ACS 2024 5-YEAR ESTIMATES↗ DIRECTIONAL CHANGE FROM 2021UPDATED JAN 29, 2026
COMMUTESHIFTHow America gets to work
PLACE · CA · GEOID 6690002024 5-YEAR

COMMUTE PROFILE

Santa Ana, California

Mean one-way trip24.5 min±0.7 min MOE
Worked from home9.3%±0.8 pp MOE
Drove alone69.7%±1.1 pp MOE
60+ minute trip5.5%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 commute25.3 min → 24.5 min▼ 0.8 min

Average for workers who did not work from home.

Work from home6.8% → 9.3%▲ 2.5 pp

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

Public transit3.5% → 2.7%▼ 0.8 pp

Public transportation excluding taxi.

Drive alone72.1% → 69.7%▼ 2.3 pp

Car, truck, or van—drove alone.

02 / MODE SHARE

How residents usually get to work

Drive alone69.7% ±1.1 pp
Carpool14.0% ±0.9 pp
Public transit2.7% ±0.4 pp
Walk1.3% ±0.2 pp
Bicycle0.5% ±0.1 pp
Work from home9.3% ±0.8 pp

Each share uses 154,427 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.

51thMean commute percentile

Mean commute time is higher than about 51% of covered places in the 100k–500k population band.

22thWork-from-home percentile

The work-from-home share is lower than about 78% of covered places in the 100k–500k population band.

75thTransit percentile

The public-transit share is higher than about 75% of covered places in the 100k–500k population band.

49th60+ minute percentile

The 60+ minute share is lower than about 51% of covered places in the 100k–500k population band.

04 / ESTIMATE BASE

The counts behind the shares

Population estimate312,534± 138 MOE
Workers age 16+154,427± 2,444 MOE
Workers with travel time140,012± 2,407 MOE
Estimated home workers14,415± 1,209 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.