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Van Buren County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 2:03 PM
How much time do drivers in Van Buren County spend on the road daily?
Map AI 9/24/26, 2:03 PM

Commute Time Burden in Van Buren County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Van Buren County spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 177 hours, about 7.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 14% more time on the road than the Arkansas average of 18.6 minutes each way, a difference of 2.6 minutes.

Van Buren County holds about 0.5% of Arkansas's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Van Buren County would save about 71 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,195 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)
Van Buren County 21.2 min 42.5 min 177 hrs/yr $5,488 392
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.

Commute Time Map: Arkansas Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Arkansas
  1. Arkansas County (11.9 min)
  2. Phillips County (13.2 min)
  3. Howard County (13.4 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Arkansas
  1. Perry County (32.2 min)
  2. Newton County (31.6 min)
  3. Madison County (31.1 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Van Buren County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 21.2 minutes to get to work in Van Buren County. That's 5% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 05:30 AM – 05:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 8.3% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Van Buren County

  • Car: 86.3%
  • Worked at Home: 8.3%
  • Other: 3.8%
  • Walked: 1.6%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Van Buren County, versus 0.1% in Arkansas.

Public transit is essentially absent in Van Buren County, versus 0.3% in Arkansas.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Van Buren County, versus 0.1% in Arkansas.

Biking is essentially absent in Van Buren County, versus 0.2% in Arkansas.

Commute Mode Trends in Van Buren County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Van Buren 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 Walked Public Transportation Taxi Motorcycle Bicycle
2009 88.2% 4.4% 3.0% 4.0% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2010 86.8% 4.8% 5.7% 1.6% 0.5% 0.0% 0.6% 0.0%
2011 88.2% 4.0% 5.0% 1.7% 0.6% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0%
2012 88.2% 4.3% 4.7% 1.6% 0.8% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0%
2013 89.6% 4.4% 3.6% 1.6% 0.4% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0%
2014 91.5% 3.4% 2.5% 1.8% 0.3% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0%
2015 93.7% 3.3% 1.1% 1.8% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2016 93.6% 4.7% 1.0% 0.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2017 92.7% 3.8% 1.7% 1.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2018 91.9% 3.8% 2.2% 2.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2019 91.0% 4.4% 1.4% 3.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2020 89.4% 4.2% 3.3% 3.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2021 86.9% 4.5% 4.9% 3.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2022 87.9% 5.9% 4.3% 1.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 89.0% 6.1% 3.6% 1.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 86.3% 8.3% 3.8% 1.6% 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 peaked in 2015 at 93.7%. Overall it fell from 88.2% in 2009 to 86.3% in 2024, down 1.9 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Van Buren County: its share of workers rose from 4.4% in 2009 to 8.3% in 2024, up 3.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 4.0% to 1.6% of workers (down 2.4 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Van Buren County

  • Dawn PatrolThe 2nd-highest share of pre-6 AM departures among Arkansas's 75 counties: 33.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Van Buren County?

The bars show when commuters in Van Buren 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
6.7%
5:00-5:29 AM
11.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
15.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
6.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
10.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
12.7%
7:30-7:59 AM
9.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
11.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
0.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
3.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
1.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
0.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
5.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
4.5%

Van Buren County Arkansas Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Van Buren County is 5:30-5:59 AM, when 15.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 5.2% across Arkansas. Early starts are more common than in Arkansas: 33.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Arkansas: 44.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.9% there. About 1 in 7 commuters (15.0%) 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 Van Buren 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 Van Buren 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 Van Buren 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 Van Buren County Arkansas United States
2009 7:23 AM 7:28 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:22 AM 7:28 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:17 AM 7:28 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:12 AM 7:27 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:13 AM 7:27 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:11 AM 7:27 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:08 AM 7:27 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:08 AM 7:26 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:11 AM 7:26 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:10 AM 7:26 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:18 AM 7:26 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:13 AM 7:26 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:15 AM 7:26 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:12 AM 7:26 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:04 AM 7:26 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:00 AM 7:25 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Van Buren County were on the road by 7:00 AM, 23 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:23 AM). The shift is sharper than across Arkansas, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Van Buren County now leave 38 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 Van Buren County has moved 18 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Van Buren County in the whole series.

How does Van Buren County's commute time compare?

Metric Van Buren County Arkansas US Average
Avg. Commute Time 21.2 min 18.6 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 05:30 AM – 05:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 8.3% 8.8% 15.0%
Walked 1.6% 1.4% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.3% 3.2%

The average commute time in Van Buren County is 21.2 minutes, longer than the 18.6 minutes in Arkansas.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.3% in Arkansas. 1.6% commute by walking, higher than the 1.4% in Arkansas.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Van Buren County, AR Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Van Buren County, AR is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 15,983 residents against a local median of 21,055. Nothing separates Van Buren County, AR sharply from the counties around it. Each measure below lands within 15% of the local median, close enough that the differences are within what survey sampling alone would produce.

The largest of those small differences is work from home, 12% above the local median at 8.3% against 7.4%. Van Buren County, AR has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Van Buren County, AR 15,983 21.2 min #4/6 8.3% #3/6 7:00 AM #1/6
Conway County, AR 21,055 22.9 min 7.4% 7:16 AM
Searcy County, AR 7,857 24.0 min 4.2% 7:09 AM
Stone County, AR 12,568 18.6 min 10.0% 7:25 AM
Faulkner County, AR 127,709 21.2 min 8.5% 7:29 AM
Cleburne County, AR 25,225 17.8 min 6.9% 7:11 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Van Buren County, Arkansas.

Is commuting expensive in Van Buren County, Arkansas?

Commuters here spend an estimated 177 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,488 at a typical national wage. That's 14% more than the typical Arkansas commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Van Buren County, Arkansas?

Traffic peaks between 05:30 AM – 05:59 AM in Van Buren County, Arkansas. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.

Do people use public transit in Van Buren 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).