Commuting in Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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How much time do drivers in Northwest Hills Planning Region spend on the road daily?
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Commute Time Burden in Northwest Hills Planning Region: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Northwest Hills Planning Region spend about 44 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 183 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 0.2 minutes.
Northwest Hills Planning Region holds about 3.1% of Connecticut's population and accounts for roughly 3.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Northwest Hills Planning Region would save about 73 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,266 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)
Northwest Hills Planning Region
21.9 min
43.9 min
183 hrs/yr
$5,664
960
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.
On average, it takes
21.9
minutes to get to work in
Northwest Hills Planning Region.
That's 2% 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 15.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Northwest Hills Planning Region
Car:
78.7%
Worked at Home:
15.4%
Walked:
3.8%
Public Transportation:
0.9%unusually low
Other:
0.8%
Taxi:
0.2%
Bicycle:
0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Public transit is unusually rare in Northwest Hills Planning Region: 3.8 times less than the Connecticut average (0.9% vs 3.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Northwest Hills Planning Region, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Northwest Hills Planning Region 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
Public Transportation
Other
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
89.9%
4.9%
2.7%
1.5%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2010
90.2%
5.0%
2.5%
1.4%
0.7%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
89.6%
5.6%
2.7%
1.3%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2012
90.0%
5.4%
2.6%
1.2%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2013
89.6%
5.3%
3.1%
1.4%
0.5%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2014
89.4%
5.4%
3.2%
1.3%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2015
88.9%
5.5%
3.3%
1.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2016
88.9%
5.5%
3.0%
1.5%
0.8%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2017
88.6%
5.6%
3.0%
1.6%
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2018
89.0%
5.5%
2.9%
1.4%
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
88.5%
5.7%
2.8%
1.5%
1.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2020
88.2%
7.3%
2.3%
1.3%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2021
85.8%
9.9%
2.2%
1.0%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2022
82.3%
12.2%
3.0%
1.0%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2023
80.0%
14.4%
3.3%
1.1%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
0.3%
2024
78.7%
15.4%
3.8%
0.9%
0.8%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2010 at 90.2%. Overall it fell from 89.9% in 2009 to 78.7% in 2024, down 11.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Northwest Hills Planning Region: its share of workers rose from 4.9% in 2009 to 15.4% in 2024, up 10.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.5% to 0.9% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Northwest Hills Planning Region
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Northwest Hills Planning Region?
The bars show when commuters in Northwest Hills Planning Region 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.
Northwest Hills Planning RegionConnecticutSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Northwest Hills Planning Region is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.9% across Connecticut. Early starts are more common than in Connecticut: 13.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Connecticut's: 48.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.6% 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 Northwest Hills Planning Region, 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 Northwest Hills Planning Region 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 Northwest Hills Planning Region 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
Northwest Hills Planning Region
Connecticut
United States
2009
7:39 AM
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:40 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:39 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:39 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:39 AM
7:46 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:37 AM
7:46 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:36 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:36 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:38 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:38 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:38 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:37 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:37 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:37 AM
7:46 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:36 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:38 AM
7:47 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Northwest Hills Planning Region were on the road by 7:38 AM, 1 minute earlier than in 2009 (7:39 AM). That goes against the trend across Connecticut, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Northwest Hills Planning Region now leave at about the same time as the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Northwest Hills Planning Region's commute time compare?
Metric
Northwest Hills Planning Region
Connecticut
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.9 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
15.4%
16.2%
15.0%
Walked
3.8%
2.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.9%
3.2%
3.2%
The average commute time in Northwest Hills Planning Region is about the same as in Connecticut.
0.9% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.2% in Connecticut. 3.8% commute by walking, higher than the 2.3% in Connecticut.
Northwest Hills Planning Region, CT Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Northwest Hills Planning Region, CT is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 104,183 residents against a local median of 298,059. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest counties, which makes Northwest Hills Planning Region, CT an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 5% below the local median at 21.9 min against 23.0 min. Northwest Hills Planning Region, CT has the 3rd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut.
Is living in Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 183 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,664 at a typical national wage. That's 1% less than the typical Connecticut commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Northwest Hills Planning Region, 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.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.9% of commuters use it versus 3.2% in Connecticut, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Connecticut?
Among counties in Connecticut, the shortest average commutes are in Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region (20.6 min), South Central Connecticut Planning Region (20.9 min), Capitol Planning Region (21.4 min). The longest are in Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region (26.0 min), Greater Bridgeport Planning Region (23.9 min), Naugatuck Valley Planning Region (23.5 min).