U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Vehicle Technologies Program

Fact #183: September 18, 2001
Means of Transportation to Work: 1980, 1990, and 2000

By far most Americans use private vehicles to commute to work. The percentage of workers using public transportation declined by 1.1 percentage point in the 10-year period between 1980 and 1990, but stayed relatively the same (0.1 percentage point decline) from 1990 to 2000.

Graph: Means of Transportation to Work: 1980, 1990, and 2000

Supporting Information

  1980 Census   1990 Census   2000 Census  
Means of
Transportation
to Work		 Number of
workers
(1000s)		 Share Number of
workers
(1000s)		 Share Number of
workers
(1000s)		 Share
Public transportation 6,175 6.4% 6,070 5.3% 6,575 5.2%
Private vehicle 81,258 84.1% 99,593 86.5% 111,554 87.5%
Worked at home 2,180 2.3% 3,406 3.0% 4,075 3.2%
Other means 7,004 7.2% 6,001 5.2% 5,233 4.1%
Total workers 96,617 100.0% 115,070 100.0% 127,437 100.0%

Sources: 2000 data: U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Fact Finder, Table P047, August 2001.
1980-1990 data: Provided by the Journey-to-Work Migration Statistics Branch, Population Division, U.S. Bureau of the Census.

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