Adams County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Adams County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Adams County spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 154 hours, about 6.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 9% more time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 1.5 minutes.

Adams County holds about 0.1% of Iowa's population and accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Adams County would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,910 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)
Adams County	18.5 min	37.0 min	154 hrs/yr	$4,775	310
Iowa	17.0 min	33.9 min	141 hrs/yr	$4,382	606
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.

Commute Time Map: Iowa Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 18.5 minutes to get to work in Adams County. That's 18% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 76% of counties in Iowa

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 10.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Adams County

• Car: 87.7%
• Worked at Home: 10.0%
• Walked: 1.7%
• Other: 0.5%
• Bicycle: 0.2%
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Adams County, versus 0.1% in Iowa.

Public transit is essentially absent in Adams County, versus 0.7% in Iowa.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Adams County, versus 0.2% in Iowa.

Commute Mode Trends in Adams County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Adams 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.

• Car
• Worked at Home
• Walked
• Other
• Bicycle
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Motorcycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Other	Bicycle	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	81.8%	10.3%	3.6%	2.0%	0.0%	0.6%	0.0%	1.6%
2010	82.7%	9.2%	3.8%	1.9%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	1.8%
2011	84.5%	9.1%	3.5%	1.9%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.4%
2012	83.1%	10.1%	2.8%	2.7%	0.5%	0.5%	0.0%	0.2%
2013	85.3%	7.6%	3.4%	2.7%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2014	90.0%	5.1%	2.7%	1.3%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2015	88.2%	7.5%	2.7%	0.6%	0.3%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	89.0%	5.9%	3.1%	0.7%	0.3%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	90.4%	5.3%	3.3%	0.1%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2018	89.0%	6.7%	3.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%	0.3%
2019	88.4%	6.8%	3.5%	0.2%	0.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.5%
2020	87.2%	7.8%	4.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2021	87.6%	7.4%	4.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2022	87.1%	7.9%	4.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	86.5%	9.7%	3.6%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	87.7%	10.0%	1.7%	0.5%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2017 at 90.4%. Overall it rose from 81.8% in 2009 to 87.7% in 2024, up 5.9 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.6% to 1.7% of workers (down 1.9 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Adams County

• 🚦 Rush-Hour RegularsThe 2nd-highest share of rush-hour departures among Iowa's 99 counties: 62.9% of commuters leave between 6:30 and 8:29 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Adams County?

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

12:00-4:59 AM	12:00-4:59 AM Adams County3.9% Iowa5.2%	3.9%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Adams County6.5% Iowa4.1%	6.5%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Adams County5.7% Iowa5.7%	5.7%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Adams County5.2% Iowa8.2%	5.2%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Adams County15.2% Iowa11.2%	15.2%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Adams County20.2% Iowa15.1%	20.2%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Adams County21.1% Iowa15.6%	21.1%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Adams County6.4% Iowa9.1%	6.4%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Adams County1.6% Iowa3.6%	1.6%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Adams County1.6% Iowa4.4%	1.6%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Adams County1.2% Iowa2.3%	1.2%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Adams County0.0% Iowa1.1%	0.0%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Adams County6.7% Iowa7.5%	6.7%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Adams County4.9% Iowa6.8%	4.9%

Adams County Iowa Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Adams County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 21.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are more common than in Iowa: 16.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Iowa: 62.9% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 7 commuters (14.3%) 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 Adams 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 Adams 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 Adams County next to Iowa 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.

• Adams County
• Iowa
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Adams County	Iowa	United States
2009	7:26 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:28 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:25 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:20 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:19 AM	7:34 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:18 AM	7:33 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:19 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:15 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:11 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:12 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:10 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:16 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:22 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:30 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:25 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:20 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Adams County were on the road by 7:20 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:26 AM). The shift is sharper than across Iowa, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Adams County now leave 18 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 Adams County has moved 10 minutes later.

How does Adams County's commute time compare?

Metric	Adams County	Iowa	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	18.5 min	17.0 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	10.0%	11.3%	15.0%
Walked	1.7%	2.9%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	0.7%	3.2%

The average commute time in Adams County is 18.5 minutes, longer than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 1.7% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau