Commuting in Palm Beach 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, 7:57 PM
How much time do drivers in Palm Beach County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:57 PM
Commute Time Burden in Palm Beach County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Palm Beach County spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 194 hours, about 8.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 3% less time on the road than the Florida average of 24.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.7 minutes.
Palm Beach County holds about 6.8% of Florida's population but accounts for roughly 6.6% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Palm Beach County would save about 78 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,406 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)
Palm Beach County
23.3 min
46.6 min
194 hrs/yr
$6,015
4,664
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
23.3
minutes to get to work in
Palm Beach County.
That's 4% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 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 Palm Beach County
Car:
79.3%
Worked at Home:
15.4%
Other:
1.7%
Public Transportation:
1.5%
Walked:
1.2%
Bicycle:
0.4%
Taxi:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Palm Beach County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Palm Beach 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
Public Transportation
Walked
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
89.8%
4.8%
1.2%
1.6%
1.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
2010
89.8%
4.9%
1.1%
1.5%
1.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
2011
89.6%
5.2%
1.1%
1.5%
1.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
2012
89.4%
5.4%
1.0%
1.6%
1.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
2013
89.0%
5.8%
1.0%
1.7%
1.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
2014
88.7%
5.7%
1.2%
1.9%
1.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
2015
88.5%
5.9%
1.1%
2.0%
1.5%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
2016
88.2%
6.3%
1.1%
2.0%
1.5%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
2017
88.2%
6.4%
1.1%
1.9%
1.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
2018
88.1%
6.5%
1.1%
1.8%
1.5%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
2019
87.8%
7.0%
1.1%
1.6%
1.4%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
86.3%
8.4%
1.3%
1.6%
1.3%
0.5%
0.4%
0.1%
2021
84.6%
10.4%
1.4%
1.5%
1.2%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
2022
82.8%
12.1%
1.6%
1.4%
1.1%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
2023
80.9%
13.8%
1.7%
1.4%
1.2%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
2024
79.3%
15.4%
1.7%
1.5%
1.2%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 89.8% in 2009 to 79.3% in 2024, down 10.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 7 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Palm Beach County: its share of workers rose from 4.8% in 2009 to 15.4% in 2024, up 10.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 8.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 1.7% to 1.2% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Palm Beach County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Palm Beach County?
The bars show when commuters in Palm Beach 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 AMPalm Beach County3.1%Florida4.7%
3.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMPalm Beach County2.8%Florida3.5%
2.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMPalm Beach County2.6%Florida4.0%
2.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMPalm Beach County7.4%Florida9.1%
7.4%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMPalm Beach County8.8%Florida8.9%
8.8%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMPalm Beach County15.1%Florida15.1%
15.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMPalm Beach County11.5%Florida10.6%
11.5%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMPalm Beach County15.2%Florida13.1%
15.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMPalm Beach County7.3%Florida5.8%
7.3%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMPalm Beach County9.9%Florida8.0%
9.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMPalm Beach County4.0%Florida3.5%
4.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMPalm Beach County1.6%Florida1.5%
1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMPalm Beach County5.4%Florida6.3%
5.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMPalm Beach County5.0%Florida5.9%
5.0%
Palm Beach CountyFloridaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Palm Beach County is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 15.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.1% across Florida. Early starts are less common than in Florida: 8.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.2% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Florida: 50.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.7% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.9%) 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 Palm Beach 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 Palm Beach 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 Palm Beach 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
Palm Beach County
Florida
United States
2009
7:51 AM
7:41 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:52 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:52 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:53 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:54 AM
7:47 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:54 AM
7:47 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:54 AM
7:47 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:56 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:55 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:55 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:54 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:55 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:54 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:53 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:55 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:56 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Palm Beach County were on the road by 7:56 AM, 6 minutes later than in 2009 (7:51 AM). The shift is sharper than across Florida, where the typical start moved 2 minutes later. Commuters in Palm Beach County now leave 18 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Palm Beach County has moved 2 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Palm Beach County in the whole series.
How does Palm Beach County's commute time compare?
Metric
Palm Beach County
Florida
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.3 min
24.0 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
15.4%
15.7%
15.0%
Walked
1.2%
1.4%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.5%
1.2%
3.2%
The average commute time in Palm Beach County is 23.3 minutes, shorter than the 24.0 minutes in Florida.
1.5% commute by public transit, higher than the 1.2% in Florida. 1.2% commute by walking, lower than the 1.4% in Florida.
Palm Beach County, FL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Palm Beach County, FL is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 1,530,264 residents against a local median of 160,388. Palm Beach County, FL's work from home, at 15.4%, runs 26% above the 12.1% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 11.7% on work from home, so Palm Beach County, FL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Palm Beach County, FL has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Palm Beach County, Florida.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Palm Beach County, Florida?
Commuters here spend an estimated 194 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,015 at a typical national wage. That's 3% less than the typical Florida commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Palm Beach County, Florida?
Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Palm Beach County, Florida. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 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).