k e e p i n g VOLUME 6 ■ ISSUE 9
IN PROFILE
BUSINESS JOURNAL
b u s i n e s s e s
c o n n e c t e d ™
SEPTEMBER 2021
SUPER COMMUTERS
L’Gusto Cucina Italiana brings Riverbank new dining option. PAGE 2
IN PROFILE
Fresh Vintage Farms turns to almonds for cooking oil alternative. PAGE 5
The afternoon commute on Highway 99 is shown heading south through Ripon toward Modesto.
209 BUSINESS JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
209 region leading nation in commute times BY DENNIS WYATT
T
209 Business Journal
he 209 is the undisputed leader when it comes to the growth of “super commuters.” They’re the ones chasing paychecks to support their families by driving 90 minutes or more in one direction to reach a job. That’s three hours plus a day. The Bay Area for years has been part of the top three regions in the country for super commutes. The others are Los Angeles and New York. But it wasn’t until the last decade that the metro areas of Stockton (including Manteca, Lathrop, Ripon, Tracy, and Mountain House) and Modesto (including Ceres and Turlock) broke away from the pack of other outer suburbs of major cities to become the undisputed king of the road when it comes to super commuter growth. Nowhere in the nation are there metro areas with a higher
percentage of super commuters in the workforce than StocktonModesto. Those driving three plus hours a day to and from work now represent 11.7 percent of the workforce in the Stockton metro area and 9.6 percent in the Modesto metro area. The next closest are Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middleton in New York at 8.5 percent, Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk in Connecticut at 7.5 percent and Riverside-San BernardinoOntario at 7.4 percent. After that metro areas drop below 5 percent in terms of how much of the workforce are super commuters. Five of the 10 top super commuter metro areas are in California. Four of those are part of the NorCal metroplex anchored by San Francisco. The other two include Santa Rosa-Petaluma at 4.3 percent and San JoseSunnyvale-Santa Clara at 3.8 percent. And nowhere has the growth
in the percentage of super commuters been greater than in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. Since 2010 there has been a 133 percent jump in super commuters in the Stockton metro area and a 97 percent jump in the Modesto area. The third spot on the national list drops all the way down to a 23 percent growth for super commuters in the Poughkeepsie-NewBurghMiddletown metro area. Not surprisingly the No. 1 and No. 3 metro areas in the nation when it comes to the increase in the ranks of super commuters were Stockton at 25 percent and Modesto at 20 percent. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara was No. 2 at 23 percent. The data is gleaned from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Economists for the firm Apartment List have drawn a connection between the increase in super commuters and the increase in rents. Since the start of the pandem-
ic two years ago, Apartment List indicated data shows rents have increased the highest where super commuting is prevalent. That’s because super commutes are driven by urban centers not having adequate housing that is affordable for much of its workforce. It is compounded in the Bay Area where job generation has exceeded the ability of the market to add enough homes to house workers. As a result San Joaquin County has seen rents rise 19 percent with the biggest jumps being in Manteca and Tracy. The ranks of super commuters include those who aren’t just looking for a house but are seeking apartments to rent. Super commuters are defined by time on the road as opposed to minutes. Data shows 60 percent of all Bay Area commuters live 30 to 90 miles from their job sites. While remote work has the SEE COMMUTE, PAGE 10