ACS 2024 5-YEAR ESTIMATES↗ DIRECTIONAL CHANGE FROM 2021UPDATED JAN 29, 2026
COMMUTESHIFTHow America gets to work
PLACE · AL · GEOID 1530162024 5-YEAR

COMMUTE PROFILE

Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Mean one-way trip21.7 min±2.9 min MOE
Worked from home13.7%±4.9 pp MOE
Drove alone77.7%±4.7 pp MOE
60+ minute trip6.9%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 commute20.2 min → 21.7 min▲ 1.5 min

Average for workers who did not work from home.

Work from home7.7% → 13.7%▲ 6.0 pp

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

Public transit0.0% → 0.8%▲ 0.8 pp

Public transportation excluding taxi.

Drive alone86.1% → 77.7%▼ 8.4 pp

Car, truck, or van—drove alone.

02 / MODE SHARE

How residents usually get to work

Drive alone77.7% ±4.7 pp
Carpool7.6% ±2.8 pp
Public transit0.8% ±1.1 pp
Walk0.3% ±0.4 pp
Bicycle0.0% ±0.3 pp
Work from home13.7% ±4.9 pp

Each share uses 8,395 estimated workers as its denominator. Categories shown here do not include every ACS mode.

03 / PEER CONTEXT

Compared with similar-size places

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

30thMean commute percentile

Mean commute time is lower than about 70% of covered places in the under 25k population band.

60thWork-from-home percentile

The work-from-home share is higher than about 60% of covered places in the under 25k population band.

63thTransit percentile

The public-transit share is higher than about 63% of covered places in the under 25k population band.

52th60+ minute percentile

The 60+ minute share is higher than about 52% of covered places in the under 25k population band.

04 / ESTIMATE BASE

The counts behind the shares

Population estimate16,951± 25 MOE
Workers age 16+8,395± 508 MOE
Workers with travel time7,243± 519 MOE
Estimated home workers1,152± 416 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.