Remote work has changed commuting patterns in California and across the U.S., but its impact on traffic congestion is complex. Since 2019, work-from-home rates in California cities like San Diego, Fresno, and San Jose have increased significantly, with San Diego showing a 120% rise in telecommuting and experiencing a 12% drop in congestion. Fresno saw similar benefits with a 10% drop in congestion and a 4.9% increase in remote work adoption.
The site CoWorkingCafe.com conducted a survey looking at the rates.
San Jose, a tech hub, also saw a 236% jump in work-from-home rates, yet congestion fell by only 9%, illustrating that telecommuting isn’t a cure-all. In Oxnard and Thousand Oaks, for instance, congestion actually surged by 56%, despite substantial increases in remote work, pointing to local economic factors like population growth and reliance on sectors that still require in-person work.
The report shows that while telecommuting can alleviate some traffic issues, California’s cities may need broader strategies beyond remote work adoption to manage the evolving congestion landscape.