How Many Of Us Walk To Work In Southern Utah?

Not a lot of people walk to work in Southern Utah.

But surprisingly, we are above the national average for people that walk to work.

In the United States, about four million people hoof it to their jobs on a daily basis.

Given the current population of our country is 333.3 million, that means 1.3 percent of our entire population walks to work.

In Washington County, 1.5 percent of us walk to work (approximately 2,000 people) on a daily business (source: US Census Bureau).

Some facts about those Washington County numbers:

• They do not count those who work from home (about 10 percent), who have no measurable commute.
• That number is about half of the number of people who drive more than an hour to get to work each day (2.7 percent).
• The 1.5 percent who walk here is nowhere close to the amazing number from the state of Alaska. About 7 percent of people in the Klondike State walk to their jobs (many experts say that the high cost of fuel and the short distances make walking viable there)
• In Washington County, 86.8 percent of people drive to work (77.1 percent drive alone).
• Incredibly, 1.4 percent of Washington County residents embark on "super-commutes" in which they drive at least 90 minutes each way to their workplaces.
• Nearly 15 percent of us (I'm one of them) leave for work before 6 a.m.

In my own situation, it's about four miles from my home to my work. A brisk walker averages about four mile-per-hour, so if I was aggressive I could do it in 60 minutes or so.

Except:

• I work very early in the morning (5 a.m.)
• I would have to traverse several hills.
• There are no safe sidewalks or trails the complete distance from home to work.
• My driving commute is 10 minutes, so I'd have to add 50 minutes each way to my work day.

Let's be honest, we live in a driving part of the country. If I lived downtown, or maybe in a large city, walking and public transit may be a viable option, but right now and in my circumstance, not so much.

As busy as Washington County has become, we are still not bad when it comes to traffic and commute times.

I have a friend in Southern California who sits for 90 minutes each way everyday to get to work -- and he lives less than 10 miles from his workplace.

And some food for thought: In San Juan County right here in the state of Utah, more than 15 percent of workers have at least 60 minutes of commute time to get to their jobs, with 5.1 percent needing more than 90 minutes to get to work.

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