What's happening: Mill Valley's mean commute time fell to 24.8 minutes in 2024, the lowest figure in at least four decades of Census data, according to a Metropolitan Transportation Commission compilation of records going back to 1980.
U.S. Census Bureau data collected since 2019 shows most of the recent drop happened in a single step. The commute held in the low-to-mid 30s from 2019 through 2022, then fell 19.5% in the Bureau's next estimate, from 31.3 minutes to 25.2.
In that same one-year window, Sausalito's commute barely moved (down 0.3%), Tiburon's held flat, and Tamalpais-Homestead Valley fell 7.4%, all smaller shifts than Mill Valley's, per the same Census tables. Mill Valley now sits below the Marin County average for the first time in six years of Census estimates, after running above it every year before.
Year | Mill Valley (min) | Marin (min) | Bay Area (min) |
|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 33.8 | 32.6 | 34.3 |
2020 | 35.2 | 31.8 | 34.1 |
2021 | 33.2 | 30.8 | 33.4 |
2022 | 31.3 | 29.9 | 32.6 |
2023 | 25.2 | 28.3 | 31.8 |
2024 | 24.8 | 27.4 | 31.0 |
The likely driver:
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