United States Department of Labor
With Earth Day approaching, we have been wondering about increased costs for commuting to work. At BLS, we don’t have environmental cost statistics, but we do have worker costs.
Some employees don’t have to commute — they are able to work from home.
- In 2015, the share of employed persons who did some or all of their work from home on days they worked was 24 percent. This is up from 19 percent in 2003.
But a large number of the workforce still travels to and from a physical workplace, day in and day out. If you do need to trek into work, over the last 10 years, changes in consumer prices for a couple modes of commuting follow.
If you go by car:
First you need a vehicle.
- New cars: Up 6 percent
Next you need to fuel it.
- Gasoline: Down 7 percent
But before you can put it on the road…
- State motor vehicle registration and license fees: Up 27 percent
- Motor vehicle insurance: Up 56 percent
And you may have to pay for parking once you get to work.
- Parking and other fees: Up 38 percent
Those in an urban area may have another option to driving:
- Intracity transportation (bus, rail): Up 35 percent
And one last option:
- Human-powered commuting (walking to work): No increase!
We hope these data help you make wise decisions on your commuting choices. If nothing else, you may decide to set up a car pool — to help pay for parking!