Commute Time Burden in Chicago: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Chicago spend about 64 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 265 hours, about 11.0 full days, spent commuting.
That is 33% more time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.8 minutes each way, a difference of 8.0 minutes.
Chicago holds about 20.7% of Illinois's population but accounts for roughly 27.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Chicago would save about 106 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,282 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)
Chicago
31.8 min
63.5 min
265 hrs/yr
$8,205
4,222
Illinois
23.8 min
47.6 min
198 hrs/yr
$6,148
1,547
United States
22.5 min
44.9 min
187 hrs/yr
$5,803
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.
Chicago Commute Map
On average, it takes
31.8
minutes to get to work in
Chicago.
That's 41% longer than the 22.5-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
,
followed by
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
.
Most people travel to work by
Car
, followed by
Public Transportation
.
About 18.1%
work from home.
Commute mode distribution
Car:
54.0%unusually low
Public Transportation:
19.0%
Worked at Home:
18.1%
Walked:
5.6%
Bicycle:
1.4%
Other:
1.2%
Taxi:
0.8%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Car commuting in Chicago is 28% lower than the Illinois average (54.0% vs 75.0%).
How does Chicago's commute time compare?
Metric
Chicago
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
31.8 min
23.8 min
22.5 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
18.1%
14.0%
13.4%
Walked
5.6%
2.7%
2.4%
Public Transit
19.0%
6.4%
3.5%
The average commute time in Chicago is 31.8 minutes, longer than the 23.8 minutes in Illinois.
19.0% commute by public transit, higher than the 6.4% in Illinois. 5.6% commute by walking, higher than the 2.7% in Illinois.
Common questions about commuting in Chicago, Illinois.
Is commuting expensive in Chicago, Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 265 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $8,205 at a typical national wage. That's 33% more than the typical Illinois commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Chicago, Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Chicago, Illinois. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.