ACS 2024 5-YEAR ESTIMATES↗ DIRECTIONAL CHANGE FROM 2021UPDATED JAN 29, 2026
COMMUTESHIFTHow America gets to work
COUNTY · CA · GEOID 60592024 5-YEAR

COMMUTE PROFILE

Orange County, California

Mean one-way trip26.7 min±0.2 min MOE
Worked from home18.5%±0.3 pp MOE
Drove alone67.5%±0.3 pp MOE
60+ minute trip8.1%among commuters

U.S. Census Bureau ACS estimates for residents age 16+ who work. Commute time excludes people working from home.

01 / THE SHIFT

What changed in the published estimate?

These periods overlap: 2021 covers 2017–2021 and 2024 covers 2020–2024. Changes are directional comparisons, not independent annual measurements.

Mean commute27.6 min → 26.7 min▼ 0.9 min

Average for workers who did not work from home.

Work from home12.2% → 18.5%▲ 6.3 pp

Share of workers age 16+ who usually worked from home.

Public transit1.5% → 1.2%▼ 0.3 pp

Public transportation excluding taxi.

Drive alone73.4% → 67.5%▼ 5.9 pp

Car, truck, or van—drove alone.

02 / MODE SHARE

How residents usually get to work

Drive alone67.5% ±0.3 pp
Carpool8.9% ±0.2 pp
Public transit1.2% ±0.1 pp
Walk1.7% ±0.1 pp
Bicycle0.6% ±0.1 pp
Work from home18.5% ±0.3 pp

Each share uses 1,565,842 estimated workers as its denominator. Categories shown here do not include every ACS mode.

03 / PEER CONTEXT

Compared with similar-size countys

Percentiles are single-metric context, never a “good commute” score.

48thMean commute percentile

Mean commute time is lower than about 52% of covered countys in the 500k+ population band.

61thWork-from-home percentile

The work-from-home share is higher than about 61% of covered countys in the 500k+ population band.

30thTransit percentile

The public-transit share is lower than about 70% of covered countys in the 500k+ population band.

52th60+ minute percentile

The 60+ minute share is higher than about 52% of covered countys in the 500k+ population band.

04 / ESTIMATE BASE

The counts behind the shares

Population estimate3,165,820± — MOE
Workers age 16+1,565,842± 6,376 MOE
Workers with travel time1,275,607± 6,057 MOE
Estimated home workers290,235± 5,005 MOE
Why the ± matters

ACS values are survey estimates. The margin of error is the 90% confidence interval published by the Census Bureau or calculated for a share from published component margins. Small differences can be sampling noise.