PURPOSES : In this study, the factors affecting commuting time according to city, county, and ward were empirically analyzed. METHODS : We estimated the average commuting time according to city, county, and ward by controlling for the characteristics of individual commuters, using a 2% sample of the Population and Housing Census of the National Statistical Office, and performed a twostage regression analysis using the average commuting time as the dependent variable. RESULTS : Among the regional attributes in the second stage, the share of commuters with different work and living areas was analyzed as a representative factor causing longer commuting times. The proportion of each mode of transportation in the total regional traffic volume and the population and household characteristics were also analyzed as affecting the average commuting time in the region. Particularly, when analyzing regions by dividing them into cities and counties within a metropolitan city and cities and counties within a province, or by dividing them into urban and rural areas, it can be observed that the factors affecting the average commuting time in the region are different, indicating that differentiated transportation policies are required according to the characteristics of the region. CONCLUSIONS : Commuting time entails increasing opportunity costs as wages increase. However, the expansion of the inter-regional transportation infrastructure acts as a factor in increasing job-residence separation and causes contradictory results by increasing the commuting time. If the characteristics of each region are different, and a function hierarchy as a city appears, travel between regions will become more common. Today, the widening gap between urban and rural areas in terms of employment and residential conditions can cause social waste due to increased commuting times. Ultimately, the extinction crisis of rural areas can be alleviated through policy by encouraging proximity to direct employment through the balanced development of jobs and settlement conditions between regions.