Commuting in Monroe County, Arkansas: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:12 PM
Is the commute in Monroe County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:12 PM
Commute Time Burden in Monroe County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Monroe County spend about 53 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 222 hours, about 9.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 43% more time on the road than the Arkansas average of 18.6 minutes each way, a difference of 8.0 minutes.
Monroe County holds about 0.2% of Arkansas's population but accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Monroe County would save about 89 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,747 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)
Monroe County
26.6 min
53.2 min
222 hrs/yr
$6,867
215
Arkansas
18.6 min
37.2 min
155 hrs/yr
$4,807
912
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
26.6
minutes to get to work in
Monroe County.
That's 19% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 89% of counties in Arkansas
The most common departure window is 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM, followed by 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 4.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Monroe County
Car:
93.6%
Worked at Home:
4.2%
Walked:
1.8%
Other:
0.4%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Monroe County, versus 0.1% in Arkansas.
Public transit is essentially absent in Monroe County, versus 0.3% in Arkansas.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Monroe County, versus 0.1% in Arkansas.
Biking is unusually rare in Monroe County: 46747.2 times less than the Arkansas average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Monroe County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Monroe 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
Walked
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
94.1%
0.9%
2.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2.3%
2010
95.3%
1.5%
2.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.4%
0.0%
2011
95.5%
1.3%
2.8%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2012
94.1%
1.6%
3.9%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2013
93.2%
2.9%
3.5%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2014
92.3%
3.9%
3.4%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2015
91.6%
3.9%
3.6%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2016
92.9%
3.5%
2.8%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2017
93.5%
3.3%
2.3%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2018
93.6%
2.5%
3.2%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2019
94.6%
1.2%
3.2%
0.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2020
96.6%
0.7%
2.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
96.8%
0.8%
2.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
96.5%
1.4%
2.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
94.4%
2.7%
2.6%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
93.6%
4.2%
1.8%
0.4%
0.0%
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 2021 at 96.8% and lowest in 2015 at 91.6%. Overall it fell from 94.1% in 2009 to 93.6% in 2024, down 0.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Monroe County: its share of workers rose from 0.9% in 2009 to 4.2% in 2024, up 3.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Biking lost the most ground, falling from 2.3% to 0.0% of workers (down 2.3 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.
Walking peaked at 3.9% in 2012 and has since fallen back to 1.8%.
Commute Start Times in Monroe County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Monroe County?
The bars show when commuters in Monroe 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 Arkansas for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMMonroe County5.8%Arkansas5.6%
5.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMMonroe County3.0%Arkansas4.1%
3.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMMonroe County4.3%Arkansas5.2%
4.3%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMMonroe County15.7%Arkansas9.3%
15.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMMonroe County18.1%Arkansas11.2%
18.1%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMMonroe County7.5%Arkansas17.5%
7.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMMonroe County15.1%Arkansas13.9%
15.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMMonroe County5.9%Arkansas9.2%
5.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMMonroe County2.4%Arkansas3.6%
2.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMMonroe County5.6%Arkansas4.5%
5.6%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMMonroe County4.5%Arkansas2.2%
4.5%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMMonroe County3.0%Arkansas1.1%
3.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMMonroe County2.8%Arkansas6.2%
2.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMMonroe County6.3%Arkansas6.4%
6.3%
Monroe CountyArkansasSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Monroe County is 6:30-6:59 AM, when 18.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.2% across Arkansas. Early starts are less common than in Arkansas: 13.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Arkansas: 46.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.9% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.3%) 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 Monroe 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 Monroe 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 Monroe County next to Arkansas 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
Monroe County
Arkansas
United States
2009
7:21 AM
7:28 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:23 AM
7:28 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:20 AM
7:28 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:14 AM
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:14 AM
7:27 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:12 AM
7:27 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:08 AM
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:04 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2017
6:58 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:01 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2019
6:52 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2020
6:57 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2021
6:57 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2022
6:58 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:00 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:12 AM
7:25 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Monroe County were on the road by 7:12 AM, 9 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:21 AM). The shift is sharper than across Arkansas, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Monroe County now leave 26 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 Monroe County has moved 20 minutes later.
How does Monroe County's commute time compare?
Metric
Monroe County
Arkansas
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
26.6 min
18.6 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
06:30 AM – 06:59 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
4.2%
8.8%
15.0%
Walked
1.8%
1.4%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.3%
3.2%
The average commute time in Monroe County is 26.6 minutes, longer than the 18.6 minutes in Arkansas.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.3% in Arkansas. 1.8% commute by walking, higher than the 1.4% in Arkansas.
Monroe County, AR Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Monroe County, AR is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 6,589 residents against a local median of 8,359. Monroe County, AR's one-way commute, at 26.6 min, runs 68% above the 15.8 min typical of the counties around it. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 4.2% against a local median of 3.3%, 26% above it. The counties themselves spread 11.8 min on one-way commute, so Monroe County, AR sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Monroe County, AR has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Monroe County, Arkansas.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Monroe County, Arkansas?
Commuters here spend an estimated 222 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,867 at a typical national wage. That's 43% more than the typical Arkansas commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Monroe County, Arkansas?
Traffic peaks between 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM in Monroe County, Arkansas. 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.
Do people use public transit in Monroe County, Arkansas?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.3% in Arkansas, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Arkansas?
Among counties in Arkansas, the shortest average commutes are in Arkansas County (11.9 min), Phillips County (13.2 min), Howard County (13.4 min). The longest are in Perry County (32.2 min), Newton County (31.6 min), Madison County (31.1 min).