Work From Home Trends and Commuting Patterns Since 2019

During the Covid-19 pandemic, some workplaces quickly transitioned from in-person work to remote work. While many workplaces have returned to offices, many other jobs have continued to be performed at home. We wanted to look at these trends using two Census Bureau data products: the American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates, and the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES).  

16% Percent of Connecticut workers reported working from home in 2022 

To understand changes in remote work, we turned to the American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates. Work from home data in the ACS is collected through a question about commuting. Respondents can select from twelve options to indicate the method of transportation used for most of their commuting distance, and one of the options is “Worked from home”.

The Census Bureau did not release standard 2020 ACS 1-year estimates due to the impact of Covid-19 on data collection.

The percent of Connecticut residents who worked from home increased from 5.7% in 2018 to 15.9% in 2022. Residents working from home peaked at 19.5% in 2021.

We also used ACS 1-year estimates to look at work from home data at a local level. One-year estimates are available for towns with populations of 65,000 or more (Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford, Waterbury, Stamford, and Norwalk). We excluded New Britain and Danbury, which had populations over 65,000 in some years between 2018 and 2022, since data was not available for all years.

In 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Stamford had the highest share of residents working from home (5%). In 2021, when many companies still had work from home policies in effect, Norwalk had the highest share of residents working from home (25%), followed by Stamford (22%) and New Haven (17%). In 2022, 24% of Stamford residents worked from home, while other towns saw a decline in the proportion of residents working from home. 

Changes in Commuting Patterns between 2019 and 2021

Next, we looked at data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) program to explore changes in Connecticut workers’ commutes. LODES data includes information about workers’ residential location and their places of work at a census block level. The data is derived from administrative records and is processed to protect individual privacy while providing a detailed and comprehensive view of labor market dynamics and commuting patterns.  

For this analysis, we aggregated data to a town-level to look for overall trends in workplaces across Connecticut before and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. We included workers who live and work in Connecticut, who live in Connecticut and work in Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, as well as people who work in Connecticut but live out-of-state.

Statewide, the percentage of Connecticut workers who live in Connecticut (92%) versus Connecticut workers who live out-of-state (8%) remained constant from 2019 through 2021. The number of Connecticut residents who work out-of-state (in Massachusetts, New York, or Rhode Island) increased by 3% from 2019 to 2021. 

We wanted to see what the LODES data show for the six towns we looked at above. The number of people working in each of the six towns decreased between 2019 and 2021, except for in New Haven, where the number of workers increased by 1%. 

Across all six towns, the percentage of workers who live and work within the same town declined, perhaps since workers may not need to live as close to their workplace due to increased flexibility post-2020. 

Next, we looked at the percent of workers in each town who live out-of-state. In Stamford, Norwalk, and Waterbury, the percentage of workers who live out of state increased since 2019 by 3, 2, and 1 percentage point(s) respectively. Bridgeport and Hartford had the same portion of their workers come from out-of-state, and New Haven had 2 percentage points fewer out-of-state workers than in 2019. 

Commuting Patterns by Town 

Use the map below to explore commuting patterns in 2019 and 2021.

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