California Commuting Up and Shifting Away from Urban Centers -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 6 -- March 13, 2003

Estimates released by the Census Bureau last week reveal shifts in Californians' commuting patterns. Although major cities are still attracting hordes of commuters, the report suggests an outward economic expansion through the last decade from traditional urban centers to areas formerly characterized as suburban.

Census figures indicate fewer commuters riding to Los Angeles County in 2000 than in 1990 from neighboring suburban counties possibly due to development of viable economic and urban centers in former suburban strongholds such as Orange County, Riverside and San Bernardino.

Elsewhere, the number of Silicon Valley commuters residing in Fresno County more than doubled throughout the decade. The numbers are starker in San Diego where the number of commuters from Riverside county grew 167 percent, according to the report, while San Francisco, the number one Bay Area commuting destination, recorded an increase of 49.4 percent in the number of commuters traveling to the city from its neighboring counties in the same period. Concomitantly, San Francisco experienced a similar commuting exodus as Los Angeles with the report estimating 23 percent of San Francisco residents now traveling outside the city for jobs.

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