work, while almost 10% carpooled, about 4% worked at home and almost 3% walked.

Interchange traffic, San Bernardino, Calif. IK/Wikipedia

5. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.

The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. metro area had an average commute time of 30.6 minutes. Nationally, commutes ticked higher to 25.3 minutes in 2010 from 25.1 minutes in 2009. “There was no dramatic shift at the national level,” McKenzie said. In 1980, commutes were less than 22 minutes. For 2010, about 2% of workers had a commute of at least 90 minutes.

Subway of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.

6. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. metro area has an average commute time of 30.3 minutes.

Reuters

7. Winchester, Va.

The Winchester, Va. metro area has an average commute time of 30.3 minutes. The U.S. Census Bureau says that “metropolitan statistical areas comprise the central county or counties or equivalent entities containing the core, plus adjacent outlying counties having a high degree of social and economic integration with the central county or counties as measured through commuting.”

Baltimore light rail. Andrew Horne

8. Baltimore-Towson, Md.

The Baltimore-Towson, Md. metro area has an average commute time of 30 minutes.

Washington State Ferry from Harborside Fountain Park, Bremerton, Wash. Joe Mabel

9. Bremerton-Silverdale, Wash.

Bremerton-Silverdale, Wash. metro area has an average commute time of 29.2 minutes.

The 2,673 foot-long Feather River Bridge of State Highway 20 connects the twin cities of Yuba City in Sutter County and Marysville in Yuba County, Calif. Caltrans

10. Yuba City, Calif.

The Yuba City, Calif. metro area has an average commute time of 29.2 minutes. Yuba City, just like Poughkeepsie, Riverside, Winchester, and Bremerton, is a relatively small metro area that is adjacent to a larger metro area. Many Yuba City commuters travel south along Interstate 5 to Sacramento and other nearby cities for work, resulting, in some cases, in long commutes,” said McKenzie.