Commuting in Owen 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, 8:10 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Owen County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:10 PM
Commute Time Burden in Owen County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Owen County spend about 60 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 250 hours, about 10.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 42% more time on the road than the Indiana average of 21.1 minutes each way, a difference of 8.9 minutes.
Owen County holds about 0.3% of Indiana's population but accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Owen County would save about 100 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,102 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)
Owen County
30.0 min
60.0 min
250 hrs/yr
$7,755
1,016
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
30.0
minutes to get to work in
Owen County.
That's 34% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 91% of counties in Indiana
The most common departure window is 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 9.8% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Owen County
Car:
87.6%
Worked at Home:
9.8%
Walked:
1.9%
Other:
0.5%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is essentially absent in Owen County, versus 0.6% in Indiana.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Owen County, versus 0.1% in Indiana.
Biking is essentially absent in Owen County, versus 0.4% in Indiana.
Commute Mode Trends in Owen County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Owen 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
Motorcycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
Bicycle
2009
93.8%
2.6%
2.5%
0.7%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2010
93.6%
2.0%
2.8%
0.5%
0.2%
0.7%
0.0%
0.2%
2011
92.7%
2.6%
2.4%
0.5%
0.3%
1.0%
0.0%
0.5%
2012
91.4%
3.0%
3.0%
0.5%
0.2%
1.1%
0.0%
0.8%
2013
91.6%
2.8%
2.5%
0.7%
0.3%
1.5%
0.0%
0.6%
2014
91.8%
1.9%
3.0%
1.0%
0.2%
1.5%
0.0%
0.6%
2015
92.6%
2.1%
2.2%
1.1%
0.1%
1.3%
0.0%
0.5%
2016
93.4%
1.9%
2.2%
1.0%
0.1%
1.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2017
92.4%
2.7%
2.5%
1.1%
0.1%
1.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2018
92.9%
2.7%
2.6%
1.1%
0.0%
0.6%
0.0%
0.1%
2019
92.7%
3.8%
1.9%
1.0%
0.0%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
2020
92.9%
4.7%
1.9%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
92.8%
5.1%
1.4%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
92.5%
6.0%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
88.2%
9.0%
2.0%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
87.6%
9.8%
1.9%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 93.8% in 2009 to 87.6% in 2024, down 6.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Owen County: its share of workers rose from 2.6% in 2009 to 9.8% in 2024, up 7.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.5% to 1.9% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).
Public transit peaked at 1.5% in 2013 and has since fallen back to 0.0%.
Commute Start Times in Owen County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Owen County?
The bars show when commuters in Owen 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 AMOwen County8.2%Indiana6.7%
8.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMOwen County5.4%Indiana4.5%
5.4%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMOwen County8.0%Indiana5.6%
8.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMOwen County17.9%Indiana8.5%
17.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMOwen County10.0%Indiana9.9%
10.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMOwen County16.9%Indiana13.8%
16.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMOwen County8.6%Indiana12.3%
8.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMOwen County8.1%Indiana9.6%
8.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMOwen County0.7%Indiana4.4%
0.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMOwen County3.7%Indiana5.2%
3.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMOwen County1.4%Indiana2.5%
1.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMOwen County0.4%Indiana1.2%
0.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMOwen County4.5%Indiana7.5%
4.5%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMOwen County6.2%Indiana8.0%
6.2%
Owen CountyIndianaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Owen County is 6:00-6:29 AM, when 17.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 8.5% across Indiana. Early starts are more common than in Indiana: 21.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Indiana: 43.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.7% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (16.3%) 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 Owen 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 Owen 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 Owen 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
Owen County
Indiana
United States
2009
6:57 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2010
6:57 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:00 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2012
6:59 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:08 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:11 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:12 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:14 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:13 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:10 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:10 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:10 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:04 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:06 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:06 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:01 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Owen County were on the road by 7:01 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (6:57 AM). Across Indiana, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Owen County now leave 37 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 Owen County has moved 8 minutes earlier.
How does Owen County's commute time compare?
Metric
Owen County
Indiana
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
30.0 min
21.1 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
06:00 AM – 06:29 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
9.8%
10.7%
15.0%
Walked
1.9%
1.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Owen County is 30.0 minutes, longer than the 21.1 minutes in Indiana.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in Indiana. The share of commuters using walking is about the same as Indiana.
Owen County, IN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Owen County, IN is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 21,604 residents against a local median of 37,280. Owen County, IN sits close to the middle of its own neighbourhood. No measure below is more than 15% off the local median, so the choice between these counties turns on things this data does not capture.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 15% above the local median at 30.0 min against 26.2 min. Owen County, IN has the 5th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Owen County, Indiana.
Is commuting expensive in Owen County, Indiana?
Commuters here spend an estimated 250 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,755 at a typical national wage. That's 42% more than the typical Indiana commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Owen County, Indiana?
Traffic peaks between 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM in Owen County, Indiana. 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.
How common is public transit use in Owen 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).