The Accessibility Observatory at the University of Minnesota recently compiled some seriously in-depth transit commute rankings worth considerings. According to Wired, the study looked at 46 of the 50 most populous metros in the U.S. and crunched the numbers on job "accessibility," or how easily jobs could be reached. With those numbers sufficiently crunched, Seattle comes in as the 8th-best city for commuting by public transit.
Seattle rated much higher when you focused your rankings on number of jobs reaching by public transit within ten minutes (6th). But in terms of jobs reachable by public transit within one hour, Seattle slipped (9th). The point being, the shorter you have to go to commute to work, the better Seattle's public transit works for you.
They've provided a zoomable map of Seattle jobs accessible within 30 minutes here and suggest to Wired that "encouraging both residents and employers to locate in parts of the city already served by transit" can improve accessibility for everyone.
· Access Across America: Transit 2014 [Official site]
· America's 10 Best Cities for Commuting on Public Transit [Wired]