Lake Elsinore has L.A. area's longest commute, census report finds

Think your commute is bad? Others have it worse – unless you happen to live in Lake Elsinore.

The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday released new data showing how long it takes people to get to work. In Southern California, Lake Elsinore in Riverside County topped the list, with residents taking an average of 41.8 minutes to get to work. Palmdale and Adelanto were behind, at 40.5 minutes.

The report, which examined data collected between 2006 and 2008, confirms something veteran commuters know well: The worst drives to work are often shared by residents who live in far-flung suburbs. Other Southern California cities high on the list: Walnut, Perris, Murrieta, Moreno Valley, Diamond Bar, Chino Hills, Santa Clarita and La Puente.

The study found that the average Los Angeles resident spends an average of just under half an hour getting to work – putting the city at No. 26 for cities in the region.

Palm Springs and Indio in the Coachella Valley posted some of the shortest commutes in Southern California, about 20 minutes. But not far behind were some Orange County suburbs: Costa Mesa (22.3), Tustin (22.3) and Irvine (22.5).

--Ari B. Bloomekatz and Sandy Poindexter

Photo: Hollywood Freeway traffic.

Credit: Richard Vogel / Associated Press

Comments

[DRE DAWG]

41.8 min??? It takes me longer to get from the SG Valley area to Downtown LA. I don't see how this is helpful information.

I'd rather know the cities that have the highest number of residents who have to leave their city to get to work and how far they have to go. Laying this on a map can show us where our county lacks jobs; we can see where the jobs are and figure why people don't live closer to them; see where we need greater amounts of road/freeway improvement to keep commuters safe.

[LAofAnaheim]

Dre Dog - no more road/freeway improvements...that's why people keep moving further away. Freeways create sprawl. We need transit improvements and start building denser next to Metro stations. You don't hear of nightmarish 4 hour road commutes in New York, Chicago, or London. We need the same in LA. Advocate for expanding our Metro system and you'll see more housing in the CITY of Los Angeles. We need the jobs HERE in LA, not in the boondocks of Lake Elsinore.

[DRE DAWG]

LAofAnaheim - Amen to Metro expansion, definitely! I take it at least twice a week when I don't have some where to go after work and have the time/strength for a 2 hour commute that usually takes me 45min. I get some reading done, but public transportation as it is right now, is slow.

Since we have such great freeways, I want there to be a metro in the middle of every freeway. Get rid of the carpool lanes; they get jammed up during rush hour anyways. And I hate the idea of toll carpool lanes like the one they're putting in on the San Bernadino FWY. They did that so they can get money from the gov., but to get that money they had to figure a way to minimize the number of users...something crazy like that.

But Metro lines that run with our freeways can take us all over with out cutting through neighborhoods. Then we can add light trains like the Gold Line down major boulevards. Just a thought.

[OLuis]

Boondocks of Lake Elsinore hahahaha. that made me laugh. this is riverside county, we need jobs here too! haha my family and I used to live in Mission Viejo for 8 years, and we recently moved here because housing is much more affordable. We got what would be a million dollar house in Orange County, for less than 200k. But yes, my dad does have an hour commute to work, and it took me 8 months to finally find a job here. LA HAS JOBS! haha but you're right, basically we need jobs everywhere.. It takes me half an hour to drive to school, and gas is a killer! =/ And the roads are so bad traveling down the 15 and 91 freeways. As for a metro line in the carpool lanes, i wonder how much that would cost? I dont think government would even take that into consideration. haha man eff this economy, but what can you do...

[LAofAnaheim]

DreDog....Metro lanes down freeway lanes would do nothing. There are no destinations off a freeway. How would you arrive to Wilshire if there is was a Metro line on the 10 in LA? You won't. Metro lines need to go to destinations, and not freeways. There's no destinations along a freeway. A freeway is a mean to get you somewhere over long distances.

OLouis..housing is more affordable in Riverside because...it's Riverside. More people want to live in LA and OC, which have jobs/economic development, and demand. That's the fact. That's why LA will always be more expensive than Riverside. Or NY more expensive than New Jersey. We need to make jobs more centralized (Los Angeles) and have trains go in/out to get people fast from their homes to the economic centers. No more sprawled out job centers..that's what we have now and that's what causes traffic. People in NJ take a train into NY.....same as people in Riverside should be demanding more Metrolink service to Los Angeles (and more jobs should be in LA and not in Riverside).