Commuting in Lake County, Indiana: 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 much time do drivers in Lake County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 12:40 PM
Commute Time Burden in Lake County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Lake County spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 198 hours, about 8.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 12% more time on the road than the Indiana average of 21.1 minutes each way, a difference of 2.6 minutes.
Lake County holds about 7.3% of Indiana's population but accounts for roughly 8.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Lake County would save about 79 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,450 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)
Lake County
23.7 min
47.4 min
198 hrs/yr
$6,126
2,722
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
23.7
minutes to get to work in
Lake County.
That's 6% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 74% of counties in Indiana
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 8.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Lake County
Car:
87.6%
Worked at Home:
8.2%
Public Transportation:
1.4%
Other:
1.2%
Walked:
1.2%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Lake County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Lake 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
Public Transportation
Walked
Other
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
92.0%
2.0%
3.4%
1.8%
0.6%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2010
92.2%
1.9%
3.4%
1.6%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2011
92.4%
2.0%
3.2%
1.6%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
92.7%
1.9%
3.0%
1.6%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2013
92.7%
2.0%
2.8%
1.5%
0.7%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2014
92.8%
2.1%
2.6%
1.4%
0.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2015
92.3%
2.3%
2.8%
1.3%
1.0%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2016
91.9%
2.3%
3.0%
1.3%
1.1%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2017
91.7%
2.6%
2.9%
1.2%
1.3%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2018
91.4%
2.8%
3.0%
1.2%
1.3%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2019
91.2%
2.9%
3.0%
1.2%
1.4%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
91.0%
3.8%
2.6%
1.1%
1.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
90.3%
4.9%
2.0%
1.1%
1.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
89.5%
6.1%
1.8%
1.1%
1.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
88.7%
7.2%
1.5%
1.1%
1.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
87.6%
8.2%
1.4%
1.2%
1.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2014 at 92.8%. Overall it fell from 92.0% in 2009 to 87.6% in 2024, down 4.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 10 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Lake County: its share of workers rose from 2.0% in 2009 to 8.2% in 2024, up 6.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 3.4% to 1.4% of workers (down 2.0 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 Lake County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lake County?
The bars show when commuters in Lake 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 AMLake County7.6%Indiana6.7%
7.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMLake County6.2%Indiana4.5%
6.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMLake County5.9%Indiana5.6%
5.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMLake County10.1%Indiana8.5%
10.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMLake County9.2%Indiana9.9%
9.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMLake County12.5%Indiana13.8%
12.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMLake County9.5%Indiana12.3%
9.5%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMLake County9.4%Indiana9.6%
9.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMLake County4.2%Indiana4.4%
4.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMLake County5.1%Indiana5.2%
5.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMLake County2.5%Indiana2.5%
2.5%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMLake County1.3%Indiana1.2%
1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMLake County8.3%Indiana7.5%
8.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMLake County8.3%Indiana8.0%
8.3%
Lake CountyIndianaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Lake County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 12.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Indiana. Early starts are more common than in Indiana: 19.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Indiana: 40.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.7% 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 Lake 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 Lake 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 Lake 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
Lake County
Indiana
United States
2009
7:31 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:30 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:31 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:32 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:31 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:32 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:31 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:30 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:27 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:27 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:28 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:26 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:26 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:27 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:28 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:26 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Lake County were on the road by 7:26 AM, 5 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:31 AM). Across Indiana, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Lake County now leave 11 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Lake County's commute time compare?
Metric
Lake County
Indiana
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.7 min
21.1 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
8.2%
10.7%
15.0%
Walked
1.2%
1.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.4%
0.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Lake County is 23.7 minutes, longer than the 21.1 minutes in Indiana.
1.4% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.6% in Indiana. 1.2% commute by walking, lower than the 1.9% in Indiana.
Lake County, IN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Lake County, IN is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 498,291 residents against a local median of 106,635. Nothing separates Lake County, IN sharply from the counties around it. Each measure below lands within 15% of the local median, close enough that the differences are within what survey sampling alone would produce.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 9% below the local median at 23.7 min against 26.2 min. Lake County, IN has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Lake County, Indiana.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Lake County, Indiana?
Commuters here spend an estimated 198 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,126 at a typical national wage. That's 12% more than the typical Indiana commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Lake County, Indiana?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Lake County, Indiana. 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 do commute times compare across counties in Indiana?
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).