Addressing Commuting as a Public Health Issue: Strategies Should Differ by Rurality

Date
07/2018
Description

Car commuting is a known risk factor for poor health, by contributing to sedentary behavior and air pollution; prevention efforts to reduce car commuting—especially long, solo commutes—are important to improving public health. This brief estimates the rate of solo car commuting and long (greater than 30 minutes) solo car commutes by rurality and urban adjacency and identifies differences in socio-demographic factors that relate to commuting behavior by geographic location.

Center
University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
Authors
Carrie Henning-Smith, Katy Kozhimannil, Alex Evenson