Tidbit Tuesday | How long does it take Philadelphia’s metro area to get to work compared to other metro areas in the Northeast?

December 10, 2013 by motuphila215

Every Tuesday, the Mayor’s Office of Transportation & Utilities (MOTU) posts a map or graphic that tells a story about transportation or utilities in the City of Brotherly Love.

This week we are looking at Philadelphia metro area’s commute time in comparison to other metro areas (otherwise known as metropolitan statistical areas, or MSA’s) in the northeast. All data is pulled from the 2009-2012 American Community Survey (you can access the data here).

It appears that among the below metro areas that the Philadelphia metro area has the highest percentage of “Less than 30 min” commutes. 54% of Philadelphia area workers are estimated to have commutes of less than 30 minutes, 32% of workers are estimated to have commutes between 30 and 59 minutes, 7% of workers of workers are estimated to have commutes between 60 and 89 minutes, 3% of workers are estimated to commute more than 90 minutes, and 4% of workers work from home.

Wondering what a metro area, metropolitan statistical area, or MSA is? A metro area is a statistical geographic area defined by the US Census Bureau as having “at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties” (more information can be found here). It is important to note that while metro areas are based on high degrees of social and economic integration, they can differ in geographic and population size and population density.