You’ve finally made it off the three-hour flight, you’re tired and ready to settle into your hotel … only to realize you still need to actually get to the city center before you can relax. It only gets worse when you see you have another hour from the airport to city center.
Some airports in the United States have much longer commute times than others, whether it’s because of distance or traffic … or both.
So, which U.S. airports should you expect to have the longest commute times to the city centers?
- John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York
Just 17.7 miles from the middle of New York City, it takes a whopping average 60 minutes to get here from the airport.
- Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.
Dulles International Airport is the furthest from its city center, at 28.3 miles, but it has an average commute time of 42.5 minutes, proving distance doesn’t always dictate time.
- LaGuardia Airport, New York
It takes an average 3.63 minutes per mile to travel from LaGuardia to city center, making this airport among the highest in urban congestion.
- Denver International Airport, Colorado
Denver International Airport lies 22.7 miles from Denver but takes just 36.5 minutes on average to commute, a relatively reasonable time-to-distance ratio.
- Los Angeles International Airport, California
Traffic is the main culprit here, with an average commute time of 35.5 minutes to travel just 18.5 miles.
What about the airport with the highest minutes-per-mile ratio? San Diego International Airport takes the top spot for this, taking 13.5 minutes on average to travel just 3.3 miles! Chicago O’Hare International Airport, meanwhile, shows the largest weekend versus weekday difference, with travel times increasing by 15.5 minutes on weekends.
And for the fastest commute? Charlotte Douglass International in North Carolina, records one of the fastest transfers, taking 18 minutes to cover 8 miles.
So, the airport you’re flying into may be inevitable, but there are some ways to ensure a smoother airport-to-city commute:
- Allow extra time for travel
- Plan your ground transportation in advance
- Consider alternative airports (when possible)
- Check live traffic updates
- Bundle your flight connections
This study was conducted by Transfeero.
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