Commuting in Illinois: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Is the commute in Illinois longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Commute Time Burden in Illinois: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Illinois spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 197 hours, about 8.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 5% more time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 1.2 minutes.
Illinois holds about 3.8% of US's population but accounts for roughly 4.0% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Illinois would save about 79 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,442 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)
Illinois
23.6 min
47.3 min
197 hrs/yr
$6,104
1,547
US
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
23.6
minutes to get to work in
Illinois.
That's 5% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 86% of states in US
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 15.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Illinois
Car:
73.7%
Worked at Home:
15.9%
Public Transportation:
5.8%
Walked:
2.8%
Other:
1.0%
Bicycle:
0.5%
Taxi:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Illinois, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Illinois 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
Public Transportation
Walked
Other
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
82.7%
3.8%
8.8%
3.1%
0.7%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2010
82.7%
3.9%
8.7%
3.1%
0.7%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2011
82.5%
4.0%
8.8%
3.1%
0.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
82.5%
4.1%
8.7%
3.1%
0.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2013
82.4%
4.1%
8.7%
3.2%
0.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2014
82.1%
4.2%
8.9%
3.1%
0.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2015
81.9%
4.2%
9.1%
3.1%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2016
81.7%
4.4%
9.2%
3.1%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2017
81.3%
4.5%
9.4%
3.0%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2018
81.0%
4.7%
9.4%
3.0%
0.8%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2019
80.8%
4.9%
9.5%
3.0%
0.8%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2020
79.3%
7.2%
8.8%
2.8%
0.8%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2021
77.6%
9.9%
7.9%
2.8%
0.9%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2022
76.3%
12.1%
7.0%
2.7%
0.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
2023
75.0%
14.0%
6.4%
2.7%
0.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
2024
73.7%
15.9%
5.8%
2.8%
1.0%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 82.7% in 2009 to 73.7% in 2024, down 9.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 12 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Illinois: its share of workers rose from 3.8% in 2009 to 15.9% in 2024, up 12.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 8.8% to 5.8% of workers (down 3.0 percentage points).
Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Illinois
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Illinois?
The bars show when commuters in Illinois 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 the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMIllinois5.6%The U.S.5.5%
5.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMIllinois4.3%The U.S.4.0%
4.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMIllinois4.9%The U.S.4.9%
4.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMIllinois9.0%The U.S.8.7%
9.0%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMIllinois9.4%The U.S.9.4%
9.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMIllinois14.3%The U.S.14.4%
14.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMIllinois11.6%The U.S.11.9%
11.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMIllinois11.2%The U.S.11.5%
11.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMIllinois5.2%The U.S.5.5%
5.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMIllinois6.1%The U.S.6.8%
6.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMIllinois2.9%The U.S.3.1%
2.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMIllinois1.5%The U.S.1.5%
1.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMIllinois7.7%The U.S.6.8%
7.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMIllinois6.3%The U.S.6.1%
6.3%
IllinoisThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Illinois is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.4% across the U.S.. Early starts are about as common as in the U.S.: 14.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush looks much like the U.S.'s: 46.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.5%) 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 Illinois, 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 Illinois 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 Illinois next to 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
Illinois
United States
2009
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Illinois were on the road by 7:36 AM, 1 minute later than in 2009 (7:35 AM). Commuters in Illinois now leave 1 minute 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 Illinois has moved 2 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Illinois in the whole series.
How does Illinois's commute time compare?
Metric
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.6 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
5.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Illinois is 23.6 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in US.
5.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.2% in US. 2.8% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in US.
Illinois is the largest of the 6 states compared here, 12,692,444 residents against a local median of 5,910,864. Where Illinois breaks from the states next to it is work from home, sitting 40% above the local median of 11.3% at 15.9%.
The states themselves spread 2.9% on work from home, so Illinois sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Illinois has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 197 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,104 at a typical national wage. That's 5% more than the typical US commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Illinois. 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.
Which counties in Illinois have the fastest and slowest commutes?
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).