Commuting episodes in the United States: Their correlates with experiential wellbeing from the American Time Use Survey

- The American Time Use Survey was used to examine wellbeing during commutes.
- Compared to other activities of the day, commuting is generally a negative experience.
- Work-bound and home-bound commutes differ in happiness, tiredness, and pain.
- Longer duration of commutes is associated with worse wellbeing experiences.

For many Americans, commuting to and from work is a time-consuming activity that is often thought of as unpleasant. Some studies have also suggested that commuting's unpleasantness increases with its duration. Three years of the American Time Use Survey's Wellbeing Module provided an opportunity to extend our understanding of commuting in a representative sample of 37,088 individuals living in the United States who provided a detailed account of yesterday's activities and rated the wellbeing associated with a portion of those activities. Commuting episodes were rated high in stress and tiredness and much lower in meaningfulness compared with other activities of the day. However, level of wellbeing was also determined by whether the commute was to work or to home, with tiredness low in the former case and very high in the latter. Longer commutes were weakly associated with increased stress and tiredness. These findings confirm that commuting is a low wellbeing experience and add to our understanding of this common activity.