Most big cities have a positive net commuter number, meaning a greater number of people commute in than commute out. I calculated the number of net commuters using census data — the method may seem a bit roundabout, but it works. The difference between those two groups gave Seattle a net daytime surplus of about 202,300 commuters. Of those 50 cities, 36 saw a decline in net commuters. 1 for the surplus of net commuters, at 827,600, beating out New York for the top spot.