Commuting in Glen Ellyn, Illinois: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Updated
You11/2/26, 4:25 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Glen Ellyn?
Map AI11/2/26, 4:25 PM
Commute Time Burden in Glen Ellyn: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Glen Ellyn spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 196 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.
Glen Ellyn holds about 0.2% of Illinois's population and accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Glen Ellyn would save about 78 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,433 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)
Glen Ellyn
23.5 min
47.1 min
196 hrs/yr
$6,083
4,415
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.
Glen Ellyn Commute Map
On average, it takes
23.5
minutes to get to work in
Glen Ellyn.
That's 5% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 30.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Glen Ellyn
Car:
58.2%unusually low
Worked at Home:
30.9%
Public Transportation:
6.8%
Walked:
2.8%
Other:
0.7%
Taxi:
0.4%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Glen Ellyn: 189.8 times less than the Illinois average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Driving is 21% less common in Glen Ellyn than the Illinois average (58.2% vs 73.7%).
Commute Mode Trends in Glen Ellyn, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Glen Ellyn 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
76.1%
6.9%
11.0%
4.0%
0.9%
0.2%
1.0%
0.0%
2010
75.3%
8.0%
11.3%
4.1%
0.5%
0.2%
0.6%
0.0%
2011
78.3%
7.1%
10.7%
3.0%
0.2%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2012
78.5%
7.6%
10.0%
2.9%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2013
77.3%
8.3%
10.7%
2.9%
0.3%
0.0%
0.3%
0.0%
2014
77.8%
8.6%
10.4%
2.3%
0.3%
0.1%
0.6%
0.0%
2015
78.8%
8.2%
9.8%
1.7%
0.7%
0.1%
0.4%
0.2%
2016
75.5%
9.4%
11.5%
1.9%
0.7%
0.1%
0.7%
0.2%
2017
75.5%
8.4%
12.1%
2.1%
0.8%
0.1%
0.7%
0.2%
2018
75.3%
8.5%
12.5%
1.9%
0.8%
0.1%
0.9%
0.1%
2019
75.4%
9.0%
12.1%
2.0%
0.7%
0.1%
0.6%
0.1%
2020
70.5%
14.3%
12.0%
2.1%
0.4%
0.0%
0.7%
0.0%
2021
68.6%
18.6%
9.5%
2.2%
0.7%
0.0%
0.4%
0.0%
2022
65.0%
23.8%
8.0%
2.2%
0.7%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
2023
62.5%
26.5%
7.0%
2.9%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
2024
58.2%
30.9%
6.8%
2.8%
0.7%
0.4%
0.2%
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 78.8%. Overall it fell from 76.1% in 2009 to 58.2% in 2024, down 17.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Glen Ellyn: its share of workers rose from 6.9% in 2009 to 30.9% in 2024, up 24.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 21.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 11.0% to 6.8% of workers (down 4.2 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 Glen Ellyn
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Glen Ellyn?
The bars show when commuters in Glen Ellyn 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 AMGlen Ellyn1.8%Illinois5.6%
1.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMGlen Ellyn2.8%Illinois4.3%
2.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMGlen Ellyn6.0%Illinois4.9%
6.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMGlen Ellyn8.0%Illinois9.0%
8.0%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMGlen Ellyn8.0%Illinois9.4%
8.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMGlen Ellyn16.3%Illinois14.3%
16.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMGlen Ellyn13.9%Illinois11.6%
13.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMGlen Ellyn13.7%Illinois11.2%
13.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMGlen Ellyn4.6%Illinois5.2%
4.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMGlen Ellyn6.4%Illinois6.1%
6.4%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMGlen Ellyn3.6%Illinois2.9%
3.6%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMGlen Ellyn2.2%Illinois1.5%
2.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMGlen Ellyn6.9%Illinois7.7%
6.9%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMGlen Ellyn5.7%Illinois6.3%
5.7%
Glen EllynIllinoisSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Glen Ellyn is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 16.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.3% across Illinois. Early starts are less common than in Illinois: 10.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Illinois: 52.0% 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 Glen Ellyn, 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 Glen Ellyn 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 Glen Ellyn 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
Glen Ellyn
Illinois
United States
2009
7:41 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:45 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:43 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:42 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:39 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:43 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:40 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:39 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:40 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:43 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:35 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:42 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:44 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:46 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:45 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Glen Ellyn were on the road by 7:45 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:41 AM). The shift is sharper than across Illinois, where the typical start moved 1 minute later. Commuters in Glen Ellyn now leave 7 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 Glen Ellyn has moved 7 minutes later.
How does Glen Ellyn's commute time compare?
Metric
Glen Ellyn
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.5 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
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
30.9%
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
2.8%
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
6.8%
5.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Glen Ellyn is about the same as in Illinois.
6.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 5.8% in Illinois. The share of commuters using walking is about the same as Illinois.
Glen Ellyn, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
Glen Ellyn, IL is the 4th largest of the 6 cities compared here, 27,036 residents against a local median of 33,056. The measure that sets Glen Ellyn, IL apart most is work from home: 30.9%, 54% above the local median of 20.0%.
The cities themselves spread 12.7% on work from home, so Glen Ellyn, IL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Glen Ellyn, IL has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Glen Ellyn, Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 196 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,083 at a typical national wage.
When is rush hour worst in Glen Ellyn, Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Glen Ellyn, 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.
How much time do residents in Glen Ellyn, Illinois save by working from home?
About 30.9% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Glen Ellyn would save about 78 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,433 at the same national wage assumption used above.