Commuter benefits remain relatively uncommon in U.S. workplaces: subsidized commuting was available to 10% of private-industry workers in 2024. Access varied sharply by region, employer size, and wages, while federal monthly exclusion limits rose to $340 in 2026. These commuter benefits statistics also sit alongside a changing commute: 69.2% of workers drove alone in 2024, 3.7% used public transportation, and 13.3% worked from home.
Contents: Workplace access · Regional and worker-group differences · Federal tax limits · Commute modes · Travel time and departure patterns · Measured and modeled effects
Workplace access
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that subsidized commuting was available to 10% of private-industry workers in 2024. The measure covers employer-provided help with commuting costs, rather than every possible benefit an employer might describe as commuter support. BLS, “All aboard! Subsidized commuting was available to 1 in 10 private industry workers in 2024”
The March 2025 Employee Benefits in the United States release found that only 6% of private-industry workers at establishments with fewer than 100 workers had access to subsidized commuting. The same release reported access for 6% of state and local government teachers. These figures describe specific worker groups and should not be read as a national average for all employees. BLS, “Employee Benefits in the United States News Release”
Wage differences were also substantial in the 2021 figures summarized by the Federal Highway Administration. Just 3% of employees in the lowest 10% of wage earners had access to subsidized commuting benefits, compared with 20% of employees in the highest 10% of wage earners. Across private-industry employees, 9% had access to subsidies for transit, vanpool, or bicycle commute costs. FHWA, “An Assessment of the Expected Impacts of City-Level Parking Cash-Out and Commuter Benefits Ordinances”
These percentages show why a single headline rate can conceal unequal access. The 10% private-industry figure for 2024 is a broad benchmark, while the 6% small-establishment figure from March 2025 and the 3% low-wage-worker figure from 2021 apply to narrower populations and different measurement periods.
Regional and worker-group differences
In 2024, access to subsidized commuting among private-industry workers was highest in several divisions of the Northeast and West. The Northeast overall recorded 14% access. Within it, access was 16% in New England and 14% in the Middle Atlantic division. The West also recorded 14% access overall, with 11% in the Mountain division and 16% in the Pacific division. BLS, “All aboard! Subsidized commuting was available to 1 in 10 private industry workers in 2024”
The South recorded 8% access. Its divisions ranged from 7% in the South Atlantic and 7% in the East South Central division to 11% in the West South Central division. The Midwest recorded 4% access overall: 4% in the East North Central division and 4% in the West North Central division.
| 2024 area | Private-industry workers with subsidized commuting access |
|---|---|
| Northeast | 14% |
| New England | 16% |
| Middle Atlantic | 14% |
| South | 8% |
| South Atlantic | 7% |
| East South Central | 7% |
| West South Central | 11% |
| Midwest | 4% |
| East North Central | 4% |
| West North Central | 4% |
| West | 14% |
| Mountain | 11% |
| Pacific | 16% |
The regional results are descriptive, not explanations of why access differs. They do show a wide measured range: 4% in the Midwest compared with 16% in New England and the Pacific division. Employer mix, commuting patterns, and local benefit practices may all matter, but the cited figures alone do not quantify those causes.
