Commuting in Putnam 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, 6:48 PM
How much time do drivers in Putnam County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 6:48 PM
Commute Time Burden in Putnam County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Putnam County spend about 45 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 188 hours, about 7.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 7% more time on the road than the Indiana average of 21.1 minutes each way, a difference of 1.4 minutes.
Putnam County holds about 0.5% of Indiana's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Putnam County would save about 75 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,328 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)
Putnam County
22.5 min
45.1 min
188 hrs/yr
$5,821
700
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
22.5
minutes to get to work in
Putnam County.
That's 1% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 10.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Putnam County
Car:
83.6%
Worked at Home:
10.1%
Walked:
5.9%unusually high
Other:
0.5%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Putnam County, versus 0.1% in Indiana.
Walking is unusually common in Putnam County: 3.1 times more than the Indiana average (5.9% vs 1.9%).
Public transit is essentially absent in Putnam County, versus 0.6% in Indiana.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Putnam County, versus 0.1% in Indiana.
Biking is essentially absent in Putnam County, versus 0.4% in Indiana.
Commute Mode Trends in Putnam County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Putnam 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
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
89.2%
4.1%
5.4%
1.0%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2010
88.2%
4.5%
6.0%
1.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
89.0%
4.0%
5.5%
1.0%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2012
88.9%
3.8%
5.6%
0.9%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.6%
2013
88.7%
3.5%
6.2%
0.8%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.7%
2014
89.7%
2.6%
6.1%
0.7%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.7%
2015
90.1%
2.4%
6.2%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.6%
2016
89.8%
2.3%
7.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.5%
2017
88.9%
2.9%
7.4%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2018
89.7%
3.6%
5.8%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
89.3%
4.8%
4.9%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
86.3%
7.5%
5.2%
0.8%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
84.9%
9.4%
4.6%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
85.2%
9.9%
4.1%
0.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
85.0%
9.5%
5.1%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
83.6%
10.1%
5.9%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
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 2015 at 90.1%. Overall it fell from 89.2% in 2009 to 83.6% in 2024, down 5.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Putnam County: its share of workers rose from 4.1% in 2009 to 10.1% in 2024, up 6.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Walking peaked at 7.4% in 2017 and has since fallen back to 5.9%.
Commute Start Times in Putnam County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Putnam County?
The bars show when commuters in Putnam 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 AMPutnam County11.0%Indiana6.7%
11.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMPutnam County4.2%Indiana4.5%
4.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMPutnam County4.4%Indiana5.6%
4.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMPutnam County12.1%Indiana8.5%
12.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMPutnam County10.2%Indiana9.9%
10.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMPutnam County14.2%Indiana13.8%
14.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMPutnam County8.9%Indiana12.3%
8.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMPutnam County8.5%Indiana9.6%
8.5%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMPutnam County4.1%Indiana4.4%
4.1%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMPutnam County4.7%Indiana5.2%
4.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMPutnam County1.1%Indiana2.5%
1.1%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMPutnam County0.9%Indiana1.2%
0.9%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMPutnam County9.2%Indiana7.5%
9.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMPutnam County6.6%Indiana8.0%
6.6%
Putnam CountyIndianaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Putnam County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Indiana. Early starts are more common than in Indiana: 19.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Indiana: 41.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.7% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.5%) 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 Putnam 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 Putnam 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 Putnam 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
Putnam County
Indiana
United States
2009
7:26 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:27 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:28 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:28 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:31 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:33 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:32 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:28 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:28 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:22 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:21 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:21 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:20 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:18 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:18 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:17 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Putnam County were on the road by 7:17 AM, 9 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:26 AM). Across Indiana, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Putnam County now leave 21 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 Putnam County has moved 3 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Putnam County in the whole series.
How does Putnam County's commute time compare?
Metric
Putnam County
Indiana
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
22.5 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
10.1%
10.7%
15.0%
Walked
5.9%
1.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Putnam County is 22.5 minutes, longer than the 21.1 minutes in Indiana.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in Indiana. 5.9% commute by walking, higher than the 1.9% in Indiana.
Putnam County, IN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Putnam County, IN is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 37,280 residents against a local median of 26,409. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest counties, which makes Putnam County, IN an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 14% below the local median at 22.5 min against 26.3 min. Putnam County, IN has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Putnam County, Indiana.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Putnam County, Indiana?
Commuters here spend an estimated 188 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,821 at a typical national wage. That's 7% more than the typical Indiana commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Putnam County, Indiana?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Putnam 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.
Do people use public transit in Putnam 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).