Commuting in DeKalb 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, 8:03 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in DeKalb County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:03 PM
Commute Time Burden in DeKalb County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in DeKalb County spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 175 hours, about 7.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 11% less time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 2.6 minutes.
DeKalb County holds about 0.8% of Illinois's population but accounts for roughly 0.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in DeKalb County would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,168 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)
DeKalb County
21.0 min
42.0 min
175 hrs/yr
$5,421
1,116
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
21.0
minutes to get to work in
DeKalb County.
That's 6% 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 9.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in DeKalb County
Car:
84.4%
Worked at Home:
9.3%
Walked:
4.2%
Other:
0.8%
Public Transportation:
0.8%unusually low
Bicycle:
0.5%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Public transit is unusually rare in DeKalb County: 7.8 times less than the Illinois average (0.8% vs 5.8%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in DeKalb County: 3.5 times less than the Illinois average (0.1% vs 0.3%).
Commute Mode Trends in DeKalb County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in DeKalb 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
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
87.6%
3.8%
5.7%
1.8%
0.1%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
2010
87.7%
3.9%
5.0%
2.2%
0.2%
0.8%
0.1%
0.1%
2011
87.9%
4.1%
4.6%
2.1%
0.3%
0.9%
0.1%
0.2%
2012
87.8%
4.1%
4.5%
2.2%
0.4%
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
2013
87.4%
3.6%
4.7%
2.5%
0.4%
1.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2014
88.6%
3.5%
4.1%
2.3%
0.5%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2015
89.1%
3.3%
4.0%
2.0%
0.5%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2016
88.8%
3.6%
3.8%
1.9%
0.7%
1.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2017
88.0%
4.0%
4.2%
2.0%
0.8%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
88.7%
4.4%
3.7%
1.8%
0.7%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
88.9%
4.5%
3.7%
1.3%
0.8%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
87.8%
5.3%
3.8%
1.2%
0.9%
0.8%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
87.4%
6.1%
3.6%
1.1%
1.1%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
87.8%
6.2%
3.5%
0.8%
1.0%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
86.4%
7.6%
3.5%
0.9%
0.9%
0.6%
0.0%
0.1%
2024
84.4%
9.3%
4.2%
0.8%
0.8%
0.5%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2015 at 89.1%. Overall it fell from 87.6% in 2009 to 84.4% in 2024, down 3.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in DeKalb County: its share of workers rose from 3.8% in 2009 to 9.3% in 2024, up 5.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.7% to 4.2% of workers (down 1.5 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2018 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in DeKalb County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in DeKalb County?
The bars show when commuters in DeKalb 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 AMDeKalb County5.2%Illinois5.6%
5.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMDeKalb County3.8%Illinois4.3%
3.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMDeKalb County5.1%Illinois4.9%
5.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMDeKalb County8.6%Illinois9.0%
8.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMDeKalb County9.6%Illinois9.4%
9.6%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMDeKalb County12.4%Illinois14.3%
12.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMDeKalb County12.8%Illinois11.6%
12.8%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMDeKalb County9.2%Illinois11.2%
9.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMDeKalb County5.3%Illinois5.2%
5.3%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMDeKalb County4.7%Illinois6.1%
4.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMDeKalb County3.4%Illinois2.9%
3.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMDeKalb County2.7%Illinois1.5%
2.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMDeKalb County8.9%Illinois7.7%
8.9%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMDeKalb County8.3%Illinois6.3%
8.3%
DeKalb CountyIllinoisSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in DeKalb County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 12.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.6% across Illinois. Early starts are about as common as in Illinois: 14.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Illinois: 44.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (28.0%) 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 DeKalb 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 DeKalb 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 DeKalb 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
DeKalb County
Illinois
United States
2009
7:40 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:37 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:39 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:41 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:40 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:39 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:36 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:35 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:39 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:41 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:41 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:43 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:42 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in DeKalb County were on the road by 7:42 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:40 AM). Illinois followed the same path, with the typical start moving 1 minute later. Commuters in DeKalb County now leave 4 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in DeKalb County has moved 6 minutes later.
How does DeKalb County's commute time compare?
Metric
DeKalb County
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.0 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
9.3%
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
4.2%
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.8%
5.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in DeKalb County is 21.0 minutes, shorter than the 23.6 minutes in Illinois.
0.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 5.8% in Illinois. 4.2% commute by walking, higher than the 2.8% in Illinois.
DeKalb County, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
DeKalb County, IL is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 100,702 residents against a local median of 137,674. DeKalb County, IL's work from home, at 9.3%, runs 37% below the 14.7% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 10.6% on work from home, so DeKalb County, IL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. DeKalb County, IL has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in DeKalb County, Illinois.
What is the financial impact of commuting in DeKalb County, Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 175 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,421 at a typical national wage. That's 11% less than the typical Illinois commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in DeKalb County, Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in DeKalb 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.
How common is public transit use in DeKalb County, Illinois?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.8% of commuters use it versus 5.8% in Illinois, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
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).