More Canadians commuting in 2024

Released: 2024-08-26

The number of commuters reached 16.5 million in May 2024, continuing an upward trend that followed notable declines recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The number of commuters was up 585,000 (+3.7%) in May 2024 compared to May 2023, driven by employment growth (+373,000 or +1.9%) and by an increase in the share of the employed population working at locations other than home.

Commuters are employed people who work most of their hours outside the home, either with a usual fixed place of work or with no fixed work location. Employed people who work most of their hours at home are not included in the counts of commuters.

Commuting is a fact of life for many Canadians. However, it has financial costs, and for those with long commutes, it can be associated with negative health outcomes and challenges maintaining work-life balance.

For people who work from home, time saved from commuting allows them to spend more time with their children, and on leisure activities, sleep and household chores.

Measuring changes in commuting patterns is also important to plan commuting and transit infrastructure, and to better understand urbanization and changing business practices.

The proportion of employed Canadians mostly working from home has fallen since May 2021, but remains more than twice as high as it was before the pandemic

The onset of the pandemic led to a sharp contraction in the number of commuters due to a drop in employment and more people mostly working from home. According to data from the Census of Population, the share of the employed population working mostly from home jumped to nearly one in four (24.3%) by May 2021 compared to 7.1% in May 2016.

The share of workers mostly working from home has fallen every year since May 2021, leading to more commuters. In May 2024, 18.7% of employed people worked mostly from home, down 1.4 percentage points from May 2023 and 3.7 percentage points lower compared with May 2022.

From May 2023 to May 2024, the share of employed people mostly working from home decreased in Quebec (-3.8 percentage points to 18.4%), Saskatchewan (-1.8 percentage points to 10.1%) and Ontario (-1.4 percentage points to 21.7%).

Conversely, this share increased in Nova Scotia (+3.0 percentage points to 17.5%), and Prince Edward Island (+2.5 percentage points to 15.4%).

Saskatchewan had the lowest share of workers mostly working from home among the provinces in May 2024, while Ontario had the highest share.

Slightly over one-third of employed people in the census metropolitan area (CMA) of Ottawa–Gatineau (34.2%) were mostly working from home in May 2024, the highest rate nationally and well above the rates in Toronto (24.7%), Vancouver (22.4%) and Montréal (20.6%).

Chart 1 
Proportion of workers mostly working from home in the 15 largest CMAs, May 2024

Just over four in five commuters mainly travel to work in a car, truck or van

Among all commuters, 81.5% mainly used a car (including truck or van) to commute to work in May 2024, down 1.1 percentage points from May 2023 and 2.7 percentage points lower than the record high of 84.2% in May 2022.

From May 2023 to May 2024, the share of car commuters fell in Nova Scotia (-3.8 percentage points to 81.7%), Prince Edward Island (-3.3 percentage points to 89.4%), Alberta (-2.0 percentage points to 86.6%) and Ontario (-2.0 percentage points to 80.5%).

Conversely, the share of commuters mainly travelling by car, truck or van increased in Manitoba (+2.9 percentage points to 86.5%) and Saskatchewan (+1.9 percentage points to 91.3%).

In May 2024, 89.5% of commuters who took a car, truck or van to work were alone in their vehicle. Compared to the national average, among the 15 largest CMAs in May 2024, more car commuters drove alone in Edmonton (92.8%) and Victoria (92.4%) while fewer drove alone in Vancouver (87.6%), Winnipeg (87.1%), Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (86.6%) and Ottawa–Gatineau (86.4%).

Commuting by car, truck or van was less prevalent for commuters who belonged to a racialized group compared with non-racialized and non-Indigenous commuters. Latin American (62.0%) and Black (64.5%) commuters were much less likely to mainly travel to work in a car, truck or van compared with non-racialized commuters (86.3%).

Proportion of public transit users up, but still below pre-pandemic levels

The share of commuters mainly taking public transit increased 1.3 percentage points to 11.4% from May 2023 to May 2024, continuing the upward trend from the record low of 7.8% in May 2021.

