Travel behavior of immigrants: An analysis of the 2001 National Household Transportation Survey

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between travel behavior and immigrant status. The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) allows us to explore the relationships between travel behavior and characteristics that are usually hard to discern in surveys with smaller samples. The correlation between travel behavior and immigrant characteristics such as place of birth and year of immigration in the US was tested while controlling for spatial and socio-demographic variables. The effects of place of birth and year of arriving to the US were found to be significant for some places of birth and for immigrants who entered the US in recent years. Understanding the differences in travel behavior and the possible explanations for these differences can help in modeling travel demand, finding policies best suited to meeting the travel needs of foreign-born communities, and addressing environmental justice concerns.