Crystal Lake Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Crystal Lake, Illinois: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 3:57 PM

Is the commute in Crystal Lake longer than the national average?

Map AI 9/24/26, 3:57 PM

Commute Time Burden in Crystal Lake: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Crystal Lake spend about 46 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 193 hours, about 8.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% less time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 0.5 minutes.

Crystal Lake holds about 0.3% of Illinois's population and accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Crystal Lake would save about 77 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,390 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)
Crystal Lake	23.1 min	46.3 min	193 hrs/yr	$5,976	4,433
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.

Crystal Lake Commute Map

On average, it takes 23.1 minutes to get to work in Crystal Lake. That's 3% longer 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 16.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Crystal Lake

Public transit is unusually rare in Crystal Lake: 4.7 times less than the Illinois average (1.2% vs 5.8%).

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Crystal Lake: 4.0 times less than the Illinois average (0.1% vs 0.3%).

Biking is unusually rare in Crystal Lake: 5.6 times less than the Illinois average (0.1% vs 0.5%).

Commute Mode Trends in Crystal Lake, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Crystal Lake 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	Motorcycle	Taxi	Bicycle
2009	87.5%	6.4%	3.2%	1.7%	0.8%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2010	87.4%	6.8%	3.2%	1.5%	0.6%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2011	87.9%	6.2%	3.3%	1.7%	0.5%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2012	87.7%	6.5%	3.6%	1.3%	0.5%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%
2013	88.6%	6.3%	3.1%	1.3%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2014	89.4%	5.6%	3.2%	1.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2015	89.5%	5.5%	3.5%	0.8%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%
2016	89.6%	5.6%	3.5%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2017	89.8%	5.2%	3.5%	0.5%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2018	89.0%	5.3%	3.9%	0.7%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.4%
2019	88.3%	5.7%	4.0%	0.6%	0.8%	0.1%	0.0%	0.4%
2020	87.0%	7.3%	3.4%	0.8%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2021	85.2%	9.7%	2.7%	0.8%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.4%
2022	82.2%	13.2%	2.5%	0.9%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%	0.4%
2023	81.3%	14.7%	1.8%	1.1%	0.6%	0.3%	0.0%	0.2%
2024	80.8%	16.0%	1.2%	1.2%	0.4%	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 2017 at 89.8%. Overall it fell from 87.5% in 2009 to 80.8% in 2024, down 6.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 7 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Crystal Lake: its share of workers rose from 6.4% in 2009 to 16.0% in 2024, up 9.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 10.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 3.2% to 1.2% of workers (down 2.0 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Crystal Lake

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Crystal Lake?

The bars show when commuters in Crystal Lake 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		5.6%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.1%
5:30-5:59 AM		6.5%
6:00-6:29 AM		10.0%
6:30-6:59 AM		11.6%
7:00-7:29 AM		11.8%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.8%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.4%
8:30-8:59 AM		6.1%
9:00-9:59 AM		6.5%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.5%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.6%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.7%

Crystal Lake Illinois Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Crystal Lake is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 12.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.6% across Illinois. Early starts are more common than in Illinois: 16.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush looks much like Illinois's: 45.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (22.1%) 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 Crystal Lake, 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 Crystal Lake 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 Crystal Lake 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	Crystal Lake	Illinois	United States
2009	7:33 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:32 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:29 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:27 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:28 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:28 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:29 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:28 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:28 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:28 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:27 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:33 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:30 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:28 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:34 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:31 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Crystal Lake were on the road by 7:31 AM, 2 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:33 AM). That goes against the trend across Illinois, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Crystal Lake now leave 7 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 Crystal Lake has moved 5 minutes later.

How does Crystal Lake's commute time compare?

Metric	Crystal Lake	Illinois	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	23.1 min	23.6 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 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	16.0%	15.9%	15.0%
Walked	1.2%	2.8%	2.4%
Public Transit	1.2%	5.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in Crystal Lake is 23.1 minutes, shorter than the 23.6 minutes in Illinois.

1.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 5.8% in Illinois. 1.2% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Illinois.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Crystal Lake, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Crystal Lake, IL compares with the 2 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Crystal Lake, IL	37,884	23.1 min #1/3	16.0% #3/3	7:31 AM #3/3
Lake in the Hills, IL	25,084	30.4 min	17.5%	7:27 AM
Algonquin, IL	28,443	30.2 min	21.9%	7:17 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Crystal Lake, Illinois?

Commuters here spend an estimated 193 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,976 at a typical national wage. That's 2% less than the typical Illinois commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Crystal Lake, Illinois?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Crystal Lake, 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.

How common is public transit use in Crystal Lake, Illinois?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 1.2% of commuters use it versus 5.8% in Illinois, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.