Commuting Patterns and Places of Work of Canadians, 2006 Census: Portrait of census metropolitan areas and their municipalities

Commuting patterns

Recently built dwellings are farther from places of work in the CMAs

In most CMAs, the most recently built dwellings tend to be farther from the city centre.¹ Although many people travel to the peripheral areas of CMAs to work, this trend cannot offset the fact that, on average, these new dwellings are farther from most places of work.

Workers living in the more recently built dwellings tended to travel farther to work. For example, in 2006, the median distance travelled to work by people living in a dwelling built between 2001 and 2006 was 10.8 kilometres, compared to 6.6 kilometres for those living in a dwelling built between 1961 and 1970, and 4.7 kilometres for those living in a dwelling built in 1920 or before.

The following maps, which represent the eight largest CMAs, show the extent to which workers — depending on whether they live close to the centre or in the suburbs — tend to travel far to get to work. In the larger CMAs, workers living in the more peripheral neighbourhoods tend to travel farther to get to work (see maps, set 3).

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