All aboard! Subsidized commuting was available to 1 in 10 private industry workers in 2024

July 4^th is not only Independence Day, it also marks the anniversary of the date in 1828 when the first stone was laid for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first steam-operated common carrier railroad. To celebrate the anniversary of one of America’s oldest methods of passenger transportation, let’s look at transportation benefits enjoyed by some.

Subsidized commuting, an employee benefit that provides full or partial payment for the cost of their commute to work, was available to 10 percent of all private industry workers in 2024. These commuting benefits can be offered through a variety of methods such as public transportation, a company-sponsored van pool, discount subway fares, or bus tokens (but not use of a company car).

Access to this benefit differed across regions. Subsidized commuting was available to 14 percent of private industry workers in the Northeast and the West census regions. This benefit was offered to 8 percent of workers in the South and 4 percent of those in the Midwest. The New England census division in the Northeast and the Pacific census division in the West each had access rates of 16 percent. The East North Central and West North Central divisions, both within the Midwest region, had rates of 4 percent each.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey — Benefits program. For more information, see "Employee Benefits in the United States — March 2024" and the complete dataset. We also have more charts on employee benefits.