What is the average commute in Portland city, Oregon?

The 2024 ACS five-year mean one-way commute estimate is 24.1 min, excluding people who worked from home.

What share of workers in Portland city, Oregon work from home?

The 2024 ACS five-year work-from-home estimate is 28.5%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 0.7 percentage points.

Are the 2021 and 2024 commute estimates independent?

No. The five-year periods overlap, so their difference is presented as directional rather than an independent annual or causal change.

PLACE · OR · GEOID 41590002024 5-YEAR

COMMUTE PROFILE

Portland, Oregon

Name: Commute estimates for Portland city, Oregon
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau
License: https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright

According to the 2024 ACS five-year estimates, residents here averaged 24.1 min one way; 28.5% worked from home, 49.5% drove alone, and 4.6% of commuters traveled 60 minutes or more.

Mean one-way trip24.1 min±0.6 min MOE

Worked from home28.5%±0.7 pp MOE

Drove alone49.5%±0.7 pp MOE

60+ minute trip4.6%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 Portland city's published commute estimate?

From the 2021 to 2024 overlapping ACS periods, mean commute changed -1.4 minutes and the work-from-home share changed +10.5 percentage points.

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

Mean commute25.5 min → 24.1 min▼ 1.4 min

Average for workers who did not work from home.

Work from home18.0% → 28.5%▲ 10.5 pp

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

Public transit9.6% → 6.1%▼ 3.6 pp

Public transportation excluding taxi.

Drive alone53.8% → 49.5%▼ 4.3 pp

Car, truck, or van—drove alone.

02 / MODE SHARE

How Portland city residents usually get to work

Driving alone was the largest listed mode at 49.5%; 6.1% used public transit and 28.5% worked from home.

Drive alone49.5% ±0.7 pp

Carpool6.7% ±0.4 pp

Public transit6.1% ±0.4 pp

Walk4.3% ±0.3 pp

Bicycle3.4% ±0.3 pp

Work from home28.5% ±0.7 pp

Each share uses 358,029 estimated workers as its denominator. Categories shown here do not include every ACS mode.

03 / PEER CONTEXT

How Portland city compares with similar-size places

This place's mean commute is at the 37th percentile among covered 500k+ places; each percentile describes one metric only.

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

37^thMean commute percentile

Mean commute time is lower than about 63% of covered places in the 500k+ population band.

84^thWork-from-home percentile

The work-from-home share is higher than about 84% of covered places in the 500k+ population band.

76^thTransit percentile

The public-transit share is higher than about 76% of covered places in the 500k+ population band.

39^th60+ minute percentile

The 60+ minute share is lower than about 61% of covered places in the 500k+ population band.

04 / ESTIMATE BASE

The counts behind Portland city's commute shares

The 2024 estimates cover 358,029 workers age 16+, including 255,988 workers with reported travel time and 102,041 home workers.

Population estimate641,165± 734 MOE

Workers age 16+358,029± 3,268 MOE

Workers with travel time255,988± 3,484 MOE

Estimated home workers102,041± 2,691 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.

05 / SAME STATE

Comparable Oregon commute records for Portland city

No other Oregon place in the 500k+ population band met the same publication rule in this dataset.

All Oregon reports →