Stephenson County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 8:09 PM

How long is the round-trip commute in Stephenson County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:09 PM

Commute Time Burden in Stephenson County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Stephenson County spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 132 hours, about 5.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 33% less time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 7.8 minutes.

Stephenson County holds about 0.3% of Illinois's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Stephenson County would save about 53 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,638 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)
Stephenson County	15.9 min	31.7 min	132 hrs/yr	$4,095	702
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.

Commute Time Map: Illinois Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Illinois

Edgar County (12.0 min)
Brown County (12.7 min)
Morgan County (13.1 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Illinois

Calhoun County (43.8 min)
Pulaski County (31.2 min)
Pope County (31.0 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Stephenson County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 15.9 minutes to get to work in Stephenson County. That's 29% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 86% of counties in Illinois

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 10.3% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Stephenson County

Public transit is unusually rare in Stephenson County: 9.2 times less than the Illinois average (0.6% vs 5.8%).

Biking is unusually rare in Stephenson County: 3.2 times less than the Illinois average (0.2% vs 0.5%).

Commute Mode Trends in Stephenson County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Stephenson 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	Other	Public Transportation	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	89.2%	4.7%	3.8%	0.4%	1.2%	0.1%	0.5%	0.2%
2010	90.2%	4.3%	3.4%	0.6%	0.9%	0.0%	0.5%	0.2%
2011	89.9%	5.0%	3.0%	0.5%	0.9%	0.0%	0.5%	0.1%
2012	90.5%	4.7%	2.7%	0.6%	0.8%	0.0%	0.6%	0.1%
2013	90.5%	4.8%	2.6%	0.7%	0.6%	0.1%	0.6%	0.1%
2014	90.0%	5.2%	2.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.1%	0.5%	0.2%
2015	89.3%	5.5%	2.7%	0.8%	0.7%	0.2%	0.5%	0.2%
2016	89.7%	4.9%	2.9%	0.7%	0.4%	0.7%	0.5%	0.2%
2017	89.7%	5.0%	2.9%	0.7%	0.5%	0.7%	0.3%	0.2%
2018	89.2%	5.4%	2.5%	1.0%	0.8%	0.7%	0.3%	0.2%
2019	89.0%	5.5%	2.8%	0.8%	0.9%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2020	88.8%	5.3%	3.0%	1.4%	0.7%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%
2021	87.1%	7.4%	2.6%	1.3%	1.0%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2022	85.5%	9.1%	2.9%	1.2%	0.8%	0.1%	0.4%	0.0%
2023	85.2%	10.2%	2.6%	1.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%
2024	85.7%	10.3%	2.0%	0.9%	0.6%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2012 at 90.5% and lowest in 2023 at 85.2%. Overall it fell from 89.2% in 2009 to 85.7% in 2024, down 3.5 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Stephenson County: its share of workers rose from 4.7% in 2009 to 10.3% in 2024, up 5.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.8% to 2.0% of workers (down 1.8 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Stephenson County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Stephenson County?

The bars show when commuters in Stephenson 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		6.4%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.2%
5:30-5:59 AM		6.8%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.4%
6:30-6:59 AM		12.9%
7:00-7:29 AM		14.5%
7:30-7:59 AM		11.7%
8:00-8:29 AM		8.5%
8:30-8:59 AM		2.9%
9:00-9:59 AM		3.8%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.0%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.7%
12:00-3:59 PM		9.4%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.7%

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

The busiest time to head out in Stephenson County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.3% across Illinois. Early starts are more common than in Illinois: 17.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush looks much like Illinois's: 47.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.6%) 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 Stephenson 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 Stephenson 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 Stephenson 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	Stephenson County	Illinois	United States
2009	7:34 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:38 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:39 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:39 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:33 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:35 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:30 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:27 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:24 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:23 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:22 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:27 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:25 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:26 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:25 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:21 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Stephenson County were on the road by 7:21 AM, 13 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:34 AM). That goes against the trend across Illinois, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Stephenson County now leave 17 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Stephenson County in the whole series.

How does Stephenson County's commute time compare?

Metric	Stephenson County	Illinois	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	15.9 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	06:30 AM – 06:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	10.3%	15.9%	15.0%
Walked	2.0%	2.8%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.6%	5.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in Stephenson County is 15.9 minutes, shorter than the 23.6 minutes in Illinois.

0.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 5.8% in Illinois. 2.0% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Illinois.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Stephenson County, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Stephenson County, IL is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 43,760 residents against a local median of 37,017. Stephenson County, IL's one-way commute, at 15.9 min, runs 22% below the 20.3 min typical of the counties around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.

The counties themselves spread 4.3 min on one-way commute, so Stephenson County, IL sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Stephenson County, IL has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Stephenson County, IL	43,760	15.9 min #1/6	10.3% #3/6	7:21 AM #4/6
Green County, WI	37,017	20.3 min	11.9%	7:15 AM
Carroll County, IL	15,576	21.3 min	6.8%	7:05 AM
Ogle County, IL	51,485	22.3 min	8.0%	7:12 AM
Winnebago County, IL	283,258	18.7 min	9.8%	7:34 AM
Jo Daviess County, IL	21,851	18.0 min	12.5%	7:22 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Stephenson County, Illinois.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Stephenson County, Illinois?

Commuters here spend an estimated 132 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,095 at a typical national wage. That's 33% less than the typical Illinois commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Stephenson County, Illinois?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Stephenson County, Illinois. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

How common is public transit use in Stephenson County, Illinois?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.6% of commuters use it versus 5.8% in Illinois, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

How do commute times compare across 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).