Jefferson County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Jefferson 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, 7:57 PM

What does a typical morning commute look like in Jefferson County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 7:57 PM

Commute Time Burden in Jefferson County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Jefferson County spend about 25 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 105 hours, about 4.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 26% less time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 4.3 minutes.

Jefferson County holds about 0.5% of Iowa's population but accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Jefferson County would save about 42 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,306 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)
Jefferson County	12.6 min	25.3 min	105 hrs/yr	$3,265	299
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

Jefferson County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 12.6 minutes to get to work in Jefferson County. That's 44% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 87% 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 18.2% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Jefferson County

Commute Mode Trends in Jefferson County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Jefferson 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	Other	Public Transportation	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	83.4%	8.2%	5.8%	1.2%	0.5%	0.0%	0.5%	0.4%
2010	79.9%	9.8%	6.5%	0.9%	0.8%	0.0%	1.6%	0.4%
2011	79.1%	11.2%	6.5%	1.1%	0.4%	0.0%	1.6%	0.1%
2012	78.9%	11.8%	6.1%	1.0%	0.5%	0.0%	1.6%	0.0%
2013	80.6%	9.6%	6.1%	0.7%	0.5%	0.0%	2.2%	0.3%
2014	76.5%	13.4%	6.4%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%	2.3%	0.5%
2015	79.3%	12.8%	5.1%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%	1.5%	0.5%
2016	84.0%	11.6%	2.3%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%	0.7%	0.7%
2017	85.3%	9.9%	2.9%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%	0.6%
2018	80.7%	12.5%	4.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%	1.2%	0.6%
2019	79.0%	10.3%	7.9%	1.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.8%	0.8%
2020	81.4%	12.3%	3.9%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%	0.9%
2021	79.6%	14.3%	4.4%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.7%	0.5%
2022	76.2%	15.3%	6.1%	0.5%	0.5%	0.0%	0.7%	0.6%
2023	74.5%	18.2%	3.6%	2.7%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2024	74.0%	18.2%	4.4%	2.1%	0.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2017 at 85.3%. Overall it fell from 83.4% in 2009 to 74.0% in 2024, down 9.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Jefferson County: its share of workers rose from 8.2% in 2009 to 18.2% in 2024, up 10.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.8% to 4.4% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).

Biking peaked at 2.3% in 2014 and has since fallen back to 0.4%.

Commute Start Times in Jefferson County

Sleeping InThe 2nd-highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among Iowa's 99 counties: 32.4% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.
Night OwlThe 3rd-latest start among Iowa's 99 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:52 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Jefferson County?

The bars show when commuters in Jefferson 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		3.7%
5:00-5:29 AM		1.0%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.3%
6:30-6:59 AM		10.2%
7:00-7:29 AM		13.4%
7:30-7:59 AM		16.2%
8:00-8:29 AM		6.8%
8:30-8:59 AM		6.4%
9:00-9:59 AM		8.0%
10:00-10:59 AM		4.1%
11:00-11:59 AM		3.0%
12:00-3:59 PM		11.5%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.8%

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

The busiest time to head out in Jefferson County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are less common than in Iowa: 8.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Iowa: 46.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (32.4%) 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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	Jefferson County	Iowa	United States
2009	7:56 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:50 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:46 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:42 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:41 AM	7:34 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:43 AM	7:33 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:48 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:58 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:57 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:51 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:45 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:53 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:50 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:53 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:48 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:52 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Jefferson County were on the road by 7:52 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:56 AM). Iowa followed the same path, with the typical start moving 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Jefferson County now leave 14 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Jefferson County has moved 7 minutes later.

How does Jefferson County's commute time compare?

Metric	Jefferson County	Iowa	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	12.6 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	18.2%	11.3%	15.0%
Walked	4.4%	2.9%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.5%	0.7%	3.2%

The average commute time in Jefferson County is 12.6 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.

0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 4.4% commute by walking, higher than the 2.9% in Iowa.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Jefferson County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Jefferson County, IA is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 15,705 residents against a local median of 20,002. The measure that sets Jefferson County, IA apart most is work from home: 18.2%, 108% above the local median of 8.7%.

One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 12.6 min against a local median of 18.2 min, 30% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 30% below the local median it puts Jefferson County, IA at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 7.2% on work from home, so Jefferson County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Jefferson County, IA has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Jefferson County, IA	15,705	12.6 min #1/6	18.2% #1/6	7:52 AM #6/6
Van Buren County, IA	7,241	20.7 min	12.7%	7:13 AM
Keokuk County, IA	7,337	25.1 min	8.7%	7:06 AM
Washington County, IA	22,560	18.2 min	9.8%	7:25 AM
Henry County, IA	20,002	13.4 min	7.0%	7:25 AM
Wapello County, IA	35,362	13.9 min	5.5%	7:33 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Jefferson County, Iowa.

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

Commuters here spend an estimated 105 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,265 at a typical national wage. That's 26% less than the typical Iowa commuter spends.

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

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Jefferson 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 much time do residents in Jefferson County, Iowa save by working from home?

About 18.2% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Jefferson County would save about 42 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,306 at the same national wage assumption used above.

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).