Commuting is a way of life for Chicago area residents, but how many people actually drive every day and from where?
A new report released Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau reported a staggering number of cars commuting into Cook County from neighboring counties.
According to the report, DuPage County was by far the biggest feeder area with 139,477 daily commuters. Second is Will County with 93,471, followed by Lake County in Illinois with 80,833, Lake County in Indiana with 46,089 and Kane County with 44,423.
Those numbers are among the highest in the country, translating into a lot of car time.
For those who live in Cook County, the average time to get to work is 31 minutes, which is six minutes higher than the national average.
"Normally it would take 30 minutes for me to get home from where I work," commuter Stan Lewis said. "Now it's taking me anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, 15 minutes. It's so much traffic, it's ridiculous. I don't know where all these cars come from."
Thousands of other drivers boast commutes even worse than Lewis. They're considered "mega commuters" who drive at least 90 minutes and 50 miles each day.
The Census Bureau also noted most commuters are traveling solo on a daily basis. Seventy-one percent drive alone compared to 18 percent who use public transportation and 9 percent who carpool.
The statistics came from the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey, used to make transportation planning decisions.
