Auburn Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Auburn, Alabama: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 10/21/26, 7:45 PM

How long is the round-trip commute in Auburn?

Map AI 10/21/26, 7:45 PM

Commute Time Burden in Auburn: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Auburn spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 129 hours, about 5.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 30% less time on the road than the Alabama average of 22.1 minutes each way, a difference of 6.6 minutes.

Auburn holds about 1.3% of Alabama's population but accounts for roughly 0.9% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Auburn would save about 52 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,600 at the same national wage assumption used above.

Area	One-Way Commute	Daily Round-Trip	Yearly Time Spent	Estimated Yearly Cost	Local Road Traffic (VPD)
Auburn	15.5 min	31.0 min	129 hrs/yr	$3,999	2,495
Alabama	22.1 min	44.3 min	184 hrs/yr	$5,717	1,193
United States	22.4 min	44.8 min	187 hrs/yr	$5,790	1,355

The estimated yearly cost applies a single national rule of thumb (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics average hourly earnings), not a measurement of wages in this area - treat it as a rough estimate, not a paycheck figure. Local road traffic counts, vehicles per day on non-highway roads, come from proprietary Ticon and TrafficZoom data.

Auburn Commute Map

On average, it takes 15.5 minutes to get to work in Auburn. That's 31% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 10.5% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Auburn

Walking is unusually common in Auburn: 4.6 times more than the Alabama average (5.2% vs 1.1%).

Public transit is unusually common in Auburn: 3.6 times more than the Alabama average (1.1% vs 0.3%).

Auburn stands out for active commuting: 5.4% of workers walk or bike to work, 4.4 times the Alabama average of 1.2%.

Commute Mode Trends in Auburn, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Auburn get to work, as a share of all workers aged 16 and over, across 16 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) releases from 2009 to 2024. Each release is a 5-year estimate: the 2024 figures cover surveys taken from 2020 to 2024. Because neighboring releases share most of their survey years, the lines move gradually, and a sudden change such as the rise of remote work in 2020 spreads across several releases. Hover over or tap a line to highlight it, and use the legend to show or hide a mode. Driving starts hidden so the smaller modes stay readable.

Share of workers aged 16 and over, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Public Transportation	Other	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	87.6%	3.3%	5.5%	1.6%	0.2%	1.5%	0.0%	0.3%
2010	85.7%	3.2%	6.1%	2.0%	0.6%	2.1%	0.0%	0.4%
2011	86.4%	2.8%	5.7%	2.1%	0.5%	2.3%	0.0%	0.3%
2012	86.1%	2.4%	6.6%	1.8%	0.6%	2.3%	0.0%	0.3%
2013	86.1%	2.5%	6.8%	2.0%	0.5%	1.9%	0.0%	0.2%
2014	86.3%	2.5%	6.2%	2.1%	0.8%	1.7%	0.0%	0.3%
2015	86.9%	3.2%	6.2%	2.1%	0.5%	0.9%	0.0%	0.3%
2016	87.3%	3.4%	5.8%	1.9%	0.5%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%
2017	87.9%	3.3%	5.3%	1.8%	0.5%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%
2018	88.1%	3.2%	5.0%	1.6%	0.6%	1.0%	0.1%	0.4%
2019	87.6%	3.8%	5.4%	1.8%	0.4%	0.7%	0.1%	0.2%
2020	87.4%	4.4%	5.3%	1.5%	0.5%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%
2021	86.2%	6.1%	5.1%	1.4%	0.5%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2022	83.2%	8.3%	6.2%	1.4%	0.5%	0.2%	0.4%	0.0%
2023	82.4%	9.6%	5.9%	1.2%	0.6%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
2024	82.3%	10.5%	5.2%	1.1%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2018 at 88.1%. Overall it fell from 87.6% in 2009 to 82.3% in 2024, down 5.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Auburn: its share of workers rose from 3.3% in 2009 to 10.5% in 2024, up 7.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Biking lost the most ground, falling from 1.5% to 0.2% of workers (down 1.3 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 6.8% in 2013 and has since fallen back to 5.2%.

Commute Start Times in Auburn

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Auburn?

The bars show when commuters in Auburn leave home for work, as a share of everyone who commutes (people who work from home are not counted), from the 2024 ACS 5-year estimates. The thin violet marks show Alabama for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		2.5%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.2%
5:30-5:59 AM		4.6%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.8%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.3%
7:00-7:29 AM		17.4%
7:30-7:59 AM		17.0%
8:00-8:29 AM		11.2%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.6%
9:00-9:59 AM		6.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.9%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.2%
12:00-3:59 PM		8.6%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.7%

Auburn Alabama Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Auburn is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.8% across Alabama. Early starts are less common than in Alabama: 9.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.9% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Alabama: 52.9% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 48.6% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.5%) leave at 9 AM or later, which usually points to shift work, flexible hours or part-time jobs.

When people leave matters as much as how far they go. Rush-hour traffic shrinks how much ground a 20-minute trip covers, so a trade area drawn as a simple circle often takes in neighborhoods that customers or staff would never drive from and misses others that are an easy trip. A drive-time zone, also called an isochrone, outlines every place within a set number of minutes of an address, which makes it the more honest way to size a store's catchment, a hiring area or the commute from a new home.

See it for yourself on the interactive map: click any spot in Auburn, pick a 5, 10, 15 or 30-minute drive and see the local demographics of the people who live within that exact drive time.

Is Auburn Waking Up Earlier? Typical Departure Time, 2009-2024

Each line follows the typical (median) departure time: the moment by which half of commuters have already left home. Higher on the chart means a later start. Setting Auburn next to Alabama and the U.S. shows whether local mornings are drifting earlier or later than everyone else's. The figures span 16 ACS 5-year releases, so changes build up gradually rather than jumping from one year to the next.

Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Auburn	Alabama	United States
2009	7:54 AM	7:20 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:55 AM	7:20 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:56 AM	7:20 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:55 AM	7:20 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:54 AM	7:21 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:52 AM	7:21 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:51 AM	7:21 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:51 AM	7:21 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:53 AM	7:21 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:50 AM	7:20 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:51 AM	7:20 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:45 AM	7:20 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:45 AM	7:21 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:47 AM	7:20 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:48 AM	7:20 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:46 AM	7:19 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Auburn were on the road by 7:46 AM, 7 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:54 AM). Across Alabama, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Auburn now leave 8 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Auburn has moved 4 minutes earlier.

How does Auburn's commute time compare?

Metric	Auburn	Alabama	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	15.5 min	22.1 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	10.5%	8.8%	15.0%
Walked	5.2%	1.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	1.1%	0.3%	3.2%

The average commute time in Auburn is 15.5 minutes, shorter than the 22.1 minutes in Alabama.

1.1% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.3% in Alabama. 5.2% commute by walking, higher than the 1.1% in Alabama.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Auburn, AL Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Auburn, AL compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Auburn, AL	68,130	15.5 min #1/2	10.5% #1/2	7:46 AM #2/2
Opelika, AL	28,165	18.1 min	8.0%	7:34 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Auburn, Alabama.

Is living in Auburn, Alabama good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 129 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,999 at a typical national wage. That's 30% less than the typical Alabama commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Auburn, Alabama?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Auburn, Alabama. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

Do people use public transit in Auburn, Alabama?

Public transit usage is notably higher here than typical: about 1.1% of commuters use it versus 0.3% in Alabama, making it a realistic option for many workers.