Commuting in Rock Island 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, 8:01 PM
How much time do drivers in Rock Island County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:01 PM
Commute Time Burden in Rock Island County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Rock Island County spend about 36 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 148 hours, about 6.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 25% less time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 5.8 minutes.
Rock Island County holds about 1.1% of Illinois's population but accounts for roughly 0.8% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Rock Island County would save about 59 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,841 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)
Rock Island County
17.8 min
35.6 min
148 hrs/yr
$4,602
1,266
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
17.8
minutes to get to work in
Rock Island County.
That's 21% 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 8.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Rock Island County
Car:
85.9%
Worked at Home:
8.6%
Walked:
2.9%
Public Transportation:
1.3%unusually low
Other:
0.7%
Bicycle:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.2%unusually high
Taxi:
0.1%
Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Rock Island County: 3.0 times more than the Illinois average (0.2% vs 0.1%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Rock Island County: 4.5 times less than the Illinois average (1.3% vs 5.8%).
Commute Mode Trends in Rock Island County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Rock Island 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
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
92.4%
2.4%
3.0%
1.3%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2010
92.6%
2.4%
2.6%
1.5%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2011
92.0%
2.9%
2.6%
1.5%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
92.0%
2.8%
2.3%
1.5%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2013
92.1%
2.8%
2.1%
1.5%
1.0%
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
2014
91.3%
2.8%
2.4%
1.5%
1.3%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2015
90.9%
2.8%
2.4%
1.6%
1.9%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2016
90.8%
2.6%
2.5%
1.7%
2.0%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2017
91.2%
2.7%
2.5%
1.6%
1.6%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
91.4%
2.8%
2.5%
1.5%
1.4%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
91.7%
2.7%
2.6%
1.6%
1.1%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2020
90.8%
3.2%
3.4%
1.6%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
90.6%
3.9%
3.3%
1.3%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2022
89.3%
5.3%
3.1%
1.4%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2023
87.5%
6.7%
3.2%
1.5%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
85.9%
8.6%
2.9%
1.3%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2010 at 92.6%. Overall it fell from 92.4% in 2009 to 85.9% in 2024, down 6.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Rock Island County: its share of workers rose from 2.4% in 2009 to 8.6% in 2024, up 6.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Rock Island County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Rock Island County?
The bars show when commuters in Rock Island 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 AMRock Island County5.2%Illinois5.6%
5.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMRock Island County5.4%Illinois4.3%
5.4%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMRock Island County7.2%Illinois4.9%
7.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMRock Island County8.5%Illinois9.0%
8.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMRock Island County11.6%Illinois9.4%
11.6%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMRock Island County12.1%Illinois14.3%
12.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMRock Island County12.6%Illinois11.6%
12.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMRock Island County8.0%Illinois11.2%
8.0%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMRock Island County4.0%Illinois5.2%
4.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMRock Island County4.4%Illinois6.1%
4.4%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMRock Island County2.3%Illinois2.9%
2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMRock Island County1.6%Illinois1.5%
1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMRock Island County8.3%Illinois7.7%
8.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMRock Island County8.8%Illinois6.3%
8.8%
Rock Island CountyIllinoisSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Rock Island County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 12.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.6% across Illinois. Early starts are more common than in Illinois: 17.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Illinois: 44.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.4%) 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 Rock Island 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 Rock Island 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 Rock Island 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
Rock Island County
Illinois
United States
2009
7:36 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:36 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:36 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:36 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:36 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:39 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:36 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:36 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:32 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:29 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:30 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:30 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:28 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:30 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Rock Island County were on the road by 7:30 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:36 AM). That goes against the trend across Illinois, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Rock Island County now leave 8 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 Rock Island County has moved 2 minutes earlier.
How does Rock Island County's commute time compare?
Metric
Rock Island County
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
17.8 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
8.6%
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
2.9%
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.3%
5.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Rock Island County is 17.8 minutes, shorter than the 23.6 minutes in Illinois.
1.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 5.8% in Illinois. 2.9% commute by walking, higher than the 2.8% in Illinois.
Rock Island County, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Rock Island County, IL is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 142,693 residents against a local median of 46,268. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest counties, which makes Rock Island County, IL an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 1% below the local median at 8.6% against 8.7%. Rock Island County, IL has the 4th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Rock Island County, Illinois.
Is commuting expensive in Rock Island County, Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 148 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,602 at a typical national wage. That's 25% less than the typical Illinois commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Rock Island County, Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Rock Island 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.
Do people use public transit in Rock Island County, Illinois?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 1.3% of commuters use it versus 5.8% in Illinois, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
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).