Commuting in Sutter County, California: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:31 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Sutter County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:31 PM
Commute Time Burden in Sutter County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Sutter 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 173 hours, about 7.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 11% less time on the road than the California average of 23.5 minutes each way, a difference of 2.7 minutes.
Sutter County holds about 0.3% of California's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Sutter County would save about 69 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,150 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)
Sutter County
20.8 min
41.6 min
173 hrs/yr
$5,375
2,904
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.
On average, it takes
20.8
minutes to get to work in
Sutter County.
That's 7% shorter 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 7.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Sutter County
Car:
89.3%
Worked at Home:
7.7%
Walked:
1.1%
Other:
1.0%
Public Transportation:
0.6%unusually low
Bicycle:
0.2%unusually low
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Sutter County: 4.7 times less than the California average (0.6% vs 2.9%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Sutter County, versus 0.2% in California.
Biking is unusually rare in Sutter County: 3.9 times less than the California average (0.2% vs 0.7%).
Commute Mode Trends in Sutter County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Sutter 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
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
91.0%
4.5%
2.1%
0.5%
1.2%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2010
90.8%
4.5%
1.7%
0.8%
1.3%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
2011
90.4%
4.2%
1.9%
1.1%
1.6%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
2012
90.5%
4.2%
1.8%
1.0%
1.6%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2013
91.4%
3.9%
1.8%
0.8%
1.3%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
2014
91.2%
4.2%
1.5%
0.9%
1.2%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
2015
91.0%
4.7%
1.7%
0.6%
1.2%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2016
91.7%
4.4%
1.9%
0.4%
0.9%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2017
91.4%
4.6%
1.8%
0.5%
0.8%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
2018
91.0%
4.9%
1.6%
0.8%
0.9%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2019
91.6%
4.7%
1.6%
0.7%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
90.3%
6.3%
1.2%
0.7%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2021
89.9%
6.7%
1.2%
0.9%
0.8%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2022
89.4%
6.9%
1.6%
0.8%
0.7%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
89.5%
7.1%
1.3%
0.9%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
89.3%
7.7%
1.1%
1.0%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2016 at 91.7%. Overall it fell from 91.0% in 2009 to 89.3% in 2024, down 1.7 percentage points.
Working from home gained the most ground in Sutter County: its share of workers rose from 4.5% in 2009 to 7.7% in 2024, up 3.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.1% to 1.1% of workers (down 1.0 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Sutter County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Sutter County?
The bars show when commuters in Sutter 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
12:00-4:59 AMSutter County9.4%California6.7%
9.4%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSutter County6.3%California4.5%
6.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSutter County4.2%California4.5%
4.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSutter County9.3%California8.4%
9.3%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSutter County9.5%California7.5%
9.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSutter County13.4%California13.1%
13.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSutter County10.9%California10.2%
10.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSutter County9.9%California12.6%
9.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSutter County5.0%California5.8%
5.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSutter County5.0%California8.6%
5.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSutter County1.8%California3.9%
1.8%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSutter County1.3%California1.8%
1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSutter County7.1%California6.9%
7.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSutter County6.9%California5.5%
6.9%
Sutter CountyCaliforniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Sutter County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.1% across California. Early starts are more common than in California: 19.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.8% there. The morning rush looks much like California's: 43.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.3% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (22.1%) 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 Sutter 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 Sutter 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 Sutter 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
Sutter County
California
United States
2009
7:21 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:18 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:18 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:18 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:19 AM
7:43 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:18 AM
7:43 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:21 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:23 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:24 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:21 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:22 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:23 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:20 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:18 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:25 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:25 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Sutter County were on the road by 7:25 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:21 AM). California followed the same path, with the typical start moving 6 minutes later. Commuters in Sutter 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 Sutter County has moved 4 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Sutter County in the whole series.
How does Sutter County's commute time compare?
Metric
Sutter County
California
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
20.8 min
23.5 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
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
7.7%
17.2%
15.0%
Walked
1.1%
2.4%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.6%
2.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Sutter County is 20.8 minutes, shorter than the 23.5 minutes in California.
0.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.9% in California. 1.1% commute by walking, lower than the 2.4% in California.
Sutter County, CA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Sutter County, CA is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 98,856 residents against a local median of 207,907. Where Sutter County, CA breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 39% below the local median of 12.6% at 7.7%.
The counties themselves spread 13.8% on work from home, so Sutter County, CA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Sutter County, CA has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Sutter County, California.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Sutter County, California?
Commuters here spend an estimated 173 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,375 at a typical national wage. That's 11% less than the typical California commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Sutter County, California?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Sutter County, California. 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.
Do people use public transit in Sutter County, California?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.6% of commuters use it versus 2.9% in California, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in California?
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).