Bristol Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 10/21/26, 7:56 PM

Is the commute in Bristol longer than the national average?

Map AI 10/21/26, 7:56 PM

Commute Time Burden in Bristol: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Bristol spend about 44 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 182 hours, about 7.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% less time on the road than the Connecticut average of 22.1 minutes each way, a difference of 0.3 minutes.

Bristol holds about 1.7% of Connecticut's population and accounts for roughly 1.7% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Bristol would save about 73 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,252 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)
Bristol	21.8 min	43.6 min	182 hrs/yr	$5,630	2,152
Connecticut	22.1 min	44.2 min	184 hrs/yr	$5,704	1,748
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.

Bristol Commute Map

On average, it takes 21.8 minutes to get to work in Bristol. That's 3% 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 11.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Bristol

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Bristol, versus 0.1% in Connecticut.

Public transit is unusually rare in Bristol: 14.7 times less than the Connecticut average (0.2% vs 3.2%).

Biking is essentially absent in Bristol, versus 0.2% in Connecticut.

Commute Mode Trends in Bristol, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Bristol 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	Taxi	Public Transportation	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	95.0%	1.9%	0.8%	1.1%	0.0%	0.7%	0.2%	0.3%
2010	94.0%	2.4%	1.1%	1.3%	0.0%	0.7%	0.2%	0.3%
2011	94.8%	2.5%	0.9%	0.8%	0.0%	0.5%	0.3%	0.2%
2012	94.9%	2.5%	0.8%	0.9%	0.0%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%
2013	94.8%	2.8%	0.8%	0.9%	0.0%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2014	94.2%	3.1%	1.0%	0.9%	0.0%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%
2015	94.1%	3.3%	1.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%
2016	93.5%	3.5%	1.1%	0.6%	0.0%	1.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2017	93.3%	3.5%	1.5%	0.3%	0.0%	1.2%	0.1%	0.2%
2018	92.7%	3.9%	1.5%	0.5%	0.0%	1.2%	0.0%	0.2%
2019	91.9%	3.8%	1.8%	0.7%	0.0%	1.4%	0.1%	0.3%
2020	91.4%	4.5%	1.8%	0.7%	0.0%	1.3%	0.0%	0.2%
2021	89.5%	6.8%	1.8%	0.6%	0.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2022	86.8%	9.5%	1.5%	0.9%	0.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2023	87.3%	9.7%	1.7%	0.4%	0.1%	0.5%	0.0%	0.2%
2024	85.5%	11.4%	1.8%	0.6%	0.5%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 95.0% in 2009 to 85.5% in 2024, down 9.5 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Bristol: its share of workers rose from 1.9% in 2009 to 11.4% in 2024, up 9.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Taking a taxi overtook riding a motorcycle to become the 5th most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Bristol

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Bristol?

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

12:00-4:59 AM		5.0%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.7%
5:30-5:59 AM		7.2%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.3%
6:30-6:59 AM		11.1%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.7%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.6%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.3%
8:30-8:59 AM		5.7%
9:00-9:59 AM		5.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		1.9%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM		10.0%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.9%

Bristol Connecticut Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Bristol is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 12.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.9% across Connecticut. Early starts are more common than in Connecticut: 16.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Connecticut: 45.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.6% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.5%) 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 Bristol, 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 Bristol 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 Bristol next to Connecticut 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	Bristol	Connecticut	United States
2009	7:29 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:29 AM	7:46 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:29 AM	7:46 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:31 AM	7:46 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:29 AM	7:46 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:28 AM	7:46 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:32 AM	7:46 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:32 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:30 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:31 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:32 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:30 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:32 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:37 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:37 AM	7:46 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:33 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Bristol were on the road by 7:33 AM, 3 minutes later than in 2009 (7:29 AM). Connecticut followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes later. Commuters in Bristol now leave 5 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Bristol's commute time compare?

Metric	Bristol	Connecticut	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	21.8 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	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	11.4%	16.2%	15.0%
Walked	1.8%	2.3%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.2%	3.2%	3.2%

The average commute time in Bristol is about the same as in Connecticut.

0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.2% in Connecticut. 1.8% commute by walking, lower than the 2.3% in Connecticut.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Bristol, CT Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Bristol, CT compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Bristol, CT	58,389	21.8 min #2/2	11.4% #1/2	7:33 AM #1/2
New Britain, CT	55,019	18.2 min	7.1%	7:41 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Bristol, Connecticut.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Bristol, Connecticut?

Commuters here spend an estimated 182 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,630 at a typical national wage. That's 1% less than the typical Connecticut commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Bristol, Connecticut?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Bristol, Connecticut. 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 Bristol, Connecticut?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.2% of commuters use it versus 3.2% in Connecticut, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.