Average commute is 17.2 minutes for Andalusians

Andalusia named the top commuter city in Alabama recently.

The Obrella Insider, a website that analyzes and reports on insurance related issues, released a survey titled “The 25 Best and Worst Commuter Cities in Alabama.”

To determine the rankings, Obrella analyzed traffic data from the 2013 survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Considering only Alabama cities whose population exceeded 5,000 at the time of this report, Obrella analysts sorted cities by average commute time and used other available data points to help visualize the breakdown of commute types and commute lengths.

The survey concluded that average Andalusia commute time is 17.2 minutes.

Additionally, 85.68 percent commute alone; 10.07 percent use a carpool and 1.67 percent work at home.

Some 62 percent of workers commute less than 15 minutes.

Also in the top 10 are Auburn, Monroeville, Fort Payne, Homewood, Foley, Opelika, Mountain Brook, Troy and Florence.

The top 10 worst commuter cities are Helena, Alabaster, Clay, Moody, Lincoln, Pell City, Arab, Pinson, Center Point and Clanton.

On average, Alabamians commute 23.8 minutes, which is slightly less than the national average of 25.2 minutes.

Covington County Economic Development Commission Director Rick Clifton said the ranking confirms what his office tells potential companies when he is recruiting business here.

“Andalusia and Covington County is a retail and business hub for our region,” he said. “People who work in Andalusia want to live in Andalusia. To keep them wanting to live here, we have to have jobs that people can go to and have retail options for them.”

Clifton said it shows they are doing something right.

“It’s great that it has been acknowledged,” he said.