The distribution of commuting times among employed D.C. residents shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] The data show that, after 2019, with the exception of D.C. residents working in state or local government, a smaller share of employed residents had commute times longer than 36 minutes, and a larger share of D.C. employed residents had no commute at all. For instance, the share of employed D.C. residents in the private or non-profit sectors with no commute rose from 7.1 percent in 2019 to 29.9 percent in 2023. Further analysis shows that, compared to 2019, the reduction in commute times for D.C. residents in the federal government, non-profit, or private sectors in 2023 can be entirely attributed to the shift to no commute at all.
As alluded to earlier, D.C. residents working in state or local government are somewhat of an exception. Like residents employed in other sectors, a larger share of D.C. residents in state or local government had no commute after the pandemic. However, by 2023, only 10.3 percent had no commute at all—the lowest share among the three sectors that year. Furthermore, by 2023, the share of residents in state or local government with commutes of 36 to 45 minutes increased rather than decreased when compared to 2019.
The timing of the shift in commute times for employed D.C. residents suggests that remote work drove the change.[2] Notably, the order from the Trump administration mandating a full-time return to the office for federal employees does not apply to D.C. residents working in the private or non-profit sectors. But in 2023, a larger share of D.C. residents in the private or non-profit sectors had no commute compared to their counterparts in the federal government. While it is unclear whether the order will indirectly incentivize the private or non-profit sectors to bring workers back to the office, the order is likely to substantially affect the lives of many D.C. residents employed by the federal government.
Data notes
The analysis is based on IPUMS USA ACS data from 2019 and 2021-2023, which can be accessed here. Percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding error.
[1] The author was inspired by Figure 2-16 and the corresponding discussion in the 2025 Economic Report of the President.
[2] It is important to note that many workers in the city are not residents. The data does not capture these non-resident workers.