Commuting in Polk County, Georgia: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 7:55 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Polk County?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:55 PM
Commute Time Burden in Polk County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Polk County spend about 52 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 217 hours, about 9.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 10% more time on the road than the Georgia average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 2.4 minutes.
Polk County holds about 0.4% of Georgia's population and accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Polk County would save about 87 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,689 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)
Polk County
26.0 min
52.0 min
217 hrs/yr
$6,723
1,088
Georgia
23.6 min
47.3 min
197 hrs/yr
$6,109
1,447
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
26.0
minutes to get to work in
Polk County.
That's 16% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 4.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Polk County
Car:
91.3%
Worked at Home:
4.4%unusually low
Other:
2.3%
Walked:
1.1%
Public Transportation:
0.5%
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%
Working from home is unusually rare in Polk County: 3.6 times less than the Georgia average (4.4% vs 15.9%).
Commute Mode Trends in Polk County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Polk 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
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
93.5%
2.6%
1.3%
1.9%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2010
95.0%
1.9%
0.5%
1.7%
0.6%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2011
95.2%
1.7%
0.6%
1.8%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
95.1%
1.6%
0.9%
1.3%
0.8%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2013
95.3%
2.2%
0.8%
0.8%
0.6%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2014
95.2%
2.4%
0.5%
1.0%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2015
95.3%
1.8%
1.0%
1.0%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.5%
2016
95.2%
2.5%
1.2%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2017
94.1%
3.1%
0.9%
1.2%
0.4%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2018
93.0%
3.6%
1.1%
1.8%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
93.3%
3.4%
1.1%
1.7%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2020
93.0%
3.1%
0.7%
2.4%
0.7%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
92.8%
3.8%
1.0%
1.8%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
91.9%
4.6%
1.7%
1.2%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
91.9%
4.8%
1.5%
1.1%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
91.3%
4.4%
2.3%
1.1%
0.5%
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 2013 at 95.3%. Overall it fell from 93.5% in 2009 to 91.3% in 2024, down 2.2 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.
Working from home gained the most ground in Polk County: its share of workers rose from 2.6% in 2009 to 4.4% in 2024, up 1.8 percentage points.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 1.9% to 1.1% of workers (down 0.8 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Polk County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Polk County?
The bars show when commuters in Polk 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 Georgia for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMPolk County11.6%Georgia5.2%
11.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMPolk County4.1%Georgia3.9%
4.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMPolk County6.9%Georgia4.6%
6.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMPolk County8.3%Georgia9.4%
8.3%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMPolk County11.2%Georgia9.6%
11.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMPolk County16.7%Georgia14.9%
16.7%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMPolk County9.3%Georgia11.5%
9.3%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMPolk County6.9%Georgia11.6%
6.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMPolk County2.0%Georgia5.1%
2.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMPolk County3.4%Georgia6.7%
3.4%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMPolk County2.9%Georgia3.1%
2.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMPolk County0.2%Georgia1.4%
0.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMPolk County7.3%Georgia6.4%
7.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMPolk County9.3%Georgia6.7%
9.3%
Polk CountyGeorgiaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Polk County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 16.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.9% across Georgia. Early starts are more common than in Georgia: 22.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.8% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Georgia: 44.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.5% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.0%) 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 Polk 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 Polk 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 Polk County next to Georgia 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
Polk County
Georgia
United States
2009
7:20 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:18 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:26 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:24 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:17 AM
7:37 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:16 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:20 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:14 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:08 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:11 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:09 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:13 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:15 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:14 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Polk County were on the road by 7:14 AM, 5 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:20 AM). Across Georgia, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Polk County now leave 24 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 Polk County has moved 6 minutes later.
How does Polk County's commute time compare?
Metric
Polk County
Georgia
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
26.0 min
23.6 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
12:00 AM – 04:59 AM
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
4.4%
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
1.1%
1.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
1.1%
3.2%
The average commute time in Polk County is 26.0 minutes, longer than the 23.6 minutes in Georgia.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.1% in Georgia. 1.1% commute by walking, lower than the 1.3% in Georgia.
Polk County, GA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Polk County, GA is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 43,785 residents against a local median of 113,109. Where Polk County, GA breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 56% below the local median of 10.1% at 4.4%.
The counties themselves spread 7.4% on work from home, so Polk County, GA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Polk County, GA has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Polk County, Georgia.
Is living in Polk County, Georgia good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 217 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,723 at a typical national wage. That's 10% more than the typical Georgia commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Polk County, Georgia?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Polk County, Georgia. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Georgia?
Among counties in Georgia, the shortest average commutes are in Chattahoochee County (8.6 min), Ben Hill County (12.7 min), Tift County (15.8 min). The longest are in Talbot County (40.8 min), McIntosh County (37.7 min), Paulding County (36.4 min).