Commuting in Macon 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, 7:25 PM
How much time do drivers in Macon County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:25 PM
Commute Time Burden in Macon County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Macon County spend about 44 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 182 hours, about 7.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% less time on the road than the Alabama average of 22.1 minutes each way, a difference of 0.2 minutes.
Macon County holds about 0.4% of Alabama's population and accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Macon County would save about 73 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,261 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)
Macon County
21.9 min
43.8 min
182 hrs/yr
$5,652
663
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
21.9
minutes to get to work in
Macon County.
That's 2% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 7.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Macon County
Car:
80.9%
Walked:
8.7%unusually high
Worked at Home:
7.6%
Other:
2.6%
Public Transportation:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Walking is unusually common in Macon County: 7.6 times more than the Alabama average (8.7% vs 1.1%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Macon County, versus 0.1% in Alabama.
Biking is essentially absent in Macon County, versus 0.1% in Alabama.
Macon County stands out for active commuting: 8.7% of workers walk or bike to work, 7.1 times the Alabama average of 1.2%.
Commute Mode Trends in Macon County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Macon 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
Walked
Worked at Home
Other
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
Bicycle
2009
89.8%
6.5%
2.5%
1.0%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2010
90.2%
6.4%
2.1%
1.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
90.2%
6.3%
2.0%
1.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2012
90.3%
5.8%
2.4%
1.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2013
90.5%
4.9%
2.0%
2.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2014
90.7%
5.5%
2.3%
1.0%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2015
90.6%
5.7%
1.7%
1.2%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2016
89.4%
6.5%
1.5%
1.4%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2017
89.8%
6.2%
1.6%
1.2%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2018
91.4%
5.9%
1.1%
0.9%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2019
91.7%
5.8%
1.5%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
90.6%
5.3%
3.1%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
89.4%
5.1%
4.1%
1.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
86.3%
6.5%
5.1%
1.9%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
82.7%
6.9%
7.0%
2.8%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
80.9%
8.7%
7.6%
2.6%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2019 at 91.7%. Overall it fell from 89.8% in 2009 to 80.9% in 2024, down 8.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Macon County: its share of workers rose from 2.5% in 2009 to 7.6% in 2024, up 5.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Macon County
😴Sleeping InThe highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among Alabama's 67 counties: 28.9% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Macon County?
The bars show when commuters in Macon 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 AMMacon County8.8%Alabama6.8%
8.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMMacon County4.1%Alabama5.1%
4.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMMacon County7.6%Alabama5.9%
7.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMMacon County6.7%Alabama9.9%
6.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMMacon County8.6%Alabama11.3%
8.6%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMMacon County17.1%Alabama16.8%
17.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMMacon County10.9%Alabama11.8%
10.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMMacon County6.5%Alabama8.6%
6.5%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMMacon County0.8%Alabama3.5%
0.8%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMMacon County5.5%Alabama4.6%
5.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMMacon County2.1%Alabama2.2%
2.1%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMMacon County0.4%Alabama1.0%
0.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMMacon County14.8%Alabama6.3%
14.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMMacon County6.2%Alabama6.2%
6.2%
Macon CountyAlabamaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Macon 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: 20.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Alabama: 43.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 48.6% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (28.9%) 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 Macon 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 Macon 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 Macon 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
Macon County
Alabama
United States
2009
7:37 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:36 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:32 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:28 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:27 AM
7:21 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:33 AM
7:21 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:39 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:42 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:41 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:44 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:35 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:22 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:28 AM
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:24 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:22 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:25 AM
7:19 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Macon County were on the road by 7:25 AM, 12 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:37 AM). Across Alabama, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Macon County now leave 13 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 Macon County has moved 10 minutes earlier.
How does Macon County's commute time compare?
Metric
Macon County
Alabama
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.9 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
12:00 PM – 03:59 PM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
7.6%
8.8%
15.0%
Walked
8.7%
1.1%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
0.3%
3.2%
The average commute time in Macon County is about the same as in Alabama.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.3% in Alabama. 8.7% commute by walking, higher than the 1.1% in Alabama.
Macon County, AL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Macon County, AL is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 18,691 residents against a local median of 58,811. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest counties, which makes Macon County, AL an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 5% below the local median at 21.9 min against 23.0 min. Macon County, AL has the 3rd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Macon County, Alabama.
Is commuting expensive in Macon County, Alabama?
Commuters here spend an estimated 182 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,652 at a typical national wage. That's 1% less than the typical Alabama commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Macon County, Alabama?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Macon County, Alabama. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM also sees a secondary bump.
Which counties in Alabama have the fastest and slowest commutes?
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).