Commuting in O'Brien County, Iowa: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 12:50 PM
How much time do drivers in O'Brien County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 12:50 PM
Commute Time Burden in O'Brien County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in O'Brien County spend about 27 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 113 hours, about 4.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 20% less time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 3.4 minutes.
O'Brien County holds about 0.4% of Iowa's population and accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in O'Brien County would save about 45 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,397 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)
O'Brien County
13.5 min
27.0 min
113 hrs/yr
$3,493
319
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.
On average, it takes
13.5
minutes to get to work in
O'Brien County.
That's 40% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 77% of counties in Iowa
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 7.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in O'Brien County
Car:
89.1%
Worked at Home:
7.1%
Walked:
2.6%
Other:
0.6%
Public Transportation:
0.3%
Bicycle:
0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in O'Brien County, versus 0.2% in Iowa.
Commute Mode Trends in O'Brien County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in O'Brien 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
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
84.0%
7.6%
5.7%
1.7%
0.1%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2010
85.7%
5.7%
5.3%
2.1%
0.1%
1.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2011
84.2%
6.6%
5.8%
2.1%
0.0%
1.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2012
84.3%
6.8%
5.5%
1.9%
0.0%
1.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2013
85.3%
6.5%
5.1%
1.1%
1.5%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2014
86.2%
5.8%
5.0%
0.9%
1.6%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2015
85.0%
5.9%
5.2%
0.8%
2.4%
0.7%
0.0%
0.1%
2016
84.3%
6.2%
5.1%
0.5%
2.6%
1.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2017
84.2%
6.0%
4.4%
0.6%
3.5%
1.1%
0.0%
0.3%
2018
85.5%
5.3%
4.5%
0.6%
2.8%
1.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2019
86.4%
5.0%
3.9%
0.5%
2.8%
1.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2020
89.7%
5.0%
2.9%
0.2%
1.7%
0.4%
0.0%
0.2%
2021
91.9%
4.1%
2.1%
0.3%
1.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2022
92.1%
5.2%
1.8%
0.7%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
90.8%
6.2%
2.0%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
89.1%
7.1%
2.6%
0.6%
0.3%
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 peaked in 2022 at 92.1%. Overall it rose from 84.0% in 2009 to 89.1% in 2024, up 5.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.7% to 2.6% of workers (down 3.1 percentage points).
Public transit peaked at 3.5% in 2017 and has since fallen back to 0.3%.
Commute Start Times in O'Brien County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in O'Brien County?
The bars show when commuters in O'Brien 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
12:00-4:59 AMO'Brien County2.9%Iowa5.2%
2.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMO'Brien County7.7%Iowa4.1%
7.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMO'Brien County9.0%Iowa5.7%
9.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMO'Brien County7.8%Iowa8.2%
7.8%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMO'Brien County11.0%Iowa11.2%
11.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMO'Brien County19.6%Iowa15.1%
19.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMO'Brien County16.6%Iowa15.6%
16.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMO'Brien County8.2%Iowa9.1%
8.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMO'Brien County1.7%Iowa3.6%
1.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMO'Brien County2.5%Iowa4.4%
2.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMO'Brien County1.0%Iowa2.3%
1.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMO'Brien County0.2%Iowa1.1%
0.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMO'Brien County6.2%Iowa7.5%
6.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMO'Brien County5.6%Iowa6.8%
5.6%
O'Brien CountyIowaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in O'Brien County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 19.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.1% across Iowa. Early starts are more common than in Iowa: 19.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Iowa: 55.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (15.5%) 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 O'Brien 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 O'Brien 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 O'Brien 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
O'Brien County
Iowa
United States
2009
7:36 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
7:29 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:27 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:31 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:31 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:27 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:24 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:23 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:24 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:21 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:19 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:17 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:16 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:18 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in O'Brien County were on the road by 7:18 AM, 18 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 O'Brien County now leave 20 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 O'Brien County has moved 6 minutes earlier.
How does O'Brien County's commute time compare?
Metric
O'Brien County
Iowa
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
13.5 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
7.1%
11.3%
15.0%
Walked
2.6%
2.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.3%
0.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in O'Brien County is 13.5 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.
0.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 2.6% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.
O'Brien County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
O'Brien County, IA is typical in size for this group, 14,126 residents against a local median of 16,461, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. O'Brien County, IA's work from home, at 7.1%, runs 17% below the 8.6% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 6.9% on work from home, so O'Brien County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. O'Brien County, IA has the 4th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in O'Brien County, Iowa.
What is the financial impact of commuting in O'Brien County, Iowa?
Commuters here spend an estimated 113 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,493 at a typical national wage. That's 20% less than the typical Iowa commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in O'Brien County, Iowa?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in O'Brien 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 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).