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Elmhurst Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

Updated

You 11/2/26, 2:25 PM
How much time do drivers in Elmhurst spend on the road daily?
Map AI 11/2/26, 2:25 PM

Commute Time Burden in Elmhurst: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Elmhurst spend about 52 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 215 hours, about 9.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 9% more time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 2.2 minutes.

Elmhurst holds about 0.3% of Illinois's population but accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Elmhurst would save about 86 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,664 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)
Elmhurst 25.8 min 51.6 min 215 hrs/yr $6,660 4,219
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.

Elmhurst Commute Map

On average, it takes 25.8 minutes to get to work in Elmhurst. That's 15% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 26.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Elmhurst

  • Car: 62.3%
  • Worked at Home: 26.0%
  • Public Transportation: 8.5%
  • Walked: 2.2%
  • Other: 0.9%
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1%

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Elmhurst: 5.0 times less than the Illinois average (0.1% vs 0.3%).

Biking is unusually rare in Elmhurst: 8.6 times less than the Illinois average (0.1% vs 0.5%).

Commute Mode Trends in Elmhurst, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Elmhurst 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 83.3% 4.8% 8.0% 3.0% 0.5% 0.0% 0.3% 0.0%
2010 82.3% 5.7% 8.4% 2.9% 0.5% 0.0% 0.2% 0.0%
2011 81.9% 5.8% 9.5% 2.1% 0.6% 0.0% 0.2% 0.0%
2012 81.9% 5.6% 9.2% 2.2% 0.7% 0.1% 0.2% 0.0%
2013 82.9% 4.5% 9.2% 2.3% 0.5% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0%
2014 82.2% 4.6% 9.5% 2.5% 0.4% 0.1% 0.5% 0.1%
2015 81.2% 4.5% 10.5% 2.6% 0.4% 0.2% 0.5% 0.1%
2016 81.0% 5.3% 9.7% 2.8% 0.4% 0.2% 0.4% 0.1%
2017 78.3% 6.3% 11.4% 2.9% 0.3% 0.2% 0.5% 0.1%
2018 75.9% 7.4% 12.4% 3.6% 0.2% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1%
2019 74.9% 8.2% 12.7% 3.5% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.0%
2020 72.8% 11.6% 11.3% 3.5% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.0%
2021 70.1% 16.2% 9.9% 3.2% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% 0.0%
2022 67.6% 20.7% 8.2% 2.7% 0.7% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0%
2023 65.6% 22.8% 8.2% 2.3% 0.9% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0%
2024 62.3% 26.0% 8.5% 2.2% 0.9% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 83.3% in 2009 to 62.3% in 2024, down 21.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 11 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Elmhurst: its share of workers rose from 4.8% in 2009 to 26.0% in 2024, up 21.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 17.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.0% to 2.2% of workers (down 0.8 percentage points).

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Public transit peaked at 12.7% in 2019 and has since fallen back to 8.5%.

Commute Start Times in Elmhurst

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Elmhurst?

The bars show when commuters in Elmhurst 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
2.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
2.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
2.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
7.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
8.3%
7:00-7:29 AM
17.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
15.4%
8:00-8:29 AM
17.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
7.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
1.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
4.9%
4:00-11:59 PM
4.4%

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

The busiest time to head out in Elmhurst is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 17.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.2% across Illinois. Early starts are less common than in Illinois: 6.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Illinois: 58.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.7%) 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 Elmhurst, 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 Elmhurst 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 Elmhurst 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 Elmhurst Illinois United States
2009 7:47 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:43 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:42 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:42 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:43 AM 7:36 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:42 AM 7:36 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:41 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:42 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:41 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:40 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:41 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:43 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:46 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:49 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:50 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:50 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Elmhurst were on the road by 7:50 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:47 AM). The shift is sharper than across Illinois, where the typical start moved 1 minute later. Commuters in Elmhurst now leave 12 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 Elmhurst has moved 10 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Elmhurst in the whole series.

How does Elmhurst's commute time compare?

Metric Elmhurst Illinois US Average
Avg. Commute Time 25.8 min 23.6 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 08:00 AM – 08:29 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 26.0% 15.9% 15.0%
Walked 2.2% 2.8% 2.4%
Public Transit 8.5% 5.8% 3.2%

The average commute time in Elmhurst is 25.8 minutes, longer than the 23.6 minutes in Illinois.

8.5% commute by public transit, higher than the 5.8% in Illinois. 2.2% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Illinois.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Elmhurst, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Elmhurst, IL compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Elmhurst, IL 44,072 25.8 min #2/2 26.0% #1/2 7:50 AM #2/2
Villa Park, IL 21,774 23.5 min 21.0% 7:29 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Elmhurst, Illinois.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Elmhurst, Illinois?

Commuters here spend an estimated 215 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,660 at a typical national wage. That's 9% more than the typical Illinois commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Elmhurst, Illinois?

Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Elmhurst, 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 much money can remote workers save in Elmhurst, Illinois?

About 26.0% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Elmhurst would save about 86 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,664 at the same national wage assumption used above.