People Commuting to Work by Public Transportation

People living in Seattle, people with a disability, people aged 16-24, and people with incomes less than 400% of the federal poverty level were among the groups most likely to commute to work on public transportation. 

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Between 2020-2024, 6.8% of workers in King County commuted to work on public transportation. 

  • Age: People 16-24 years old (11.9%) were the most likely to commute to work by public transportation compared to all other age groups. Those age 25-44 (7.2%) were also more likely to commute by public transportation than older groups of workers in King County. 

  • Race and ethnicity: Black (11.7%), Asian (8.1%), Hispanic/Latino (7.7%), and Multiple race workers (7.6%) were the race/ethnicity groups most likely to commute to work using public transportation. Note: the percentage for American Indian/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander have wide confidence intervals so may not be truly different compared to other racial/ethnic groups. 

  • Poverty: Workers with household incomes less than 400% of the federal poverty level were more likely to commute by public transportation (9.1% - 13.1%) than commuters with incomes at or above 400% of the federal poverty level (5.3%).   

  • Disability: Commuters with a disability (11.2%) were more likely to use public transportation to get to work than people without a disability (6.5%).  

  • Region/City/Neighborhood: Seattle residents were much more likely to commute by public transportation (11.9%) than residents in other regions of the county.   

  • Trends: The percentage of people who commuted to work on public transportation in King County decreased from 14.9% in 2019 to 4.0% in 2021 and is now trending upward to 8.5% in 2024. Percentages of people who took public transportation to work have also decreased for Seattle, from 25.1% in 2019 to 6.4% in 2021 to 15.0% in 2024 and for King County outside of Seattle, from 8.8% in 2019 to 2.6% in 2021 to 4.6% in 2024. These changes may have been due to the COVID-19 pandemic shifting many workplaces to work from home and an increasing number of workers returning to work in offices. 

Since people 16-24 years old are more likely to use public transportation compared to other age groups, what are the experiences of King County youth with local public transportation? The Healthy King County Coalition Peer Education Program, also known as Youth for Equitable Streets (YES), is a small cohort of students of color who are passionate about serving King County communities with a focus on social justice. They share their perspectives, experiences, and stories to uplift and empower other youth of color.      

Their King County Summer Youth ORCA Pass report includes youth stories, experiences, and perspectives on fare enforcement, fare affordability, and the impact of their own racial and gender identities on accessing local public transportation. A video about Youth Perspectives on Transit 

is available here. In response to identified key findings, King County Metro has released a blog outlining the immediate next steps that they are taking to ensure that youth have access to transportation and feel safe and empowered when they ride with King County Metro.  

For more data on transportation, please check out the People Commuting to Work by Biking and People Commuting to Work by Walking dashboards. 

 

Notes & Sources

Source: American Community Survey (ACS).

To learn more about the American Community Survey and view the data biography, click here.

 
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