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Plumas County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 8:34 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Plumas County?
Map AI 9/24/26, 8:34 PM

Commute Time Burden in Plumas County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Plumas County spend about 26 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 107 hours, about 4.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 45% less time on the road than the California average of 23.5 minutes each way, a difference of 10.6 minutes.

Plumas County holds about 0.0% of California's population and accounts for roughly 0.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Plumas County would save about 43 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,326 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)
Plumas County 12.8 min 25.7 min 107 hrs/yr $3,316 225
California 23.5 min 47.0 min 196 hrs/yr $6,065 2,449
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: California Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in California
  1. Inyo County (11.1 min)
  2. Mono County (12.0 min)
  3. Del Norte County (12.1 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in California
  1. Alpine County (31.3 min)
  2. San Benito County (31.2 min)
  3. Contra Costa County (31.0 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Plumas County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 12.8 minutes to get to work in Plumas County. That's 43% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the top 5 fastest counties in California

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 7.2% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Plumas County

  • Car: 86.7%
  • Worked at Home: 7.2%
  • Walked: 4.2%
  • Other: 1.0%
  • Bicycle: 0.9%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Plumas County, versus 0.2% in California.

Public transit is essentially absent in Plumas County, versus 2.9% in California.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Plumas County, versus 0.2% in California.

Commute Mode Trends in Plumas County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Plumas 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 Bicycle Public Transportation Taxi Motorcycle
2009 89.5% 5.1% 3.7% 0.4% 1.3% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0%
2010 89.6% 5.8% 3.4% 0.2% 1.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2011 87.4% 7.2% 4.5% 0.0% 0.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2012 87.3% 6.7% 5.3% 0.0% 0.6% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0%
2013 87.1% 7.2% 4.6% 0.3% 0.6% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0%
2014 85.8% 7.2% 5.1% 0.4% 0.8% 0.1% 0.0% 0.6%
2015 86.0% 6.2% 5.2% 0.6% 1.0% 0.2% 0.0% 0.7%
2016 88.6% 5.7% 3.4% 0.6% 0.9% 0.2% 0.0% 0.6%
2017 88.8% 5.7% 3.1% 0.6% 0.8% 0.1% 0.0% 1.0%
2018 87.4% 5.3% 4.3% 0.4% 1.5% 0.5% 0.0% 0.6%
2019 87.0% 5.8% 4.9% 0.2% 1.2% 0.9% 0.0% 0.0%
2020 87.4% 6.3% 4.3% 0.1% 1.0% 0.8% 0.0% 0.0%
2021 86.5% 6.7% 4.8% 0.4% 1.3% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0%
2022 85.7% 7.7% 5.2% 0.4% 0.8% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 87.2% 8.0% 3.7% 0.5% 0.5% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 86.7% 7.2% 4.2% 1.0% 0.9% 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 2010 at 89.6% and lowest in 2022 at 85.7%. Overall it fell from 89.5% in 2009 to 86.7% in 2024, down 2.8 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Plumas County: its share of workers rose from 5.1% in 2009 to 7.2% in 2024, up 2.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking peaked at 5.3% in 2012 and has since fallen back to 4.2%.

Commute Start Times in Plumas County

  • Earlier AlarmsThe 2nd-biggest shift to earlier mornings among California's 58 counties: the typical start is 13 minutes earlier than in 2009.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Plumas County?

The bars show when commuters in Plumas 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 California for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM
13.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
1.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
8.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
8.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
9.6%
7:00-7:29 AM
11.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
16.5%
8:00-8:29 AM
5.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
7.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
6.3%
10:00-10:59 AM
3.7%
11:00-11:59 AM
2.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
1.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
3.9%

Plumas County California Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Plumas County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 10.2% across California. Early starts are more common than in California: 23.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.8% there. The morning rush looks much like California's: 42.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.3% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (18.0%) 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 Plumas 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 Plumas 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 Plumas County next to California 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 Plumas County California United States
2009 7:37 AM 7:39 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:36 AM 7:41 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:40 AM 7:41 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:47 AM 7:42 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:39 AM 7:43 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:37 AM 7:43 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:40 AM 7:43 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:40 AM 7:43 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:40 AM 7:42 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:43 AM 7:42 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:43 AM 7:42 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:36 AM 7:42 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:35 AM 7:42 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:30 AM 7:43 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:31 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:24 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Plumas County were on the road by 7:24 AM, 13 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:37 AM). That goes against the trend across California, where the typical commuter now leaves 6 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Plumas County now leave 14 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 Plumas County has moved 19 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Plumas County in the whole series.

How does Plumas County's commute time compare?

Metric Plumas County California US Average
Avg. Commute Time 12.8 min 23.5 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 7.2% 17.2% 15.0%
Walked 4.2% 2.4% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 2.9% 3.2%

The average commute time in Plumas County is 12.8 minutes, shorter than the 23.5 minutes in California.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.9% in California. 4.2% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in California.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Plumas County, CA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Plumas County, CA is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 19,423 residents against a local median of 84,507. Plumas County, CA's work from home, at 7.2%, runs 43% below the 12.6% typical of the counties around it.

One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 12.8 min against a local median of 16.2 min, 21% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 21% below the local median it puts Plumas County, CA at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 18.0% on work from home, so Plumas County, CA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Plumas County, CA has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Plumas County, CA 19,423 12.8 min #1/6 7.2% #5/6 7:24 AM #4/6
Sierra County, CA 2,746 16.2 min 16.8% 7:12 AM
Nevada County, CA 102,481 17.7 min 25.0% 7:54 AM
Lassen County, CA 30,356 16.0 min 7.0% 7:12 AM
Butte County, CA 207,907 15.8 min 12.6% 7:50 AM
Yuba County, CA 84,507 30.2 min 8.7% 7:14 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Plumas County, California.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Plumas County, California?

Commuters here spend an estimated 107 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,316 at a typical national wage. That's 45% less than the typical California commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Plumas County, California?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Plumas County, California. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

How common is public transit use in Plumas County, California?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 2.9% in California, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

Which counties in California have the fastest and slowest commutes?

Among counties in California, the shortest average commutes are in Inyo County (11.1 min), Mono County (12.0 min), Del Norte County (12.1 min). The longest are in Alpine County (31.3 min), San Benito County (31.2 min), Contra Costa County (31.0 min).