There are few things worse than being stuck in traffic, and luckily, Edmonton is nowhere near the worst in Canada when it comes to commute time.
Newly released data from Statistics Canada revealed that although average commuting times fell both during and after the pandemic due to fewer commuters and more people working from home, that came to an end in May of this year.
StatCan says the average commute time to work for regular commuters was 26.4 minutes, on par with the previous high of 26.3 minutes reached in May 2016.
Looking at Edmonton, we tied for seventh with Halifax out of the 15 census metropolitan areas, with the average commute time coming in at 25.6 minutes.
Statistics Canada
The longest average commutes were in Toronto at 33.3 minutes, Oshawa at 32.6 minutes, and Barrie at 30.7 minutes.
The shortest average commute time was in Lethbridge, clocking in at 16.6 minutes.
StatCan added in a release that the share of commuters with a long commute of 60 minutes or more increased for the third year in a row in May 2024, following a notable drop during the pandemic.
In May 2024, 9.2% of all commuters had a long commute, up from 8.7% in May 2023 and 8.1% in May 2022. The share of commuters with a long commute in May 2024 was comparable to May 2016 levels, before the pandemic.