Commuting in Bremer County, Iowa: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:36 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Bremer County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:36 PM
Commute Time Burden in Bremer County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Bremer County spend about 40 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 168 hours, about 7.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 19% more time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 3.2 minutes.
Bremer County holds about 0.8% of Iowa's population but accounts for roughly 0.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Bremer County would save about 67 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,080 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)
Bremer County
20.1 min
40.3 min
168 hrs/yr
$5,201
455
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.
On average, it takes
20.1
minutes to get to work in
Bremer County.
That's 10% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 78% 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 11.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Bremer County
Car:
82.1%
Worked at Home:
11.3%
Walked:
5.9%
Other:
0.2%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Bremer County: 29.1 times less than the Iowa average (0.0% vs 0.7%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Bremer County, versus 0.2% in Iowa.
Commute Mode Trends in Bremer County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Bremer 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
Walked
Motorcycle
Bicycle
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
2009
86.3%
4.8%
7.5%
0.2%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2010
86.1%
5.9%
6.8%
0.1%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2011
85.7%
5.3%
7.6%
0.1%
0.7%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2012
87.4%
4.3%
7.5%
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2013
86.7%
4.4%
8.0%
0.0%
0.2%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
2014
86.5%
5.0%
7.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2015
86.2%
4.2%
8.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2016
86.4%
4.7%
8.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
2017
86.4%
5.5%
7.1%
0.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2018
86.8%
6.0%
6.3%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
2019
87.0%
6.0%
6.0%
0.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2020
85.1%
8.2%
6.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2021
83.9%
9.2%
6.2%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2022
83.9%
9.3%
6.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
82.1%
10.4%
6.9%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
82.1%
11.3%
5.9%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
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 2012 at 87.4%. Overall it fell from 86.3% in 2009 to 82.1% in 2024, down 4.2 percentage points.
Working from home gained the most ground in Bremer County: its share of workers rose from 4.8% in 2009 to 11.3% in 2024, up 6.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 7.5% to 5.9% of workers (down 1.6 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Bremer County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Bremer County?
The bars show when commuters in Bremer 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 AMBremer County5.3%Iowa5.2%
5.3%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMBremer County4.8%Iowa4.1%
4.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMBremer County6.7%Iowa5.7%
6.7%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMBremer County9.1%Iowa8.2%
9.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMBremer County10.3%Iowa11.2%
10.3%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMBremer County12.3%Iowa15.1%
12.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMBremer County15.7%Iowa15.6%
15.7%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMBremer County7.4%Iowa9.1%
7.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMBremer County4.3%Iowa3.6%
4.3%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMBremer County5.1%Iowa4.4%
5.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMBremer County2.2%Iowa2.3%
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMBremer County0.5%Iowa1.1%
0.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMBremer County8.8%Iowa7.5%
8.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMBremer County7.5%Iowa6.8%
7.5%
Bremer CountyIowaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Bremer County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are more common than in Iowa: 16.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Iowa: 45.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% 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 Bremer 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 Bremer 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 Bremer 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.
Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show typical departure times by year
Year
Bremer County
Iowa
United States
2009
7:27 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:28 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:29 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:29 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:30 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:29 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:30 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:29 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:29 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:28 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:27 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:26 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:28 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:29 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:29 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:33 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Bremer County were on the road by 7:33 AM, 6 minutes later than in 2009 (7:27 AM). That goes against the trend across Iowa, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Bremer County now leave 5 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 Bremer County has moved 6 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Bremer County in the whole series.
How does Bremer County's commute time compare?
Metric
Bremer County
Iowa
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
20.1 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
11.3%
11.3%
15.0%
Walked
5.9%
2.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in Bremer County is 20.1 minutes, longer than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 5.9% commute by walking, higher than the 2.9% in Iowa.
Bremer County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Bremer County, IA is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 25,204 residents against a local median of 15,328. Bremer County, IA's work from home, at 11.3%, runs 43% above the 7.9% typical of the counties around it.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 20.1 min against a local median of 15.5 min, 30% above it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 30% above the local median it puts Bremer County, IA at the weaker end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 3.5% on work from home, so Bremer County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Bremer County, IA has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Bremer County, Iowa.
Is commuting expensive in Bremer County, Iowa?
Commuters here spend an estimated 168 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,201 at a typical national wage. That's 19% more than the typical Iowa commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Bremer County, Iowa?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Bremer County, Iowa. 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.
How common is public transit use in Bremer County, Iowa?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.7% in Iowa, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Which counties in Iowa have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in Iowa, the shortest average commutes are in Sioux County (10.1 min), Union County (10.4 min), Cass County (10.6 min). The longest are in Monroe County (30.4 min), Madison County (30.1 min), Mills County (26.7 min).