Commuting in Cherokee County, Alabama: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 7:56 PM
How much time do drivers in Cherokee County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:56 PM
Commute Time Burden in Cherokee County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Cherokee County spend about 57 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 236 hours, about 9.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 28% more time on the road than the Alabama average of 22.1 minutes each way, a difference of 6.2 minutes.
Cherokee County holds about 0.5% of Alabama's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Cherokee County would save about 94 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,928 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)
Cherokee County
28.3 min
56.7 min
236 hrs/yr
$7,320
573
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.
On average, it takes
28.3
minutes to get to work in
Cherokee County.
That's 26% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 80% of counties in Alabama
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 4.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Cherokee County
Car:
93.9%
Worked at Home:
4.4%
Walked:
0.7%
Public Transportation:
0.7%
Other:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Cherokee County, versus 0.1% in Alabama.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Cherokee County, versus 0.1% in Alabama.
Biking is essentially absent in Cherokee County, versus 0.1% in Alabama.
Commute Mode Trends in Cherokee County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Cherokee County 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
Public Transportation
Walked
Other
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
94.0%
1.5%
0.0%
1.2%
2.6%
0.0%
0.6%
0.0%
2010
94.8%
1.7%
0.0%
0.5%
2.4%
0.0%
0.6%
0.0%
2011
95.4%
1.4%
0.0%
0.5%
2.2%
0.0%
0.4%
0.0%
2012
95.6%
1.8%
0.0%
0.7%
1.7%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2013
95.4%
2.5%
0.1%
0.7%
1.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2014
95.8%
2.4%
0.1%
0.6%
1.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2015
96.0%
2.5%
0.2%
0.6%
0.6%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2016
96.7%
1.9%
0.5%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2017
97.0%
2.0%
0.4%
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
96.5%
1.7%
0.2%
0.3%
1.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
96.4%
1.6%
0.2%
0.4%
1.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
95.8%
2.1%
0.2%
0.5%
1.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
94.3%
2.5%
0.7%
0.5%
2.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
93.3%
3.3%
0.7%
1.0%
1.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
93.8%
4.3%
0.6%
0.9%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
93.9%
4.4%
0.7%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2017 at 97.0% and lowest in 2022 at 93.3%. Overall it held roughly steady, at 94.0% in 2009 and 93.9% in 2024. It has risen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Cherokee County: its share of workers rose from 1.5% in 2009 to 4.4% in 2024, up 2.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 2.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Riding a motorcycle lost the most ground, falling from 0.6% to 0.0% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).
Public transit overtook riding a motorcycle to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2015 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Cherokee County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Cherokee County?
The bars show when commuters in Cherokee County 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
12:00-4:59 AMCherokee County11.0%Alabama6.8%
11.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMCherokee County5.2%Alabama5.1%
5.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMCherokee County9.1%Alabama5.9%
9.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMCherokee County11.3%Alabama9.9%
11.3%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMCherokee County10.4%Alabama11.3%
10.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMCherokee County17.1%Alabama16.8%
17.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMCherokee County9.4%Alabama11.8%
9.4%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMCherokee County5.4%Alabama8.6%
5.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMCherokee County2.2%Alabama3.5%
2.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMCherokee County2.9%Alabama4.6%
2.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMCherokee County2.3%Alabama2.2%
2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMCherokee County0.9%Alabama1.0%
0.9%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMCherokee County5.1%Alabama6.3%
5.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMCherokee County7.7%Alabama6.2%
7.7%
Cherokee CountyAlabamaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Cherokee County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.8% across Alabama. Early starts are more common than in Alabama: 25.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Alabama: 42.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 48.6% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (18.9%) 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 Cherokee County, 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 Cherokee County 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 Cherokee County 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
Cherokee County
Alabama
United States
2009
6:54 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2010
6:53 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2011
6:56 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2012
6:57 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:01 AM
7:21 AM
7:39 AM
2014
6:59 AM
7:21 AM
7:39 AM
2015
6:59 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2016
6:50 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2017
6:51 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2018
6:49 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2019
6:48 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2020
6:54 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:04 AM
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:08 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:04 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:05 AM
7:19 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Cherokee County were on the road by 7:05 AM, 11 minutes later than in 2009 (6:54 AM). Across Alabama, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Cherokee County now leave 33 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Cherokee County has moved 17 minutes later.
How does Cherokee County's commute time compare?
Metric
Cherokee County
Alabama
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
28.3 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
06:00 AM – 06:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
4.4%
8.8%
15.0%
Walked
0.7%
1.1%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.7%
0.3%
3.2%
The average commute time in Cherokee County is 28.3 minutes, longer than the 22.1 minutes in Alabama.
0.7% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.3% in Alabama. 0.7% commute by walking, lower than the 1.1% in Alabama.
Cherokee County, AL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Cherokee County, AL is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 25,443 residents against a local median of 72,266. The measure that sets Cherokee County, AL apart most is one-way commute: 28.3 min, 37% above the local median of 20.7 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 5.7 min on one-way commute, so Cherokee County, AL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Cherokee County, AL has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Cherokee County, Alabama.
Is commuting expensive in Cherokee County, Alabama?
Commuters here spend an estimated 236 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,320 at a typical national wage. That's 28% more than the typical Alabama commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Cherokee County, Alabama?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Cherokee County, Alabama. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How do commute times compare across counties in Alabama?
Among counties in Alabama, the shortest average commutes are in Pike County (16.4 min), Houston County (18.3 min), Escambia County (18.5 min). The longest are in Blount County (33.2 min), Pickens County (32.5 min), Lowndes County (31.9 min).