Workers spend more time commuting than vacationing

Remember that two-week vacation you took last year? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, chance are you spent twice as long commuting to and from work.

Workers age 16 or older who don't work at home spend an average of 20.7 minutes driving to work. Double that figure to account for the drive home, apply the math to a 50-week work year and it adds up to more than a month's worth of time spent on the road.

As bad as that sounds, it could be worse. The Census Bureau's "American Community Survey' released this week shows that, nationally, workers spend 200 hours community to and from work, about five weeks.

Among the 68 cities ranked in the study, New Yorkers spend the most time trying to get to work and back home, with an average of 76.6 minutes.

In Tennessee, Memphis workers spend more time commuting than Nashvillians, with an average commute time of 47.2 minutes.

Among the 50 states, Tennessee tied at 18th with Arizona for the most time spent commuting with an average, one way, of 23.4 minutes.

Source: American City Business Journals Inc.