Corinth Has Among Most Lone Drivers, Others Not Far Behind

The people of Corinth, Miss., are loners — at least when they travel to and from their jobs.The Corinth micropolitan area, located in Mississippi’s northeastern corner, has a workforce of roughly 14,000 persons. Eighty-nine percent drive alone to work, the steepest percentage in the nation. No carpooling or public transit for them.

Three micros are close behind with solo-commuting rates between 88 and 89 percent: Summerville, Ga., Dyersburg, Tenn., and Defiance, Ohio.

Three-quarters of all American workers drive by themselves to their places of employment. Here’s the national breakdown from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey:

• Drive alone in car, truck or van, 76.0 percent
• Carpool, 10.4 percent
• Public transit, 4.9 percent
• Work at home, 4.1 percent
• Walk, 2.8 percent
• Other means (taxi, motorcycle, bicycle, boat, etc.), 1.7 percent

This figures merely confirm a trend that has been evident ever since the Census Bureau began tabulating statistics on commuting in 1960. “The private automobile’s dominance among travel modes used for the commute represents a long-standing pattern,” concluded a bureau report in 2009.

The following database contains statistics for all 942 metropolitan and micropolitan areas. Use the tab to isolate a single state, or simply hit the Search button to see the top-to-bottom national standings. You can re-sort the list by clicking any column header.

The major market with the strongest concentration of solo commuters is — fittingly enough — the nation’s auto capital, Detroit. Here are the top 10 major markets:

1. Detroit, 84.62%
2. Birmingham, 83.58%
3. Indianapolis, 83.44%
4. Kansas City, 83.04%
5. Columbus, 82.58%
6. Memphis, 82.56%
7. Louisville, 82.48%
8. St. Louis, 82.33%
9. Cincinnati, 82.31%
10. Oklahoma City, 82.20%

At least half of the workers in every metro and micro drive alone to work. The nation’s lowest proportion is 50.4 percent in the New York City area.

---

SOLO COMMUTERS IN METRO AND MICRO AREAS (2010)