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Seattle sees biggest drop of solo-commuters across the country

Gene Balk, the "FYI Guy" at the Seattle Times analyzed Census data which shows a big change in how people in our area get to work.

SEATTLE — Do you walk to work? Or take public transit? Maybe you're carpooling? If so, you're not alone. Seattle has seen the biggest drop in the country for the number of solo-commuters. 

Gene Balk from the Seattle Times, also known as the FYI guy, published an in-depth look at our driving habits using Census data from 2010 to 2018.

The data shows the number of people in Seattle driving to work solo has dropped from 53% in 2010 to 44% in 2018. 

"Seattle's 9 percentage-point drop is easily the largest decline among the 100 most-populous U.S. cities since the start of the decade," read Balk's article.

While the percentage of solo drivers went down, however, there was still an increase in the numbers due to our growing population during that period, according to Balk. 

The numbers show an additional 197,000 people moved to Seattle in 2018.

Seattle isn't alone in its decline, either. Tacoma and Bellevue also saw an 8% drop in people driving alone to work. 

The flip side to all of this, according to Balk, is more people are choosing to take the bus or walk to work. 

During the same 2010 to 2018 period, the number of people taking public transit increased from nearly 5% to 23%. The number of people choosing to walk also went up from a little over 3% to 12%. 

You can see more of the driving trends and learn about our driving habits by checking out Balk's full article on the Seattle Times.

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