Monona County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Monona 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, 8:31 PM

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

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:31 PM

Commute Time Burden in Monona County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Monona 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 140 hours, about 5.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% less time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.1 minutes.

Monona County holds about 0.3% of Iowa's population and accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Monona County would save about 56 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,738 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)
Monona County	16.8 min	33.6 min	140 hrs/yr	$4,346	195
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

Monona County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 16.8 minutes to get to work in Monona County. That's 25% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 7.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Monona County

Public transit is unusually rare in Monona County: 4.6 times less than the Iowa average (0.1% vs 0.7%).

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

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

Commute Mode Trends in Monona County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Monona 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	Motorcycle	Taxi	Bicycle
2009	88.0%	6.0%	4.5%	1.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
2010	88.5%	5.9%	3.3%	1.3%	0.3%	0.7%	0.1%	0.0%
2011	88.0%	6.7%	3.1%	1.2%	0.3%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2012	87.3%	6.2%	3.7%	1.8%	0.3%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2013	87.6%	6.1%	4.5%	0.8%	0.3%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2014	87.2%	5.9%	5.2%	1.1%	0.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
2015	88.2%	5.3%	5.4%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	89.0%	5.3%	4.8%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	90.2%	5.2%	4.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	89.0%	6.0%	4.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2019	89.2%	6.6%	2.9%	1.1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	86.3%	9.9%	2.3%	1.1%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	86.1%	9.4%	2.9%	1.1%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	85.9%	10.5%	2.3%	0.8%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	88.2%	9.0%	1.6%	0.7%	0.5%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	89.9%	7.7%	1.7%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%	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 2017 at 90.2% and lowest in 2022 at 85.9%. Overall it rose from 88.0% in 2009 to 89.9% in 2024, up 1.9 percentage points. It has risen in each of the last 2 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Monona County: its share of workers rose from 6.0% in 2009 to 7.7% in 2024, up 1.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 4.5% to 1.7% of workers (down 2.8 percentage points).

Working from home peaked at 10.5% in 2022 and has since fallen back to 7.7%.

Commute Start Times in Monona County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Monona County?

The bars show when commuters in Monona 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		3.9%
5:00-5:29 AM		7.3%
5:30-5:59 AM		7.5%
6:00-6:29 AM		12.1%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.3%
7:00-7:29 AM		19.3%
7:30-7:59 AM		18.5%
8:00-8:29 AM		7.7%
8:30-8:59 AM		1.7%
9:00-9:59 AM		2.8%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.0%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.1%
4:00-11:59 PM		3.7%

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

The busiest time to head out in Monona County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 19.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.1% across Iowa. Early starts are more common than in Iowa: 18.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Iowa's: 52.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 7 commuters (14.8%) 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 Monona 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 Monona 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 Monona 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	Monona County	Iowa	United States
2009	7:29 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:31 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:30 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:31 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:33 AM	7:34 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:28 AM	7:33 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:29 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:27 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:29 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:25 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:25 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:22 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:21 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:20 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:21 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:19 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Monona County were on the road by 7:19 AM, 10 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:29 AM). The shift is sharper than across Iowa, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Monona County now leave 19 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 Monona County has moved 7 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Monona County in the whole series.

How does Monona County's commute time compare?

Metric	Monona County	Iowa	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	16.8 min	17.0 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	7.7%	11.3%	15.0%
Walked	1.7%	2.9%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.1%	0.7%	3.2%

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

0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 1.7% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Monona County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Monona County, IA is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 8,557 residents against a local median of 14,632. Monona County, IA's work from home, at 7.7%, runs 20% below the 9.6% typical of the counties around it.

The counties themselves spread 6.4% on work from home, so Monona County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Monona County, IA has the 4th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Monona County, IA	8,557	16.8 min #4/6	7.7% #4/6	7:19 AM #5/6
Woodbury County, IA	106,250	16.4 min	5.6%	7:35 AM
Harrison County, IA	14,632	26.4 min	9.6%	7:12 AM
Burt County, NE	6,740	18.1 min	12.0%	7:18 AM
Ida County, IA	6,911	11.8 min	9.7%	7:14 AM
Crawford County, IA	16,277	12.6 min	6.4%	7:08 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Monona County, Iowa.

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

Commuters here spend an estimated 140 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,346 at a typical national wage. That's 1% less than the typical Iowa commuter spends.

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

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Monona County, Iowa. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

How common is public transit use in Monona 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.

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).