Commuting Patterns

Detailed Sub-State Summaries of Where Health Care Workers Live and Work

This dashboard allows for comparison of where health care workers live and where they work using a 5-year (2013-2017) pooled sample of the American Community Survey. You may start with where health care workers live to see to which geographic areas they commute to work. Alternatively, you may start with where health care workers work to see from which areas they are commuting. Note that the data exclude those working from home and that the areas in which people live are defined by Residential Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) and where they work by Work PUMAs. Residential and Work PUMAs do not directly correspond. To learn more about the data source and definitions, please read our FAQ page.

Tips: You may pick multiple states, though we recommend you start with one state. See the Additional Information tab for example interpretations of the data from the Commuting Patterns Dashboard.

If at any time you are having problems with the dashboard, try the following:

  1. Press the “Zoom Home” button in the upper left corner of the map 
  2. Refresh your web browser

The following are a few example interpretations of the workforce data on select occupations including allied health from the Commuting Patterns Dashboard. To learn more about the data and the Workforce Dashboards more broadly, please read our FAQ page. 

Example 1: Starting with where health care workers live

In Washington state, 196 pharmacists lived in the Residential PUMA for Seattle City (Northwest)
Most of the pharmacists who lived in the Seattle City (Northwest) Residential PUMA worked in the King County Work PUMA, which encompasses many Residential PUMAs, including Seattle City (Northwest). Because Work PUMAs are based on geographic areas that are larger than Residential PUMAs, such as counties, this is the smallest geographic area we can examine using this data source for people commuting from the Seattle City (Northwest) residential PUMA.

Example 2: Starting with where health care workers work

In Washington state, 2,627 pharmacists worked in King County, which includes the city of Seattle.
Of the approximately 2,600 pharmacists who worked in King County, 2.4% lived in the Thurston County (Outer) residential PUMA.

Example 3: Select multiple PUMAs to investigate commuting patterns

The District of Columbia consists of 5 residential PUMAs. Holding the Ctrl key on the keyboard (Cmd key on a Mac) and clicking on all 5 residential PUMAs allows one to explore all of the work PUMAs to which social workers who live in the District of Columbia commute.

Example 4: Some health care workers live far from where they work

Looking at registered nurses (RNs) who worked in Albany and Laramie Counties in southeast Wyoming (including the cities of Laramie and Cheyenne), these RNs lived in Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Tennessee. For some occupations, such as RNs, the data show a common pattern of a small number of workers living far away from the work location, especially when the work PUMA includes a metropolitan area. This could reflect the employment of “traveler” contract workers, common in urban facilities.

Suggested citation:

Stubbs BA, Zhi A, Dahal A, Skillman SM, Frogner BK. Workforce Dashboards: Commuting Patterns Dashboard. Center for Health Workforce Studies, University of Washington, 2022. https://familymedicine.uw.edu/chws/resources/commuting-patterns/