Courtesy of HALL Park
Audio By Carbonatix
Ever feel like you should get paid for commute times? Drivers from Frisco probably wish they did, at least according to a new report.
If there’s a 10th circle of hell, it’s probably somewhere on U.S. Highway 75 or the Dallas North Tollway around 5:30 in the evening on a Monday. Adding hours in the car to an already long workday is far from ideal and, in some cases, can negatively impact the mental health and well-being of suburban workers. While it ranks high for career opportunities and has attracted waves of corporate relocations in recent years, Frisco residents are especially susceptible to drive-shortened mornings and evenings, according to a report on “burnout belts” by mental health group A Mission for Michael.
Based on a survey of 3,002 drivers, A Mission for Michael ranked Frisco as the eleventh-worst burnout belt in the country and the only such area in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The Collin County suburb fell between No. 11-ranked West Chester, Pennsylvania, and North Bergen, New Jersey.
“The commute into Dallas becomes a daily fixture, quietly claiming time from both ends of the day,” the report reads. “Frisco residents feel the familiar rhythm: mornings that start before they should, evenings arriving already compressed. The hours lost don’t register anywhere official, yet they reshape the week all the same. Rest becomes something to negotiate rather than assume. Burnout doesn’t arrive with fanfare — it accumulates quietly in the margins until it feels like the norm.”
According to 2024 U.S. Census Bureau data, almost 70% of U.S. workers commute by car daily, with an average drive time of 27.2 minutes. The mean commute time in Collin County is nearly half an hour, with over 64% commuting by car alone.
About 30 miles outside of Houston, Katy was the highest-ranked “burnout belt” in Texas at No. 9. The only other suburb in Texas ranked was Round Rock in the Austin area.
“Burnout is often framed as something that happens at work, but for many people, it starts and ends with the commute,” Anand Meta, executive director of AMFM, wrote in a release. “When you’re losing hours of your day before and after work even begins, it leaves very little room to recover. Over time, that constant drain can have a real impact on mental wellbeing — even if it doesn’t feel obvious at first.”
While commuters in Frisco face a long trek to and from work, a study of 2024 U.S. Census data by SmartAsset found that the suburb ranked No. 1 in the U.S. by percentage of remote workers. An estimated 42,133 residents work from home, representing 33.7% of the suburb’s workforce.
