Commuting preferences differ across suburban counties near Chicago. While more distant Lake and Will counties saw declines in carpooling and increases in other modes like ridesharing, DuPage county saw an increase in taxicab use from 2010-2015. The only consistent trend was more people working from home in all counties, outpacing overall labor force growth.

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Snapshots
Commuter preferences differ in suburban
counties
Source: JLL Research, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• In recent years, the preferred mode of commuting transportation in suburban counties has not told the same
expected story that downtown has.
• While the more distant counties, Lake and Will, seem somewhat similar in their progression towards other
modes of transportation (we speculate ridesharing to play a large part), DuPage continues to see commuters
choose taxicabs more frequently.
• The only unanimous trend that we see throughout the Chicagoland area is an increased propensity to work
from home, which outpaces the increase in labor force in each of the four nearest counties.
June 1, 2017
Suburban Chicago
Percent change in commuter mode of transportation (2010 – 2015) by county
Mode of transportation to work Cook Co. DuPage Co. Lake Co. Will Co.
Carpool: -7.9% 7.0% -11.3% -18.5%
Taxicab or motorcycle: -14.2% 19.9% -4.6% -4.1%
Drive alone: -0.2% 1.9% 2.0% 7.0%
Use public transportation: 5.9% 1.7% 5.8% -5.9%
Work at home: 15.8% 15.1% 4.5% 8.4%
Walk to work: 10.1% 0.0% 3.1% -23.0%
Other: 18.0% -9.6% 15.4% 17.5%
Bike to work: 34.4% -3.2% -18.3% -17.7%
Change in total workers: 2.2% 2.5% 2.5% 6.2%