Comparison of Socioeconomic and Demographic Profiles of Extreme Commuters in Several U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas

Abstract

Extreme commuting denotes a one-way commute time of 90 min or more to work. Research into why individuals make such unusually long commutes is limited. In this paper, regression analyses by the use of Microdata files from the Bureau of the Census reveal the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics that increase an individual's odds of extreme commuting. Commuters in four metropolitan areas (Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Houston, Texas; and Tampa, Florida) were examined. The model results are consistent with the findings in the literature that define lengthy commutes as a constrained, rather than optimized, choice behavior.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Handy

Weston

and Mokhtarian

P. L.

. Driving by Choice or Necessity? Transportation Research, Part A, Vol. 39, 2005, pp. 183–203.

Luskin

D. M.

and Chandrasekaran

. Employer Valuations of Employee Commuting Time: Case Study of Office Tenants in North Dallas, Texas. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1902, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C. 2005, pp. 10–17.

Horner

M. W.

Spatial Dimensions of Urban Commuting: A Review of Major Issues and Their Implications for Future Geographic Research. Professional Geographer, Vol. 56, No. 2 2004, pp. 160–173.

Ayres

Call Yourself a Supercommuter? Bet My Drive to Work Is Longer. LA Notebook, March 15, 2005. www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,20910-1525775,00.html.

Conlin

Gard

Doyle

and Arndt

. Extreme Commuting. Business Week, Feb. 21, 2005, pp. 80–81.

Howlett

and Overberg

. Think Your Commute Is Tough? For Extreme Commuters, 90 Minutes. USA Today, Nov. 29, 2004, p. 1.

McGeehan

and George

. The Long and Winding Road, to Work: Many Travel 90 Minutes or More. The New York Times, March 31, 2005, pp. B1, B8.

Johansson

Klaesson

and Ollson

. Commuters’ Time Distances. Journal of Geographical Systems, Vol. 5, No. 3 2003, pp. 315–329.

Ruggles

Sobek

Alexander

Fitch

C. A.

Goeken

Hall

P. K.

King

and Ronnander

. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 3.0 (Machine-Readable Database). Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 2004.

10.

Clark

W. A. V.

Huang

and Withers

. Does Commuting Distance Matter? Commuting Tolerance and Residential Change. Regional Science and Urban Economics, Vol. 33, No. 2 2003, pp. 199–221.

11.

Crane

The Influence of Uncertain Job Location on Urban Form and the Journey to Work. Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 39, 1996, pp. 342–356.

12.

Kan

Residential Mobility with Job Location Uncertainty. Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 52, 2002, pp. 501–523.

13.

van Ommeren

Rietveld

and Nijkamp

. Commuting: In Search of Jobs and Residences. Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 42, 1997, pp. 402–421.

14.

Cervero

The Jobs–Housing Balance and Regional Mobility. Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 55, 1989, pp. 136–150.

15.

Cooke

T. J.

City–Suburb Differences in African American Male Labor Market Achievement. Professional Geographer, Vol. 48, No. 4 1996, pp. 458–467.

16.

Giuliano

Travel, Location and Race/Ethnicity. Transportation Research, Part A: Policy and Practice, Vol. 37, No. 4 Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 2003, pp. 351–372.

17.

Johnston-Anumonwo

Persistent Racial Differences in the Commutes of Kansas City Workers. Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 31, No. 5 2001, pp. 651–670.

18.

Preston

and McLafferty

. Spatial Mismatch Research in the 1990's: Progress and Potential. Papers in Regional Science, Vol. 78, 1999, pp. 387–402.

19.

Sultana

Racial Variations in Male Commuting Times in Atlanta: What Does the Evidence Suggest?

Professional Geographer, Vol. 57, No. 1 2005, pp. 66–82.

20.

Turner

and Niemeier

. Travel to Work and Household Responsibility: New Evidence. Transportation, Vol. 24, 1997, pp. 347–419.

21.

Wyly

E. K.

Race, Gender, and Spatial Segmentation in the Twin Cities. Professional Geographer, Vol. 48, No. 4 1996, pp. 431–444.

22.

Alonso

Location and Land Use. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1964.

23.

Rouwendal

Search Theory and Commuting Behavior. Growth and Change, Vol. 35, No. 3 2004, pp. 391–417.

24.

Fitzgerald

T. J.

An Introduction to the Search Theory of Unemployment. Economic Review—Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Vol. 34, No. 3 1998, pp. 2–15.

25.

Eliasson

Lindgren

and Westerlund

. Geographical Labour Mobility: or Commuting. Regional Studies, Vol. 37, No. 8 2003, pp. 827–837.

26.

Kain

J. F.

Housing Segregation, Negro Employment, and Metropolitan Decentralization. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 82, No. 2 1968, pp. 175–197.

27.

Kain

J. F.

A Pioneer's Perspective on the Spatial Mismatch Literature. Urban Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1 2004, pp. 7–32.

28.

Ihlanfeldt

K. R.

Introduction: Exclusionary Land-Use Regulations. Urban Studies, Vol. 41, No. 2 2004, pp. 255–259.

29.

Zax

J. S.

and Kain

J. F.

. Moving to Suburbs: Do Relocating Companies Leave Their Black Employees Behind. Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 14, No. 3 1996, pp. 472–504.

30.

O'Regan

K. M.

and Quigley

J. M.

. Where Youth Live: Economic Effects of Urban Space on Employment Prospects. Urban Studies, Vol. 35, No. 7 1998, pp. 1187–1205.

31.

Roychoudhury

and Goodman

A. C.

. Evidence of Racial Discrimination in Different Dimensions of Owner-Occupied Housing Search. Real Estate Economics, Vol. 24, No. 2 1996, pp. 161–178.

32.

Yinger

Measuring Racial Discrimination with Fair Housing Audits: Caught in the Act. American Economic Review, Vol. 76, No. 5 1986, pp. 881–892.

33.

Johnston-Anumonwo

Race, Gender, and Constrained Work Trips. Professional Geographer, Vol. 49, No. 3 1997, pp. 306–317.

34.

Hanson

and Pratt

. Dynamic Dependencies: A Geographical Investigation of Local Labor Markets. Economic Geography, Vol. 68, No. 4 1992, pp. 373–405.

35.

Green

A. E.

Hogarth

and Shackleton

R. E.

. Longer Distance Commuting as a Substitute for Migration in Britain: A Review of Trends, Issues and Implications. International Journal of Population Geography, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1999, p. 49.

36.

Koslowsky

Aizer

and Krausz

. Stressor and Personal Variables in the Commuting Experience. International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 17, No. 3 1996, pp. 4–14.

37.

Stutzer

and Frey

B. S.

. Stress That Doesn't Pay: The Commuting Paradox. Institute for Empirical Research in Economics Working Paper No. 151. University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2004, p. 40.

38.

Kotkin

The Future of the Center: The Core City in the New Economy. Reason Public Policy Institute, Los Angeles, Calif., 1999.

39.

Cramer

J. S.

Predictive Performance of the Binary Logit Model in Unbalanced Samples. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series D (The Statistician), Vol. 48, No. 1 1999, pp. 85–94.

40.

Tomz

King

and Zeng

. Relogit: Rare Events Logistic Regression. Journal of Statistical Software, Vol. 8, No. 2 2003, pp. 246–247.

41.

King

and Zeng

. Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data. Political Analysis, Vol. 9, No. 2 2001, pp. 137–163.

42.

Green

A. E.

A Question of Compromise? Case Study Evidence on the Location and Mobility Strategies of Dual Career Households. Regional Studies, Vol. 31, No. 7 1997, pp. 641–657.