The Most Stressful Cities for Commuting in the US and UK
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According to a United Nations analysis, 55% of the world’s population now live in metropolitan areas, and this number is expected to rise to 68% by the middle of the century. This suggests that getting around town, particularly to work, is becoming more critical in our world.
Euromonitor’s International’s Mobility Survey in 2020 discovered that 52% of global respondents commute 5 or more days per week, and 63% of individuals spend 15-60 minutes commuting on average daily.
With the global COVID-19 pandemic and technological advancements opening up new pathways for remote and hybrid working, many commuters find it increasingly stressful to perform their daily journeys.
With workable alternatives to long commutes now in place, Resume.io wanted to find out where people of the United States and the United Kingdom have the most stressful trips to work and whether locals in the megacities of New York and London have a worse time than everyone else.
Table of Contents
Methodology
To find out which cities in the United States and the United Kingdom had the most stressful commutes, Resume.io studied Twitter data using a sentiment analysis tool called TensiStrength, exhibiting where traveling generates the most stress.
TensiStrentgh allows the team to find out the pulse of public opinion and understand how people feel about specific topics based on the strength of emotion. Resume.io determined which American cities, states, and boroughs of London contained the highest stress levels in Tweets about commuting to and from work.
The Most Stressful U.S. States for Commuting
According to Census and Bureau of Labor statistics, the rate of employed people working from home rose from 6% to over 33% within two months of the pandemic. With an average of nearly an hour each day spent commuting, the stressful commute is a critical reason many don’t want to return to work now that things are opening up.
The team analyzed stress levels in commute-themed tweets to identify the most stressful commutes. West Virginians are the most nervous commuters, with 45% of “commute” tweets showing stress. According to the national transportation research body TRIP, more than half of West Virginia’s roads are in “poor or mediocre condition,” causing $1.6 billion in damage to cars each year.
The Most and Least Stressful U.S. Cities For Commuting
Census data shows that only 5% of U.S. workers use public transport. Most commuters choose the comfort of a car journey despite the stress of tailbacks and traffic fumes. A study from BMC Public Health found that long-distance commuting by transit takes a more significant toll than by car, partly because of greener environments.
In New York City, where commuter stress is rising nationwide, public transport use has increased to 55.6%. In fact, 38.5% of the nation’s public transport commuters live in the New York Metro Area. We found that 45.09% of commute-themed tweets from NYC show signs of stress.
Top 10 Most Stressful Cities for Commuting in the U.S.
| City | State | % of Stressed Tweets |
|---|---|---|
| New York | New York | 45.09% |
| Baton Rouge | Louisiana | 44.20% |
| Jersey City | New Jersey | 43.37% |
| Concord | California | 42.08% |
| Cleveland | Ohio | 40.78% |
| Columbia | South Carolina | 40.31% |
| Boston | Massachusetts | 40.30% |
| Santa Clarita | California | 39.35% |
| San Antonio | Texas | 39.27% |
| Arlington | Virginia | 38.87% |
Top 10 Least Stressful Cities for Commuting in the U.S.
| City | State | % of Stressed Tweets |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia Beach | Virginia | 13.40% |
| Omaha | Nebraska | 26.54% |
| Madison | Wisconsin | 27.31% |
| Tucson | Arizona | 27.91% |
| Boise | Idaho | 28.40% |
| Lansing | Michigan | 28.98% |
| Greensboro | North Carolina | 29.45% |
| Gilbert | Arizona | 29.80% |
| Honolulu | Hawaii | 30.13% |
| Miami | Florida | 30.24% |
The Most Stressful UK Cities and Towns for Commuting
Commuting costs Brits an average of £136 ($171) per week on the train or £80 ($101) by car, according to Confused.com. Soaring house prices have pushed commuters further out of cities, increasing the cost and time of the average commute over the past decade.
Chelmsford is the UK’s most stressful city for commuting, with 46.85% of work journey-themed tweets showing stress – twice the density of laidback Poole (23.42%). Stressful moments for Chelmsford commuters include a rush-hour train that stopped early and opened its doors on a viaduct 30 feet (9.1 meters) above the city.
The Most Stressful London Boroughs for Commuting
The UK capital is big and very busy. According to the Trades Union Congress, the average London commute is one-third longer than the UK as a whole, while a London City Airport report shows that one in three peak-rail-hour rail travelers have to stand up.
Six of the ten boroughs with the highest concentration of stressed commute-themed tweets are south of the River Thames, including most-stressed Lewisham (42.54%), even though there are twice as many boroughs to the north overall. Only a tiny fraction of London Underground’s 272 Tube stations are in the south. A foot tunnel and a cable car across the Thames offer mellower alternatives.
Key Findings
- New York City has America’s most anxious commute, with negativity in 45% of Twitter posts reporting commutes.
- Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, inhabitants of Chelmsford have the most nervous journey to work. 46.9% of Tweets about commuting here contain negative opinions.
- Despite being one of the nearest boroughs to central London, 42.5% of Lewisham locals found their journey tedious.
- West Virginia (45%), New Jersey (43.1%), and Rhode Island (42.9%) were the most troublesome states in the United States for commuting.