Federal tax limits and rules
For 2026, the monthly exclusion for combined commuter highway vehicle transportation and transit passes is $340. The 2026 monthly exclusion for qualified parking is also $340. These are federal fringe-benefit exclusion limits; they are not a guarantee that an employer offers the benefit or that every worker receives the full amount. IRS, “Publication 15-B (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits”
Both categories increased from 2025. The 2025 monthly limit was $325 for qualified parking, and the 2025 monthly limit for combined commuter highway vehicle transportation and transit passes was also $325. The IRS described the 2026 qualified-transportation and qualified-parking monthly limits as increasing by $15 from 2025. IRS, “Instructions for Schedule H (2025)” IRS, “IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026, including amendments from the One, Big, Beautiful Bill”
The 2026 IRS guidance also states that a 2% S-corporation shareholder is not treated as an employee for this fringe-benefit exclusion. That rule is specific to the tax treatment described by the IRS and should not be generalized to other business owners or worker classifications. IRS, “Publication 15-B (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits”
Commute modes and work from home
The Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey commuting summary reported that 69.2% of U.S. workers drove alone to work. Public transportation accounted for 3.7%, while 13.3% worked from home. In the same 2024 summary, 9.3% of workers had a one-way commute of 60 minutes or more. U.S. Census Bureau, “United States Commuting At A Glance: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates”
The longer Census comparison series shows how work-from-home and public-transportation shares differed across selected years. Public transportation accounted for 5.0% of usual commute modes in 2019, 2.5% in 2021, and 3.1% in 2022. Work from home accounted for 5.7% in 2019, 17.9% in 2021, 15.2% in 2022, and 13.8% in 2023. U.S. Census Bureau, “Means of Transportation to Work as a Percentage of Workers: Public Transportation and Worked from Home”
The 2022 Census commuting report separately found that 2.9% of U.S. workers biked or walked to work. The category is reported as a combined figure, so it does not establish separate biking and walking percentages. U.S. Census Bureau, “Commuting in the United States: 2022”
Work location also varied by worker characteristics in the 2024 American Time Use Survey. On an average day, 33.4% of full-time workers worked at home, compared with 27.9% of part-time workers. Among full-time workers who worked on an average day, 72.9% worked at their workplace. For workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 50.0% worked at home on an average day. These are time-use measures and are not interchangeable with the ACS commute-mode percentages. BLS, “American Time Use Survey News Release—2024 A01 Results”
Travel time and departure patterns
Average travel time to work was 27.2 minutes one way in 2024 and 26.8 minutes in 2023, according to the Census Bureau’s commuting summary. The 2022 Census report measured the mean one-way travel time for all commuters at 26.4 minutes. U.S. Census Bureau, “United States Commuting At A Glance: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates” U.S. Census Bureau, “Commuting in the United States: 2022”
The 2022 mean varied by geography. It was 26.8 minutes in metropolitan areas, including 25.1 minutes in a metropolitan principal city and 27.8 minutes elsewhere in metropolitan areas. The mean was 23.0 minutes in micropolitan areas and 25.0 minutes outside metropolitan or micropolitan areas.
Morning departures were concentrated in the core commuting period. In 2022, 83.3 million workers departed for work between 6:00 and 8:59 a.m. The comparable 2019 figure was 92.1 million workers. These counts describe departure timing, not the number of people who used a particular transportation benefit. U.S. Census Bureau, “Commuting in the United States: 2022”
Measured and modeled policy effects
Evidence summarized by the Federal Highway Administration includes both historical survey findings and modeled scenarios. A review of 21 surveys across 12 regions found that employer-paid transit passes generally increased transit ridership by 10% or more at participating worksites. The surveys covered 1989–2004, so this result is historical and should not be treated as a current national estimate. FHWA, “An Assessment of the Expected Impacts of City-Level Parking Cash-Out and Commuter Benefits Ordinances”
The same source reported findings from a 2020 Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments survey. Among transit commuters, 58% performed work-related tasks during the commute. Among carpoolers and vanpoolers, 38% performed work-related tasks during the commute. These results describe survey respondents in that regional study and period.
Parking costs varied considerably in the 2020 examples: a monthly parking pass in New York City’s central business district cost $655, compared with $138 in San Diego. The figures illustrate why a parking-related commuter benefit can have different financial significance across cities; they do not measure the value of every parking arrangement.
The FHWA also reported modeled effects for specific 2023 scenarios. A modeled monthly parking cash-out scenario reduced daily citywide commute vehicle-miles traveled by 10% in Boston/Cambridge and by 13% in Philadelphia. In Chicago, a modeled scenario eliminating subsidized parking and adding a $5 daily non-single-occupancy-vehicle benefit reduced daily citywide commute vehicle-miles traveled by 36%.
Those last figures are modeled scenario results, not observed outcomes or forecasts for every city. They are best read as estimates of how specified policy packages performed in the cited modeling exercise. The distinction matters when comparing them with observed access rates, commute-mode shares, or historical survey results.