Skokie Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

Updated 22 September 2026

You 11/2/26, 6:29 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in Skokie?

Map AI 11/2/26, 6:29 PM

Commute Time Burden in Skokie: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Skokie spend about 50 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 209 hours, about 8.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% more time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 1.5 minutes.

Skokie holds about 0.5% of Illinois's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Skokie would save about 84 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,594 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)
Skokie	25.1 min	50.2 min	209 hrs/yr	$6,484	2,826
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.

Skokie Commute Map

On average, it takes 25.1 minutes to get to work in Skokie. That's 12% 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 20.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Skokie

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Skokie, versus 0.1% in Illinois.

Commute Mode Trends in Skokie, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Skokie 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	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	84.4%	3.6%	8.2%	2.4%	0.6%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%
2010	84.3%	3.3%	9.2%	2.2%	0.5%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
2011	83.9%	3.8%	9.4%	2.0%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
2012	84.0%	3.8%	9.4%	1.6%	0.4%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%
2013	82.7%	4.5%	9.7%	1.8%	0.4%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2014	81.4%	4.8%	10.1%	2.2%	0.4%	0.8%	0.3%	0.1%
2015	80.9%	5.0%	10.3%	2.2%	0.4%	0.8%	0.3%	0.1%
2016	81.3%	5.0%	9.9%	2.0%	0.5%	0.8%	0.3%	0.1%
2017	81.3%	5.0%	9.4%	2.2%	0.7%	1.0%	0.4%	0.1%
2018	81.8%	5.1%	9.0%	2.1%	0.8%	0.7%	0.4%	0.1%
2019	82.0%	4.7%	8.8%	2.6%	0.8%	0.6%	0.4%	0.1%
2020	80.0%	7.4%	7.3%	2.8%	0.9%	1.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2021	76.9%	10.8%	6.6%	2.6%	1.8%	0.9%	0.4%	0.0%
2022	75.5%	14.1%	5.3%	2.3%	1.3%	1.0%	0.5%	0.0%
2023	72.7%	16.7%	5.4%	2.1%	1.4%	1.1%	0.6%	0.0%
2024	70.8%	20.4%	4.3%	1.5%	1.3%	1.0%	0.6%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 84.4% in 2009 to 70.8% in 2024, down 13.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Skokie: its share of workers rose from 3.6% in 2009 to 20.4% in 2024, up 16.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 15.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 8.2% to 4.3% of workers (down 3.9 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 Skokie

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Skokie?

The bars show when commuters in Skokie 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		2.3%
5:00-5:29 AM		1.8%
5:30-5:59 AM		2.5%
6:00-6:29 AM		7.2%
6:30-6:59 AM		9.1%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.7%
7:30-7:59 AM		10.9%
8:00-8:29 AM		13.3%
8:30-8:59 AM		8.2%
9:00-9:59 AM		11.9%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.5%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.0%
12:00-3:59 PM		8.0%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.5%

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

The busiest time to head out in Skokie is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 13.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.2% across Illinois. Early starts are less common than in Illinois: 6.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush looks much like Illinois's: 46.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (31.9%) 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 Skokie, 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 Skokie 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 Skokie 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	Skokie	Illinois	United States
2009	8:00 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:57 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:59 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:56 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:57 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:58 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:58 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:58 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:59 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:58 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:57 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:59 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:53 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:00 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:02 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:08 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Skokie were on the road by 8:08 AM, 8 minutes later than in 2009 (8:00 AM). The shift is sharper than across Illinois, where the typical start moved 1 minute later. Commuters in Skokie now leave 30 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 Skokie has moved 11 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Skokie in the whole series.

How does Skokie's commute time compare?

Metric	Skokie	Illinois	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	25.1 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	20.4%	15.9%	15.0%
Walked	1.5%	2.8%	2.4%
Public Transit	4.3%	5.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in Skokie is 25.1 minutes, longer than the 23.6 minutes in Illinois.

4.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 5.8% in Illinois. 1.5% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Illinois.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Skokie, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

Skokie, IL is the 2nd largest of the 4 cities compared here, 65,951 residents against a local median of 25,227. Where Skokie, IL breaks from the cities next to it is work from home, sitting 27% below the local median of 28.0% at 20.4%.

The cities themselves spread 18.1% on work from home, so Skokie, IL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Skokie, IL has the 3rd highest work from home of the 4 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Skokie, IL	65,951	25.1 min #2/4	20.4% #3/4	8:08 AM #3/4
Wilmette, IL	24,620	31.8 min	35.7%	8:07 AM
Evanston, IL	67,656	23.9 min	28.0%	8:14 AM
Morton Grove, IL	25,227	25.6 min	17.6%	7:50 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Skokie, Illinois.

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

Commuters here spend an estimated 209 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,484 at a typical national wage. That's 6% more than the typical Illinois commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Skokie, Illinois?

Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Skokie, 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.