On the road to success
Average South Florida work commute costs $11 a day.
Two-thirds of South Floridians say they face longer commutes with the economy rebounding in the last five years, a new survey shows.
Thirty-one percent of workers in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties say their commute to and from work “has increased a lot” in the last five years, according to a study commissioned by the Citi Thank You Premier credit card. Thirty-seven percent said it has gone up “somewhat,” the survey found.
Only 17 percent of South Floridians polled reported no change while 16 percent said their commute time had gone down in the last five years.
The daily commute on average costs South Floridians $11 a day, mostly for gas, with 82 percent saying they use their car for the trip to and from work. That adds up to about $2,860 a year, the survey found.
“The unavoidable costs of commuting [in South Florida] can have an impact on household budgets, especially as it relates to spending on gas,” said Chris Fred, head of proprietary product management at Citi Cards, in a Chris Fred, head of proprietary product management at Citi Cards written statement.
Time-wise, workers in the three counties spend about 212 hours per year commuting, according to the new survey. That’s an average of 49 minutes for a daily round-trip commute.
The average round-trip nationwide is 45 minutes, the study determined.
The survey interviewed 1,000 people nationally May 5-12 and 500 each in South Florida, San Francisco, New York, LA and Chicago. The study had a margin of error of 3.1 percent nationwide and 4.4 percent in South Florida.
“The unavoidable costs of commuting [in South Florida] can have an impact on household budgets, especially as it relates to spending on gas.”