Commuting in Lee County, Florida: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:17 PM
How much time do drivers in Lee County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:17 PM
Commute Time Burden in Lee County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Lee County spend about 54 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 225 hours, about 9.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 13% more time on the road than the Florida average of 24.0 minutes each way, a difference of 3.0 minutes.
Lee County holds about 3.6% of Florida's population but accounts for roughly 4.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Lee County would save about 90 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,786 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)
Lee County
27.0 min
53.9 min
225 hrs/yr
$6,964
4,289
Florida
24.0 min
47.9 min
200 hrs/yr
$6,189
3,068
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
27.0
minutes to get to work in
Lee County.
That's 20% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 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 Lee County
Car:
80.6%
Worked at Home:
15.4%
Other:
1.4%
Walked:
1.0%
Bicycle:
0.6%
Public Transportation:
0.5%
Taxi:
0.4%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Lee County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Lee 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
Bicycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
91.2%
5.1%
1.1%
1.0%
0.6%
0.7%
0.1%
0.3%
2010
90.6%
5.4%
1.2%
0.9%
0.5%
1.0%
0.1%
0.3%
2011
90.2%
5.6%
1.1%
1.0%
0.7%
1.2%
0.1%
0.4%
2012
89.4%
5.8%
1.3%
1.0%
0.8%
1.2%
0.1%
0.4%
2013
89.0%
5.9%
1.7%
1.1%
0.7%
1.2%
0.1%
0.4%
2014
89.1%
5.6%
1.8%
0.9%
0.9%
1.1%
0.1%
0.4%
2015
89.5%
5.6%
1.6%
1.0%
0.8%
1.1%
0.1%
0.4%
2016
89.3%
5.7%
1.9%
1.0%
0.8%
0.9%
0.1%
0.3%
2017
89.5%
5.6%
1.8%
1.0%
0.6%
0.8%
0.2%
0.3%
2018
89.7%
5.6%
1.7%
1.0%
0.7%
0.7%
0.2%
0.3%
2019
89.2%
6.3%
1.7%
1.2%
0.6%
0.7%
0.1%
0.3%
2020
87.7%
7.5%
1.9%
1.2%
0.8%
0.7%
0.1%
0.3%
2021
86.0%
9.6%
1.8%
1.0%
0.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.3%
2022
84.5%
11.4%
1.5%
1.1%
0.7%
0.5%
0.2%
0.2%
2023
82.2%
13.8%
1.4%
1.1%
0.6%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
2024
80.6%
15.4%
1.4%
1.0%
0.6%
0.5%
0.4%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 91.2% in 2009 to 80.6% in 2024, down 10.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Lee County: its share of workers rose from 5.1% in 2009 to 15.4% in 2024, up 10.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Lee County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lee County?
The bars show when commuters in Lee 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 Florida for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMLee County4.5%Florida4.7%
4.5%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMLee County3.8%Florida3.5%
3.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMLee County4.7%Florida4.0%
4.7%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMLee County11.5%Florida9.1%
11.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMLee County9.5%Florida8.9%
9.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMLee County15.5%Florida15.1%
15.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMLee County8.7%Florida10.6%
8.7%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMLee County13.0%Florida13.1%
13.0%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMLee County4.7%Florida5.8%
4.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMLee County7.6%Florida8.0%
7.6%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMLee County3.5%Florida3.5%
3.5%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMLee County1.4%Florida1.5%
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMLee County6.1%Florida6.3%
6.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMLee County5.4%Florida5.9%
5.4%
Lee CountyFloridaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Lee County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.1% across Florida. Early starts are about as common as in Florida: 13.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.2% there. The morning rush looks much like Florida's: 46.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.7% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.1%) 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 Lee 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 Lee 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 Lee County next to Florida 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
Lee County
Florida
United States
2009
7:32 AM
7:41 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:33 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:35 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:38 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:37 AM
7:47 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:38 AM
7:47 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:36 AM
7:47 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:35 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:33 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:33 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:33 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:34 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:33 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:34 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:33 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:32 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Lee County were on the road by 7:32 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Florida, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Lee County now leave 6 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Lee County's commute time compare?
Metric
Lee County
Florida
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
27.0 min
24.0 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
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
15.4%
15.7%
15.0%
Walked
1.0%
1.4%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
1.2%
3.2%
The average commute time in Lee County is 27.0 minutes, longer than the 24.0 minutes in Florida.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.2% in Florida. 1.0% commute by walking, lower than the 1.4% in Florida.
Lee County, FL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Lee County, FL is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 815,257 residents against a local median of 201,064. The measure that sets Lee County, FL apart most is one-way commute: 27.0 min, 20% above the local median of 22.5 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves sit within 2.2 min of each other on one-way commute, a tighter band than the gap between any of them and Lee County, FL, which makes it a genuine outlier here rather than one end of a wide local spread. Lee County, FL has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Lee County, Florida.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Lee County, Florida?
Commuters here spend an estimated 225 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,964 at a typical national wage. That's 13% more than the typical Florida commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Lee County, Florida?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Lee County, Florida. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Which counties in Florida have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in Florida, the shortest average commutes are in Taylor County (13.8 min), Monroe County (16.1 min), Franklin County (16.6 min). The longest are in Washington County (32.8 min), Osceola County (32.3 min), Liberty County (32.1 min).