Hamilton County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Q: Is living in Hamilton County, Iowa good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 143 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,420 at a typical national wage. That's 1% more than the typical Iowa commuter spends.

Q: When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Hamilton County, Iowa?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Hamilton 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.

Q: Do people use public transit in Hamilton County, Iowa?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 0.7% in Iowa, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

Q: Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).

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Commuting in Hamilton 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, 8:36 PM

How much time do drivers in Hamilton County spend on the road daily?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:36 PM

Commute Time Burden in Hamilton County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Hamilton County spend about 34 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 143 hours, about 5.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% more time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.1 minutes.

Hamilton County holds about 0.5% of Iowa's population and accounts for roughly 0.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Hamilton County would save about 57 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,768 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)
Hamilton County	17.1 min	34.2 min	143 hrs/yr	$4,420	292
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

Sioux County (10.1 min)
Union County (10.4 min)
Cass County (10.6 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Iowa

Monroe County (30.4 min)
Madison County (30.1 min)
Mills County (26.7 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Hamilton County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 17.1 minutes to get to work in Hamilton County. That's 24% 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 working from home. About 6.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Hamilton County

Public transit is unusually rare in Hamilton County: 7.2 times less than the Iowa average (0.1% vs 0.7%).

Commute Mode Trends in Hamilton County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Hamilton 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	Bicycle	Other	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	90.1%	4.2%	4.3%	0.4%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2010	90.4%	4.5%	3.7%	0.4%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2011	90.2%	4.9%	3.3%	0.5%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2012	90.0%	4.0%	4.3%	0.2%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2013	88.9%	3.9%	5.6%	0.1%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2014	89.6%	3.7%	5.3%	0.1%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2015	90.1%	3.3%	5.5%	0.3%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2016	89.7%	4.8%	4.7%	0.1%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2017	90.2%	5.3%	3.9%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2018	89.9%	5.9%	3.5%	0.4%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2019	89.9%	5.9%	3.8%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	89.1%	7.0%	3.5%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	89.1%	6.8%	3.6%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%
2022	89.0%	6.5%	3.8%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2023	89.5%	6.4%	3.4%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%
2024	90.6%	6.1%	2.6%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share bottomed out in 2013 at 88.9%. Overall it rose from 90.1% in 2009 to 90.6% in 2024, up 0.5 percentage points. It has risen in each of the last 2 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Hamilton County: its share of workers rose from 4.2% in 2009 to 6.1% in 2024, up 1.9 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 4.3% to 2.6% of workers (down 1.7 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2016 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Hamilton County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Hamilton County?

The bars show when commuters in Hamilton 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		4.6%
5:00-5:29 AM		6.2%
5:30-5:59 AM		7.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.2%
6:30-6:59 AM		14.5%
7:00-7:29 AM		13.7%
7:30-7:59 AM		18.3%
8:00-8:29 AM		6.1%
8:30-8:59 AM		5.1%
9:00-9:59 AM		1.8%
10:00-10:59 AM		0.8%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.1%
12:00-3:59 PM		4.8%
4:00-11:59 PM		7.1%

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

The busiest time to head out in Hamilton County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 18.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are more common than in Iowa: 18.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Iowa's: 52.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 7 commuters (14.7%) 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 Hamilton 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 Hamilton 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 Hamilton 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	Hamilton County	Iowa	United States
2009	7:24 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:22 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:24 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:23 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:25 AM	7:34 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:21 AM	7:33 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:20 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:16 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:16 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:16 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:16 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:11 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:13 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:10 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:12 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:17 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Hamilton County were on the road by 7:17 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:24 AM). The shift is sharper than across Iowa, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Hamilton County now leave 21 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Hamilton County's commute time compare?

Metric	Hamilton County	Iowa	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	17.1 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	06:30 AM – 06:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	6.1%	11.3%	15.0%
Walked	2.6%	2.9%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	0.7%	3.2%

The average commute time in Hamilton County is about the same as in Iowa.

0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 2.6% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Hamilton County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Hamilton County, IA is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 14,886 residents against a local median of 26,668. Hamilton County, IA's work from home, at 6.1%, runs 32% below the 9.0% typical of the counties around it.

The counties themselves spread 7.2% on work from home, so Hamilton County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Hamilton County, IA has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Hamilton County, IA	14,886	17.1 min #5/6	6.1% #5/6	7:17 AM #1/6
Wright County, IA	12,791	15.3 min	7.9%	7:17 AM
Boone County, IA	26,668	20.8 min	10.1%	7:24 AM
Story County, IA	100,466	15.2 min	11.8%	7:59 AM
Hardin County, IA	16,639	16.3 min	9.0%	7:18 AM
Webster County, IA	36,886	14.0 min	4.6%	7:32 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Hamilton County, Iowa.

Is living in Hamilton County, Iowa good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 143 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,420 at a typical national wage. That's 1% more than the typical Iowa commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Hamilton County, Iowa?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Hamilton 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.

Do people use public transit in Hamilton County, Iowa?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 0.7% in Iowa, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).