Commuting in Carroll County, Illinois: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 5:10 PM
Is the commute in Carroll County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 5:10 PM
Commute Time Burden in Carroll County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Carroll County spend about 43 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 177 hours, about 7.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 10% less time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 2.4 minutes.
Carroll County holds about 0.1% of Illinois's population and accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Carroll County would save about 71 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,198 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)
Carroll County
21.3 min
42.5 min
177 hrs/yr
$5,496
493
Illinois
23.6 min
47.3 min
197 hrs/yr
$6,104
1,547
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
21.3
minutes to get to work in
Carroll County.
That's 5% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 6.8% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Carroll County
Car:
88.7%unusually high
Worked at Home:
6.8%
Walked:
2.7%
Public Transportation:
0.9%unusually low
Other:
0.4%
Bicycle:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Driving is 20% more common in Carroll County than the Illinois average (88.7% vs 73.7%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Carroll County: 6.5 times less than the Illinois average (0.9% vs 5.8%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Carroll County, versus 0.3% in Illinois.
Commute Mode Trends in Carroll County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Carroll 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
Public Transportation
Other
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
89.2%
6.0%
3.2%
0.6%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2010
89.3%
6.1%
2.8%
0.8%
0.6%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2011
89.5%
6.5%
2.4%
0.7%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2012
90.1%
5.8%
2.9%
0.4%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2013
89.6%
6.4%
3.0%
0.3%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2014
89.7%
6.1%
2.6%
0.9%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2015
90.6%
5.3%
2.7%
0.8%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2016
91.1%
4.4%
3.0%
0.7%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2017
90.6%
5.2%
2.6%
0.9%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
91.1%
4.7%
2.4%
1.0%
0.8%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
91.2%
4.7%
3.0%
0.2%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
90.8%
5.4%
2.7%
0.3%
0.8%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
91.0%
5.6%
2.0%
0.5%
0.8%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
90.1%
5.2%
3.4%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
88.5%
6.3%
3.6%
0.9%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
88.7%
6.8%
2.7%
0.9%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2019 at 91.2% and lowest in 2023 at 88.5%. Overall it fell from 89.2% in 2009 to 88.7% in 2024, down 0.5 percentage points.
Working from home gained the most ground in Carroll County: its share of workers rose from 6.0% in 2009 to 6.8% in 2024, up 0.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 2.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.2% to 2.7% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Carroll County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Carroll County?
The bars show when commuters in Carroll 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 Illinois for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMCarroll County7.1%Illinois5.6%
7.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMCarroll County5.1%Illinois4.3%
5.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMCarroll County9.8%Illinois4.9%
9.8%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMCarroll County11.2%Illinois9.0%
11.2%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMCarroll County14.4%Illinois9.4%
14.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMCarroll County14.0%Illinois14.3%
14.0%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMCarroll County9.3%Illinois11.6%
9.3%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMCarroll County5.1%Illinois11.2%
5.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMCarroll County4.3%Illinois5.2%
4.3%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMCarroll County2.9%Illinois6.1%
2.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMCarroll County2.1%Illinois2.9%
2.1%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMCarroll County0.7%Illinois1.5%
0.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMCarroll County6.4%Illinois7.7%
6.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMCarroll County7.6%Illinois6.3%
7.6%
Carroll CountyIllinoisSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Carroll County is 6:30-6:59 AM, when 14.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 9.4% across Illinois. Early starts are more common than in Illinois: 21.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Illinois: 42.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.8%) 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 Carroll 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 Carroll 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 Carroll County next to Illinois 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
Carroll County
Illinois
United States
2009
7:09 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:11 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:18 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:16 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:18 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:17 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:15 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:15 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:18 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:17 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:17 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:11 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:15 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:10 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:07 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:05 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Carroll County were on the road by 7:05 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:09 AM). That goes against the trend across Illinois, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Carroll County now leave 33 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 Carroll County has moved 12 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Carroll County in the whole series.
How does Carroll County's commute time compare?
Metric
Carroll County
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.3 min
23.6 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
6.8%
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
2.7%
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.9%
5.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Carroll County is 21.3 minutes, shorter than the 23.6 minutes in Illinois.
0.9% commute by public transit, lower than the 5.8% in Illinois. 2.7% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Illinois.
Carroll County, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Carroll County, IL is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 15,576 residents against a local median of 46,268. Carroll County, IL's one-way commute, at 21.3 min, runs 24% above the 17.2 min typical of the counties around it. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 6.8% against a local median of 8.0%, 15% below it. The counties themselves spread 6.5 min on one-way commute, so Carroll County, IL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Carroll County, IL has the 5th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Carroll County, Illinois.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Carroll County, Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 177 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,496 at a typical national wage. That's 10% less than the typical Illinois commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Carroll County, Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM in Carroll County, Illinois. 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.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Carroll County, Illinois?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.9% of commuters use it versus 5.8% in Illinois, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
How do commute times compare across counties in Illinois?
Among counties in Illinois, the shortest average commutes are in Edgar County (12.0 min), Brown County (12.7 min), Morgan County (13.1 min). The longest are in Calhoun County (43.8 min), Pulaski County (31.2 min), Pope County (31.0 min).