Nevertheless, the share of commuters taking public transit remained below May 2016 levels (12.6%). These results mirror the partial recovery in Canada's urban transit ridership. In May 2024, Canada's urban transit ridership was at 87.0% of its pre-pandemic level of May 2019, the highest rate since the onset of the pandemic.

Reflecting the trend at the national level, the share of commuters taking public transit in May 2024 was lower than the figure observed before the pandemic in May 2016 in many CMAs, notably in Ottawa–Gatineau (-6.6 percentage points), Winnipeg (-4.3 percentage points) and Québec (-2.4 percentage points).

In contrast, it was higher than its pre-pandemic level in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (+2.8 percentage points) and Hamilton (+2.4 percentage points).

Chart 2 
Proportion of commuters mainly taking public transit in the 10 largest CMAs, May 2016 and May 2024

Commuters in Victoria and Halifax most likely to walk or bike to work

The share of commuters mainly taking active transportation has remained essentially unchanged since 2021, with 6.0% of commuters walking or biking to work in May 2024. Nevertheless, this was down from the pre-pandemic level of 7.1% in May 2016.

Active transportation was more prevalent in Victoria (18.7%) and Halifax (12.3%) than in other CMAs, potentially driven by the smaller size and milder climate of these cities.

Hybrid workers who mostly work from home have longer commutes and are more likely to take public transit

Workers who work from home most of the time, but who commute to an office or workplace the rest of the time accounted for nearly 3 in 10 workers who mostly work from home (29.4%) in May 2024. This rate was similar to May 2023 but almost double that of May 2022 (16.6%).

Workers with such hybrid arrangements had distinct commuting patterns compared with regular commuters. These differences in commuting patterns may reflect a number of factors, including the composition of employment by industry and the availability of public transit where workers reside.

Hybrid workers who mostly work from home were over twice as likely to take public transit (25.5%) as commuters in general (11.4%).

In May 2024, the Toronto CMA had the highest proportion of hybrid workers mostly working from home who took public transit when commuting to work (45.9%).

Overall, hybrid workers working most of their hours from home were less likely to commute on their in-office days using a car, truck or van than other commuters (67.0% vs. 81.5%).

Chart 3 
Main commuting method for hybrid workers who mostly work from home and for regular commuters, May 2024

The average commuting time to work for such hybrid workers was 40.8 minutes in May 2024, 14.4 minutes longer than the average commute among regular commuters.

From May 2022 to May 2024, the average commute time for hybrid workers working mostly from home increased at a faster pace (+4.2 minutes) than for regular commuters (+1.5 minutes), while the number of hybrid commuters who worked mostly from home increased by 386,000 to 1.1 million.

Chart 4 
Average commute time for hybrid workers who mostly work from home and for regular commuters, May 2024

Average commuting time returns to pre-pandemic levels

Average commuting times fell both during and after the pandemic due to fewer commuters and more people working from home.

By May 2024, the era of shorter commuting times had come to an end, as the average commute time to work for regular commuters was 26.4 minutes, on par with the previous high of 26.3 minutes reached in May 2016. Average commuting times rose for workers who took a car, truck or van (+0.5 minutes to 24.6 minutes) but were little changed for public transit (43.1 minutes) or active transportation (14.6 minutes) commuters.

Commuting times varied considerably across CMAs in May 2024. The longest average commutes were in Toronto (33.3 minutes), Oshawa (32.6 minutes), Barrie (30.7 minutes), Hamilton (30.6 minutes) and Vancouver (30.5 minutes).

The shortest average commute times were in Lethbridge (16.6 minutes) and Saguenay (17.0 minutes).

More commuters have a long commute of one hour or more

The share of commuters with a long commute of 60 minutes or more increased for the third year in a row in May 2024, following a notable drop during the pandemic.

In May 2024, 9.2% of all commuters had a long commute, up from 8.7% in May 2023 and 8.1% in May 2022. The share of commuters with a long commute in May 2024 was comparable to May 2016 levels, before the pandemic.

In Oshawa, one-fifth of commuters (20.0%) had a long commute, the largest share among all CMAs. Commuters in Toronto (15.7%), Barrie (14.6%), Abbotsford–Mission (14.2%) and Hamilton (13.8%) were also more likely to have a long commute.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).