New Yorkers face longest daily commute

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- New York commuters spend the most time going to and from work, while those in Grand Forks, N.D., spend the least, U.S. census data released Tuesday show.

The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which covers 2006 to 2008 on a range of socioeconomic, housing and demographic characteristics for communities as small as 20,000, calculates the New York metro area has the longest mean travel time to work at 34.5 minutes, followed by District of Columbia metro area 33.2 minutes. Grand Forks is the only U.S. metro area where the daily commute takes less than 15 minutes on average.

Despite rising gasoline prices, Americans still tend to go it alone heading to work -- ranging from 50.4 percent of those in the New York area to 87.3 percent in Jackson, Tenn., and Monroe, Mich.

The census officials also learned the percentage of foreign-born residents ranges from 0.9 percent in Altoona, Pa., to 36.9 percent in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area. It's also more than 30 percent in San Jose, Calif., and Los Angeles.

If you want to go somewhere where people speak a language other than English, head to McAllen, Texas, where 84.2 percent converse in another language at home. If you don't, try Charleston, W.Va., just 1.8 percent don't speak English.

The cost of housing varies greatly across the country, as well, with the median value just $68,200 in Odessa, Texas, and $739,700 in San Jose, Calif.

Information gleaned from the census figures and survey help determine how and where more than $400 billion in federal taxes are spent each year.