Mount Vernon Residents Have Longer Commutes

It takes Mount Vernon residents longer to get to work than more than 96 percent of residents in similarly-sized communities in America, according to a new study.

The study, done by On Numbers, a Bizjournals.com blog, compiled data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey. It awarded points for every commuter who takes less than 30 minutes to get from home to his or her job, and it took away points for every commuter above that threshold.

Among 3,012 cities, villages, incorporated towns and census-designated places with populations between 10,000 and 50,000, Mount Vernon ranked 2,902. That gives Mount Vernon residents a worse commute, on average, than 96.4 percent of people who live in small communities.

In Mount Vernon, 32.8 percent of residents have a commute of 45 minutes or more—more than double the national average. Nationally, just 15.5 percent of workers commute 45 minutes or more.

The best commute in America for small communities was in Altus, Okla., where it takes 80.5 percent of working residents 14 minutes or less to drive to work from home.

Very few people in Altus have long commutes: 1.5 percent of the workforce there commutes more than 45 minutes every morning.

You can see the full rankings at On Numbers.

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