Commuting in Jefferson County, Indiana: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:11 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Jefferson County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:11 PM
Commute Time Burden in Jefferson County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Jefferson County spend about 33 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 139 hours, about 5.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 21% less time on the road than the Indiana average of 21.1 minutes each way, a difference of 4.4 minutes.
Jefferson County holds about 0.5% of Indiana's population but accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Jefferson County would save about 56 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,725 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)
Jefferson County
16.7 min
33.4 min
139 hrs/yr
$4,311
730
Indiana
21.1 min
42.2 min
176 hrs/yr
$5,455
1,308
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
16.7
minutes to get to work in
Jefferson County.
That's 26% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 93% of counties in Indiana
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 5.8% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Jefferson County
Car:
90.9%
Worked at Home:
5.8%
Walked:
2.5%
Other:
0.5%
Taxi:
0.2%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Jefferson County, versus 0.1% in Indiana.
Public transit is essentially absent in Jefferson County, versus 0.6% in Indiana.
Biking is unusually rare in Jefferson County: 4.0 times less than the Indiana average (0.1% vs 0.4%).
Commute Mode Trends in Jefferson County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Jefferson 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
Taxi
Bicycle
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
2009
90.2%
3.2%
4.8%
1.1%
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2010
92.2%
3.0%
3.5%
0.6%
0.0%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
2011
92.5%
3.2%
2.9%
0.9%
0.0%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
93.0%
2.8%
3.0%
0.9%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2013
92.9%
3.4%
2.6%
0.9%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2014
91.9%
3.9%
2.3%
1.3%
0.0%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2015
92.0%
3.8%
2.5%
1.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
2016
92.4%
3.8%
2.4%
0.9%
0.0%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2017
91.3%
3.9%
3.0%
1.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2018
91.5%
3.6%
3.0%
1.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.4%
0.0%
2019
91.1%
4.1%
3.6%
1.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2020
91.4%
4.6%
3.0%
0.7%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
92.0%
4.8%
2.3%
0.7%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
91.8%
4.9%
2.0%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
91.3%
4.9%
2.5%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
90.9%
5.8%
2.5%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2012 at 93.0%. Overall it rose from 90.2% in 2009 to 90.9% in 2024, up 0.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Jefferson County: its share of workers rose from 3.2% in 2009 to 5.8% in 2024, up 2.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 4.8% to 2.5% of workers (down 2.3 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2013 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Jefferson County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Jefferson County?
The bars show when commuters in Jefferson 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 Indiana for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMJefferson County11.0%Indiana6.7%
11.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMJefferson County6.0%Indiana4.5%
6.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMJefferson County3.4%Indiana5.6%
3.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMJefferson County8.6%Indiana8.5%
8.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMJefferson County8.4%Indiana9.9%
8.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMJefferson County10.1%Indiana13.8%
10.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMJefferson County14.6%Indiana12.3%
14.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMJefferson County8.4%Indiana9.6%
8.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMJefferson County3.0%Indiana4.4%
3.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMJefferson County4.6%Indiana5.2%
4.6%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMJefferson County1.9%Indiana2.5%
1.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMJefferson County1.1%Indiana1.2%
1.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMJefferson County8.3%Indiana7.5%
8.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMJefferson County10.6%Indiana8.0%
10.6%
Jefferson CountyIndianaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Jefferson County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 14.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.3% across Indiana. Early starts are more common than in Indiana: 20.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Indiana: 41.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.7% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.5%) 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson County next to Indiana 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
Jefferson County
Indiana
United States
2009
7:32 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:31 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:34 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:36 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:33 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:32 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:33 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:28 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:19 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:24 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:21 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:22 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:19 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:31 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:30 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:35 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Jefferson County were on the road by 7:35 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:32 AM). Across Indiana, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Jefferson County now leave 3 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 Jefferson County has moved 14 minutes later.
How does Jefferson County's commute time compare?
Metric
Jefferson County
Indiana
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.7 min
21.1 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
12:00 AM – 04:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
5.8%
10.7%
15.0%
Walked
2.5%
1.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Jefferson County is 16.7 minutes, shorter than the 21.1 minutes in Indiana.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in Indiana. 2.5% commute by walking, higher than the 1.9% in Indiana.
Jefferson County, IN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Jefferson County, IN is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 32,998 residents against a local median of 24,526. Jefferson County, IN's one-way commute, at 16.7 min, runs 23% below the 21.7 min typical of the counties around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 5.8% against a local median of 4.9%, 18% above it. The counties themselves spread 4.2 min on one-way commute, so Jefferson County, IN sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Jefferson County, IN has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Jefferson County, Indiana.
Is living in Jefferson County, Indiana good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 139 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,311 at a typical national wage. That's 21% less than the typical Indiana commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Jefferson County, Indiana?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Jefferson County, Indiana. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Do people use public transit in Jefferson County, Indiana?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.6% in Indiana, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Which counties in Indiana have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in Indiana, the shortest average commutes are in Knox County (15.8 min), Howard County (15.9 min), Daviess County (16.3 min). The longest are in Crawford County (33.6 min), Brown County (32.6 min), Franklin County (31.9 min).