Commuting in DuPage 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, 8:28 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in DuPage County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:28 PM
Commute Time Burden in DuPage County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in DuPage County 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 about the same time on the road as the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way.
DuPage County holds about 7.3% of Illinois's population and accounts for roughly 7.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in DuPage County would save about 79 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,440 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)
DuPage County
23.6 min
47.2 min
197 hrs/yr
$6,100
3,995
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
23.6
minutes to get to work in
DuPage County.
That's 5% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 79% of counties in Illinois
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 21.5% work from home.
How People Get to Work in DuPage County
Car:
71.7%
Worked at Home:
21.5%
Public Transportation:
4.0%
Walked:
1.5%
Other:
0.9%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in DuPage County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in DuPage 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
Public Transportation
Walked
Other
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
86.1%
4.5%
6.3%
1.8%
0.7%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2010
86.0%
4.6%
6.5%
1.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2011
85.7%
4.6%
6.6%
1.9%
0.6%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2012
85.8%
4.7%
6.4%
1.8%
0.6%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2013
86.1%
4.7%
6.3%
1.8%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2014
85.9%
4.9%
6.3%
1.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2015
85.6%
5.2%
6.4%
1.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2016
85.0%
5.7%
6.5%
1.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2017
84.5%
6.0%
6.8%
1.6%
0.5%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2018
83.8%
6.4%
7.1%
1.6%
0.5%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2019
83.1%
6.9%
7.3%
1.6%
0.6%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2020
80.1%
10.3%
6.9%
1.6%
0.7%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2021
77.4%
14.0%
5.9%
1.5%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2022
75.4%
16.8%
5.1%
1.4%
0.8%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
73.2%
19.4%
4.5%
1.4%
0.9%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
71.7%
21.5%
4.0%
1.5%
0.9%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 86.1% in 2009 to 71.7% in 2024, down 14.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 11 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in DuPage County: its share of workers rose from 4.5% in 2009 to 21.5% in 2024, up 17.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 6.3% to 4.0% of workers (down 2.3 percentage points).
Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in DuPage County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in DuPage County?
The bars show when commuters in DuPage 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 AMDuPage County4.1%Illinois5.6%
4.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMDuPage County3.3%Illinois4.3%
3.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMDuPage County4.5%Illinois4.9%
4.5%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMDuPage County8.3%Illinois9.0%
8.3%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMDuPage County9.4%Illinois9.4%
9.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMDuPage County14.6%Illinois14.3%
14.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMDuPage County12.5%Illinois11.6%
12.5%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMDuPage County12.9%Illinois11.2%
12.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMDuPage County5.5%Illinois5.2%
5.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMDuPage County7.1%Illinois6.1%
7.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMDuPage County3.0%Illinois2.9%
3.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMDuPage County1.7%Illinois1.5%
1.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMDuPage County7.6%Illinois7.7%
7.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMDuPage County5.4%Illinois6.3%
5.4%
DuPage CountyIllinoisSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in DuPage County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.3% across Illinois. Early starts are less common than in Illinois: 11.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Illinois: 49.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.8%) 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 DuPage 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 DuPage 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 DuPage 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
DuPage County
Illinois
United States
2009
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:38 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:38 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:39 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:38 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:39 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:40 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:42 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:44 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in DuPage County were on the road by 7:44 AM, 6 minutes later than in 2009 (7:38 AM). The shift is sharper than across Illinois, where the typical start moved 1 minute later. Commuters in DuPage County now leave 6 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 DuPage County has moved 7 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for DuPage County in the whole series.
How does DuPage County's commute time compare?
Metric
DuPage County
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.6 min
23.6 min
22.4 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
21.5%
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
1.5%
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
4.0%
5.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in DuPage County is about the same as in Illinois.
4.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 5.8% in Illinois. 1.5% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Illinois.
DuPage County, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
DuPage County, IL is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 929,812 residents against a local median of 517,214. The measure that sets DuPage County, IL apart most is work from home: 21.5%, 35% above the local median of 15.9%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 23.6 min against a local median of 28.2 min, 16% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 16% below the local median it puts DuPage County, IL at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 4.2% on work from home, so DuPage County, IL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. DuPage County, IL has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in DuPage County, Illinois.
Is commuting expensive in DuPage County, Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 197 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,100 at a typical national wage.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in DuPage County, Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in DuPage County, 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.
How much money can remote workers save in DuPage County, Illinois?
About 21.5% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in DuPage County would save about 79 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,440 at the same national wage assumption used above.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).