Mason City Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Mason City, Iowa: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Mason City: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Mason City spend about 24 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 99 hours, about 4.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 30% less time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 5.1 minutes.
Mason City holds about 0.6% of Iowa's population but accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Mason City would save about 39 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,224 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason City | 11.8 min | 23.7 min | 99 hrs/yr | $3,059 | 1,367 |
| 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.
Mason City Commute Map
On average, it takes 11.8 minutes to get to work in Mason City. That's 47% 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 4.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Mason City
- Car: 89.1%
- Walked: 4.6%
- Worked at Home: 4.2%
- Public Transportation: 1.0%
- Other: 0.7%
- Bicycle: 0.4%
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
- Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Mason City, versus 0.1% in Iowa.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Mason City, versus 0.2% in Iowa.
Commute Mode Trends in Mason City, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Mason City 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Walked | Worked at Home | Public Transportation | Other | Bicycle | Taxi | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 91.2% | 2.7% | 3.4% | 1.2% | 0.3% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.4% |
| 2010 | 90.1% | 3.4% | 3.2% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 1.1% | 0.0% | 0.3% |
| 2011 | 90.1% | 4.2% | 2.5% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2012 | 90.1% | 3.9% | 2.6% | 1.7% | 0.4% | 1.1% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2013 | 91.2% | 3.4% | 2.6% | 1.5% | 0.7% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2014 | 90.3% | 5.0% | 1.9% | 1.6% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2015 | 90.0% | 5.1% | 2.4% | 1.5% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2016 | 89.6% | 4.6% | 2.8% | 1.3% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2017 | 90.6% | 4.8% | 2.3% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2018 | 89.8% | 5.2% | 2.6% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| 2019 | 90.3% | 3.4% | 3.5% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.4% |
| 2020 | 91.6% | 2.6% | 2.8% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| 2021 | 92.1% | 2.6% | 3.1% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2022 | 91.7% | 2.1% | 4.0% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| 2023 | 90.4% | 2.6% | 4.8% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2024 | 89.1% | 4.6% | 4.2% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.4% | 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 2021 at 92.1%. Overall it fell from 91.2% in 2009 to 89.1% in 2024, down 2.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.
Walking gained the most ground in Mason City: its share of workers rose from 2.7% in 2009 to 4.6% in 2024, up 1.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Mason City
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Mason City?
The bars show when commuters in Mason City 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
Mason City5.7%
Iowa5.2%
|
5.7% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Mason City4.8%
Iowa4.1%
|
4.8% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Mason City8.2%
Iowa5.7%
|
8.2% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Mason City8.0%
Iowa8.2%
|
8.0% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Mason City10.5%
Iowa11.2%
|
10.5% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Mason City10.5%
Iowa15.1%
|
10.5% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Mason City13.1%
Iowa15.6%
|
13.1% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Mason City7.4%
Iowa9.1%
|
7.4% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Mason City3.6%
Iowa3.6%
|
3.6% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Mason City7.3%
Iowa4.4%
|
7.3% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Mason City4.9%
Iowa2.3%
|
4.9% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Mason City0.3%
Iowa1.1%
|
0.3% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Mason City8.5%
Iowa7.5%
|
8.5% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Mason City7.2%
Iowa6.8%
|
7.2% |
Mason City Iowa Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Mason City is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 13.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are more common than in Iowa: 18.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Iowa: 41.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (28.2%) 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 Mason City, 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 Mason City 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 Mason City 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | Mason City | Iowa | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:41 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 7:46 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:41 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 7:40 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:40 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:38 AM | 7:33 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:36 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:33 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:28 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:26 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:23 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:21 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:27 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:26 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:28 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:35 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Mason City were on the road by 7:35 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:41 AM). The shift is sharper than across Iowa, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Mason City now leave 3 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 Mason City has moved 12 minutes later.
How does Mason City's commute time compare?
| Metric | Mason City | Iowa | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 11.8 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 | 4.2% | 11.3% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 4.6% | 2.9% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 1.0% | 0.7% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Mason City is 11.8 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.
1.0% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.7% in Iowa. 4.6% commute by walking, higher than the 2.9% in Iowa.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Mason City, Iowa.
Is commuting expensive in Mason City, Iowa?
Commuters here spend an estimated 99 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,059 at a typical national wage. That's 30% less than the typical Iowa commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Mason City, Iowa?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Mason City, 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.