Commuting in Whiteside County, Illinois: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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How long is the round-trip commute in Whiteside County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:30 PM
Commute Time Burden in Whiteside County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Whiteside 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 134 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 32% less time on the road than the Illinois average of 23.6 minutes each way, a difference of 7.6 minutes.
Whiteside County holds about 0.4% of Illinois's population but accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Whiteside County would save about 53 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,657 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)
Whiteside County
16.0 min
32.1 min
134 hrs/yr
$4,142
480
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
16.0
minutes to get to work in
Whiteside County.
That's 28% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 85% of counties in Illinois
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 6.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Whiteside County
Car:
89.4%unusually high
Worked at Home:
6.1%
Walked:
2.7%
Bicycle:
0.9%
Other:
0.5%
Public Transportation:
0.3%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Driving is 21% more common in Whiteside County than the Illinois average (89.4% vs 73.7%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Whiteside County: 17.9 times less than the Illinois average (0.3% vs 5.8%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Whiteside County, versus 0.3% in Illinois.
Commute Mode Trends in Whiteside County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Whiteside 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
Bicycle
Other
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
92.7%
2.8%
2.5%
0.4%
0.6%
0.8%
0.2%
0.0%
2010
92.9%
3.1%
2.3%
0.4%
0.6%
0.7%
0.1%
0.0%
2011
92.5%
3.2%
2.2%
0.5%
0.9%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
2012
92.3%
3.2%
1.7%
0.5%
1.4%
0.8%
0.1%
0.0%
2013
92.7%
2.8%
2.0%
0.4%
1.4%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2014
92.4%
3.0%
1.8%
0.6%
1.7%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2015
93.1%
2.7%
1.7%
0.6%
1.6%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2016
93.5%
2.4%
1.7%
0.4%
1.5%
0.5%
0.1%
0.0%
2017
93.6%
2.8%
1.8%
0.4%
1.0%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
93.6%
2.9%
1.8%
0.4%
1.0%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
93.4%
2.8%
2.6%
0.2%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
92.4%
3.0%
3.1%
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
92.3%
3.0%
3.2%
0.6%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
91.3%
4.1%
3.2%
0.5%
0.4%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
90.2%
4.9%
3.5%
0.7%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
89.4%
6.1%
2.7%
0.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2017 at 93.6%. Overall it fell from 92.7% in 2009 to 89.4% in 2024, down 3.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Whiteside County: its share of workers rose from 2.8% in 2009 to 6.1% in 2024, up 3.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 0.8% to 0.3% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Biking overtook public transit to become the 4th most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Whiteside County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Whiteside County?
The bars show when commuters in Whiteside 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 AMWhiteside County8.6%Illinois5.6%
8.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMWhiteside County5.8%Illinois4.3%
5.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMWhiteside County8.6%Illinois4.9%
8.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMWhiteside County10.9%Illinois9.0%
10.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMWhiteside County10.7%Illinois9.4%
10.7%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMWhiteside County13.6%Illinois14.3%
13.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMWhiteside County9.8%Illinois11.6%
9.8%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMWhiteside County8.4%Illinois11.2%
8.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMWhiteside County2.5%Illinois5.2%
2.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMWhiteside County3.5%Illinois6.1%
3.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMWhiteside County1.4%Illinois2.9%
1.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMWhiteside County1.4%Illinois1.5%
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMWhiteside County7.2%Illinois7.7%
7.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMWhiteside County7.6%Illinois6.3%
7.6%
Whiteside CountyIllinoisSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Whiteside County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.3% across Illinois. Early starts are more common than in Illinois: 22.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Illinois: 42.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.5% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.0%) 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 Whiteside 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 Whiteside 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 Whiteside 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
Whiteside County
Illinois
United States
2009
7:27 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:28 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:29 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:25 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:22 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:23 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:20 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:19 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:19 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:21 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:19 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:17 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:14 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:16 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:14 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:12 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Whiteside County were on the road by 7:12 AM, 15 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:27 AM). That goes against the trend across Illinois, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Whiteside County now leave 26 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 Whiteside County has moved 7 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Whiteside County in the whole series.
How does Whiteside County's commute time compare?
Metric
Whiteside County
Illinois
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.0 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
06:00 AM – 06:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
6.1%
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
2.7%
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.3%
5.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Whiteside County is 16.0 minutes, shorter than the 23.6 minutes in Illinois.
0.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 5.8% in Illinois. 2.7% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Illinois.
Whiteside County, IL Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Whiteside County, IL is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 54,941 residents against a local median of 33,849. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest counties, which makes Whiteside County, IL an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 11% below the local median at 16.0 min against 17.9 min. Whiteside County, IL has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Whiteside County, Illinois.
Is commuting expensive in Whiteside County, Illinois?
Commuters here spend an estimated 134 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,142 at a typical national wage. That's 32% less than the typical Illinois commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Whiteside County, Illinois?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Whiteside County, Illinois. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How common is public transit use in Whiteside County, Illinois?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.3% 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).