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If you leave for work before 6:30 a.m., you've got company. Some 25.4 million workers in the United States go to their jobs between midnight and 6:29 a.m. every day. The early birds represent 20 percent of the work force and were the fastest-growing group of commuters from 1990 to 2000. More than three-quarters of all workers (77 percent) drive to work alone. Ten percent carpool, 5 percent take public transportation, and 2 percent live close enough to walk. Nationwide, the average commuter takes 24 minutes, 24 seconds to get to work. New Yorkers take a little longer: 38 minutes, 24 seconds. That adds up to one full week every year. They have the longest commute of any city over 250,000 in the US.

Source: US Census data.