The 15-Minute City: Does Raleigh Pull It Off?

An urban planning concept where most daily services and needs are met within a 15-minute commute via walking, biking, or public transit. But how does Raleigh fare?

Author

Mason @ TRI
October 10, 2025

Table of Contents

Home Is Where You Commute From

Raleigh, North Carolina.

It’s a city of over 482,000 people1 (more than 1 million if you include the Triangle as a whole) and based on census data, travel time to the workplace is over 23 minutes for the average person.

Adding the back and forth, that’s 161 hours, every month, spent going to the workplace and back home without any other stops or errands.

So for the busiest parts of every week day, most people (64%) sit alone for 46 minutes, after 8 hours (probably) spent in an office.

But did you notice what I left out? The driving bit.

Why? Because I know you assumed it was driving. If you live in America, we all assume these times to be about driving and based on the data below, how could we not?

But for just a moment, let’s pretend we can do better.

Let’s pretend that we live in a city where not only can you get to your work in 15 minutes but you can also go for a grocery run, a beer run, and heck… even a run run.

All of this without ever needing to drive.

So, Where Would You Start?

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