Commute times getting shorter in NJ: Best and worst counties

TRENTON – New Jerseyans who couldn’t take part in the work-from-home hoopla so still commuted to their jobs in 2021 enjoyed appreciably shorter average travel times to work, according to Census Bureau survey estimates.

Find your county's rankings below.

The average commute length in the state plunged by four and a half minutes, from 33.1 minutes in 2019 to 28.6 minutes last year. It typically rises in increments of roughly 12 to 40 seconds each year, so the decline last year was notable both for its direction and scope.

'You can drive a lot faster'

Tim Evans, research director for New Jersey Future, said commuters benefited from having so many people working from home and not sharing the highways.

“Even for people that are still commuting every day, with fewer cars on the road their trips aren’t going to be as long either, timewise,” Evans said. “Distance-wise it’s the same, but with no congestion, you can do the drive a lot faster.”

It started before COVID

There had been a steadily increasing number of people working from home even in the years before the pandemic, though not in numbers that had an appreciable impact on roadway conditions. Then last year, an estimated 22% of people worked from home.

“COVID forced us to hit a high enough percentage of people working from home to really make that reduction in congestion happen,” Evans said.

How much time was saved?

The biggest reduction in commute length was in Monmouth County, where the average trip to work was more than seven minutes shorter than in 2019. Counties in far South Jersey had the smallest reduction, though also have less congestion and shorter average commutes, Evans said.

The time saved through shorter commutes equates to about 45 minutes a week statewide and more than 35 hours over the course of a year for a person who worked full-time and got 20 days off from work over the course of the year for vacations and holidays.

Changes varied by county – equal to an accumulated 56 hours over the course of the year in Monmouth County but only around 3 hours in Atlantic County.

“Even for people that still have to commute every day, the time savings is a real thing,” Evans said. “That’s a net positive.”

Commutes still averaged over 33 minutes in three counties: Sussex, Hudson and Warren. They averaged less than 25 minutes in Cape May, Mercer and Cumberland.

Ranking NJ commuting time

Here are all 21 counties in New Jersey, ranked from the longest average commute to work in 2021 to the shortest, with some additional information about how that travel time fared in the first year of pandemic recovery.

1. Sussex County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 14th among the counties. Sussex perennially tops this list, with its commute to work topping 40 minutes at its peak in 2011.

2. Hudson County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 16th among the counties. Two years ago, around 34% of workers from Hudson County worked in another state. In 2021, that went down to under 20%. That amounted to over 52,000 people.

3. Warren County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 11th among the counties. Its average commute is the county's shortest since 2013.

4. Hunterdon County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 7th among the counties. Its commute was last shorter than in 2021 back in 2012.

5. Essex County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 5th among the counties.

6. Middlesex County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 3rd among the counties.

7. Monmouth County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 1st among the counties.

8. Union County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 17th among the counties.

9. Bergen County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 4th among the counties.

10. Somerset County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 9th among the counties.

11. Ocean County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 6th among the counties.

12. Morris County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 15th among the counties.

13. Burlington County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 13th among the counties.

14. Salem County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 19th among the counties.

15. Gloucester County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 10th among the counties.

16. Atlantic County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 21st, or last, among the counties. While most commutes have dropped to the lowest average in more than a decade, Atlantic's is higher than any year since 2010 except for 2019.

17. Passaic County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 12th among the counties.

18. Camden County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 8th among the counties.

19. Cumberland County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 20th among the counties.

20. Mercer County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 2nd among the counties.

21. Cape May County

The reduction in its average travel time ranked 18th among the counties.

Michael Symons is the Statehouse bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at michael.symons@townsquaremedia.com

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