Commuting in Scott 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, 8:25 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Scott County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:25 PM
Commute Time Burden in Scott County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Scott County spend about 36 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 150 hours, about 6.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% more time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 1.0 minutes.
Scott County holds about 5.4% of Iowa's population but accounts for roughly 5.8% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Scott County would save about 60 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,858 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)
Scott County
18.0 min
36.0 min
150 hrs/yr
$4,645
1,217
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
18.0
minutes to get to work in
Scott County.
That's 20% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 10.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Scott County
Car:
85.4%
Worked at Home:
10.9%
Walked:
2.1%
Other:
0.6%
Public Transportation:
0.5%
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Bicycle:
0.1%unusually low
Biking is unusually rare in Scott County: 3.3 times less than the Iowa average (0.1% vs 0.3%).
Commute Mode Trends in Scott County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Scott 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
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
93.4%
3.1%
2.2%
0.3%
0.6%
0.0%
0.1%
0.3%
2010
93.4%
3.1%
2.2%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2011
93.5%
3.2%
1.9%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2012
93.4%
3.2%
1.9%
0.5%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2013
93.3%
3.2%
1.8%
0.5%
0.6%
0.0%
0.2%
0.2%
2014
93.0%
3.6%
1.7%
0.5%
0.7%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2015
92.8%
3.7%
1.6%
0.5%
0.8%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2016
92.4%
4.0%
1.7%
0.5%
0.8%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2017
92.2%
4.4%
1.7%
0.4%
0.8%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2018
92.4%
4.4%
1.6%
0.4%
0.7%
0.0%
0.1%
0.3%
2019
92.4%
4.4%
1.7%
0.5%
0.7%
0.0%
0.1%
0.3%
2020
91.6%
5.4%
1.6%
0.5%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2021
90.2%
7.0%
1.5%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2022
88.5%
8.2%
1.6%
0.7%
0.7%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2023
86.6%
9.9%
1.7%
0.6%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
85.4%
10.9%
2.1%
0.6%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2011 at 93.5%. Overall it fell from 93.4% in 2009 to 85.4% in 2024, down 8.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Scott County: its share of workers rose from 3.1% in 2009 to 10.9% in 2024, up 7.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Scott County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Scott County?
The bars show when commuters in Scott 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 AMScott County4.7%Iowa5.2%
4.7%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMScott County3.7%Iowa4.1%
3.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMScott County5.2%Iowa5.7%
5.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMScott County7.9%Iowa8.2%
7.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMScott County11.2%Iowa11.2%
11.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMScott County14.5%Iowa15.1%
14.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMScott County15.2%Iowa15.6%
15.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMScott County9.7%Iowa9.1%
9.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMScott County4.1%Iowa3.6%
4.1%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMScott County5.2%Iowa4.4%
5.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMScott County2.4%Iowa2.3%
2.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMScott County1.6%Iowa1.1%
1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMScott County7.2%Iowa7.5%
7.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMScott County7.4%Iowa6.8%
7.4%
Scott CountyIowaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Scott County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are less common than in Iowa: 13.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Iowa's: 50.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.8%) 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 Scott 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 Scott 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 Scott 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
Scott County
Iowa
United States
2009
7:42 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:44 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:48 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:50 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:48 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:43 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:40 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:36 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:33 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:33 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:34 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:32 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:34 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:36 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:37 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:36 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Scott County were on the road by 7:36 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:42 AM). The shift is sharper than across Iowa, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Scott County now leave 2 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 Scott County has moved 2 minutes later.
How does Scott County's commute time compare?
Metric
Scott County
Iowa
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.0 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
10.9%
11.3%
15.0%
Walked
2.1%
2.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
0.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in Scott County is 18.0 minutes, longer than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 2.1% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.
Scott County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Scott County, IA is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 174,608 residents against a local median of 42,559. Scott County, IA's work from home, at 10.9%, runs 27% above the 8.6% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 5.7% on work from home, so Scott County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Scott County, IA has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Scott County, Iowa.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Scott County, Iowa?
Commuters here spend an estimated 150 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,645 at a typical national wage. That's 6% more than the typical Iowa commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Scott County, Iowa?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Scott 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 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).