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Decatur County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Decatur County, Iowa: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 7:55 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Decatur County?
Map AI 9/24/26, 7:55 PM

Commute Time Burden in Decatur County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Decatur County spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 133 hours, about 5.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% less time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 1.0 minutes.

Decatur County holds about 0.2% of Iowa's population and accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Decatur County would save about 53 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,646 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)
Decatur County 15.9 min 31.9 min 133 hrs/yr $4,116 164
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

Fastest commutes among counties in Iowa
  1. Sioux County (10.1 min)
  2. Union County (10.4 min)
  3. Cass County (10.6 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Iowa
  1. Monroe County (30.4 min)
  2. Madison County (30.1 min)
  3. Mills County (26.7 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Decatur County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 15.9 minutes to get to work in Decatur County. That's 29% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 6.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Decatur County

  • Car: 85.2%
  • Walked: 7.8%
  • Worked at Home: 6.0%
  • Other: 0.9%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low

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

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

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

Biking is essentially absent in Decatur County, versus 0.3% in Iowa.

Commute Mode Trends in Decatur County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Decatur 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 Walked Worked at Home Other Public Transportation Taxi Motorcycle Bicycle
2009 84.3% 5.9% 8.3% 0.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.2% 0.4%
2010 84.1% 5.7% 8.9% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.6%
2011 83.5% 4.5% 9.1% 0.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 2.3%
2012 83.7% 4.0% 10.1% 0.6% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 1.3%
2013 81.6% 6.8% 9.0% 0.9% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 1.6%
2014 82.4% 7.9% 6.8% 1.2% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 1.5%
2015 80.8% 9.3% 6.8% 1.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 1.8%
2016 81.7% 10.6% 5.9% 0.7% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.9%
2017 79.7% 11.5% 6.4% 1.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 1.3%
2018 80.4% 9.9% 8.5% 0.7% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.4%
2019 80.9% 9.2% 9.1% 0.4% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2%
2020 83.6% 7.6% 8.0% 0.4% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1%
2021 84.1% 7.0% 8.2% 0.3% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2%
2022 84.9% 6.1% 8.6% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0%
2023 85.9% 5.8% 7.9% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 85.2% 7.8% 6.0% 0.9% 0.0% 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 was highest in 2023 at 85.9% and lowest in 2017 at 79.7%. Overall it rose from 84.3% in 2009 to 85.2% in 2024, up 0.9 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Walking gained the most ground in Decatur County: its share of workers rose from 5.9% in 2009 to 7.8% in 2024, up 1.9 percentage points.

Working from home lost the most ground, falling from 8.3% to 6.0% of workers (down 2.3 percentage points).

Walking overtook working from home to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2024 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 11.5% in 2017 and has since fallen back to 7.8%.

Commute Start Times in Decatur County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Decatur County?

The bars show when commuters in Decatur 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
6.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
4.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
8.8%
6:30-6:59 AM
14.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
11.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
16.3%
8:00-8:29 AM
8.3%
8:30-8:59 AM
1.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
4.8%
10:00-10:59 AM
3.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
0.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
6.9%
4:00-11:59 PM
8.5%

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

The busiest time to head out in Decatur County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are about as common as in Iowa: 15.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Iowa's: 50.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.3%) 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 Decatur 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 Decatur 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 Decatur 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 Decatur County Iowa United States
2009 7:36 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:33 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:35 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:32 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:32 AM 7:34 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:37 AM 7:33 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:41 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:36 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:33 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:36 AM 7:31 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:28 AM 7:31 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:25 AM 7:31 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:29 AM 7:31 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:33 AM 7:31 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:26 AM 7:31 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:29 AM 7:31 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Decatur County were on the road by 7:29 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:36 AM). The shift is sharper than across Iowa, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Decatur County now leave 8 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 Decatur County has moved 2 minutes later.

How does Decatur County's commute time compare?

Metric Decatur County Iowa US Average
Avg. Commute Time 15.9 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 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 6.0% 11.3% 15.0%
Walked 7.8% 2.9% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.7% 3.2%

The average commute time in Decatur County is 15.9 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 7.8% commute by walking, higher than the 2.9% in Iowa.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Decatur County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Decatur County, IA is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 7,759 residents against a local median of 6,531. The measure that sets Decatur County, IA apart most is work from home: 6.0%, 38% below the local median of 9.7%.

The counties themselves spread 7.0% on work from home, so Decatur County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Decatur County, IA has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Decatur County, IA 7,759 15.9 min #4/6 6.0% #6/6 7:29 AM #6/6
Clarke County, IA 9,662 13.4 min 8.9% 7:04 AM
Mercer County, MO 3,482 21.1 min 13.2% 7:09 AM
Harrison County, MO 8,190 15.5 min 9.7% 7:22 AM
Ringgold County, IA 4,645 15.9 min 10.0% 7:18 AM
Wayne County, IA 6,531 18.4 min 6.2% 7:17 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Decatur County, Iowa.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Decatur County, Iowa?

Commuters here spend an estimated 133 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,116 at a typical national wage. That's 6% less than the typical Iowa commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Decatur County, Iowa?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Decatur County, Iowa. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Decatur 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.

How do commute times compare across counties in Iowa?

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).