Commuting in Russell 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, 3:07 PM
How much time do drivers in Russell County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 3:07 PM
Commute Time Burden in Russell County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Russell County spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 194 hours, about 8.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 5% more time on the road than the Alabama average of 22.1 minutes each way, a difference of 1.1 minutes.
Russell County holds about 1.2% of Alabama's population and accounts for roughly 1.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Russell County would save about 78 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,404 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)
Russell County
23.3 min
46.5 min
194 hrs/yr
$6,010
1,256
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
23.3
minutes to get to work in
Russell County.
That's 4% longer 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 9.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Russell County
Car:
87.0%
Worked at Home:
9.3%
Other:
1.2%
Taxi:
0.9%unusually high
Public Transportation:
0.9%
Walked:
0.8%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taking a taxi is unusually common in Russell County: 10.1 times more than the Alabama average (0.9% vs 0.1%).
Biking is essentially absent in Russell County, versus 0.1% in Alabama.
Commute Mode Trends in Russell County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Russell 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
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
Walked
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
94.8%
2.2%
0.7%
0.1%
0.8%
0.9%
0.3%
0.2%
2010
94.5%
2.0%
0.9%
0.3%
1.0%
0.9%
0.3%
0.1%
2011
94.1%
2.3%
0.8%
0.3%
0.9%
0.8%
0.4%
0.3%
2012
94.8%
2.0%
0.6%
0.5%
0.9%
0.6%
0.5%
0.2%
2013
94.6%
2.7%
0.6%
0.5%
0.3%
0.7%
0.3%
0.3%
2014
94.5%
2.7%
0.6%
0.5%
0.3%
0.9%
0.2%
0.3%
2015
94.9%
2.8%
0.2%
0.3%
0.2%
1.1%
0.2%
0.2%
2016
94.7%
2.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
1.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2017
94.5%
2.8%
0.7%
0.3%
0.3%
1.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2018
95.0%
2.6%
0.6%
0.2%
0.2%
1.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2019
94.1%
2.6%
1.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2020
92.6%
4.4%
1.2%
0.3%
0.1%
1.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
92.3%
4.9%
1.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.7%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
90.2%
6.1%
1.6%
0.6%
0.5%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
88.0%
7.5%
2.0%
0.9%
0.6%
1.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
87.0%
9.3%
1.2%
0.9%
0.9%
0.8%
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 2018 at 95.0%. Overall it fell from 94.8% in 2009 to 87.0% in 2024, down 7.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Russell County: its share of workers rose from 2.2% in 2009 to 9.3% in 2024, up 7.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit overtook riding a motorcycle to become the 4th most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Walking peaked at 2.0% in 2019 and has since fallen back to 0.8%.
Commute Start Times in Russell County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Russell County?
The bars show when commuters in Russell 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 AMRussell County7.7%Alabama6.8%
7.7%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMRussell County4.1%Alabama5.1%
4.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMRussell County4.7%Alabama5.9%
4.7%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMRussell County9.5%Alabama9.9%
9.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMRussell County8.2%Alabama11.3%
8.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMRussell County16.6%Alabama16.8%
16.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMRussell County13.6%Alabama11.8%
13.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMRussell County10.1%Alabama8.6%
10.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMRussell County4.4%Alabama3.5%
4.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMRussell County5.0%Alabama4.6%
5.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMRussell County2.5%Alabama2.2%
2.5%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMRussell County1.1%Alabama1.0%
1.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMRussell County6.7%Alabama6.3%
6.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMRussell County5.8%Alabama6.2%
5.8%
Russell CountyAlabamaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Russell County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 16.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.8% across Alabama. Early starts are less common than in Alabama: 16.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Alabama's: 48.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 48.6% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.1%) 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 Russell 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 Russell 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 Russell 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
Russell County
Alabama
United States
2009
7:34 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:33 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:30 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:28 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:26 AM
7:21 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:24 AM
7:21 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:24 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:31 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:35 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:32 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:39 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:41 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:34 AM
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:35 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:36 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:29 AM
7:19 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Russell County were on the road by 7:29 AM, 5 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:34 AM). Across Alabama, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Russell County now leave 9 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 Russell County has moved 11 minutes earlier.
How does Russell County's commute time compare?
Metric
Russell County
Alabama
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.3 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
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
9.3%
8.8%
15.0%
Walked
0.8%
1.1%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.9%
0.3%
3.2%
The average commute time in Russell County is 23.3 minutes, longer than the 22.1 minutes in Alabama.
0.9% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.3% in Alabama. 0.8% commute by walking, lower than the 1.1% in Alabama.
Russell County, AL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Russell County, AL is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 58,811 residents against a local median of 8,887. Where Russell County, AL breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 25% above the local median of 18.6 min at 23.3 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 10.3 min on one-way commute, so Russell County, AL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Russell County, AL has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Russell County, Alabama.
Is commuting expensive in Russell County, Alabama?
Commuters here spend an estimated 194 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,010 at a typical national wage. That's 5% more than the typical Alabama commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Russell County, Alabama?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Russell County, 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.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).