Pottawatomie County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Pottawatomie County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Pottawatomie County spend about 38 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 158 hours, about 6.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 10% more time on the road than the Kansas average of 17.2 minutes each way, a difference of 1.8 minutes.

Pottawatomie County holds about 0.9% of Kansas's population but accounts for roughly 1.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Pottawatomie County would save about 63 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,961 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)
Pottawatomie County	19.0 min	37.9 min	158 hrs/yr	$4,902	1,058
Kansas	17.2 min	34.4 min	143 hrs/yr	$4,448	662
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.

Commute Time Map: Kansas Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 19.0 minutes to get to work in Pottawatomie County. That's 15% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 85% of counties in Kansas

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 7.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Pottawatomie County

• Car: 89.7%
• Worked at Home: 7.4%
• Walked: 2.3%
• Other: 0.6%
• Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Pottawatomie County, versus 0.1% in Kansas.

Public transit is essentially absent in Pottawatomie County, versus 0.4% in Kansas.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Pottawatomie County, versus 0.2% in Kansas.

Biking is unusually rare in Pottawatomie County: 17.9 times less than the Kansas average (0.0% vs 0.3%).

Commute Mode Trends in Pottawatomie County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Pottawatomie 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.

• Car
• Worked at Home
• Walked
• Other
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Motorcycle
• Bicycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Other	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	90.0%	4.9%	3.5%	0.6%	0.2%	0.2%	0.5%	0.1%
2010	90.2%	5.6%	3.1%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2011	90.6%	5.2%	3.0%	0.8%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%
2012	90.7%	4.9%	2.8%	1.1%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%	0.1%
2013	91.6%	4.3%	2.5%	1.1%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%
2014	92.3%	4.4%	2.0%	1.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
2015	92.5%	3.6%	1.9%	1.6%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2016	91.5%	3.7%	2.4%	1.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.8%
2017	91.9%	3.9%	2.4%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.9%
2018	91.9%	3.7%	2.2%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	1.3%
2019	91.1%	4.3%	2.4%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	1.1%
2020	91.2%	4.6%	2.8%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2021	90.9%	5.9%	1.9%	1.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	90.6%	6.4%	2.1%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	89.9%	7.2%	2.2%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	89.7%	7.4%	2.3%	0.6%	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 92.5%. Overall it held roughly steady, at 90.0% in 2009 and 89.7% in 2024. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Pottawatomie County: its share of workers rose from 4.9% in 2009 to 7.4% in 2024, up 2.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.5% to 2.3% of workers (down 1.2 percentage points).

Biking peaked at 1.3% in 2018 and has since fallen back to 0.0%.

Commute Start Times in Pottawatomie County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Pottawatomie County?

The bars show when commuters in Pottawatomie 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 Kansas for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM	12:00-4:59 AM Pottawatomie County4.4% Kansas4.7%	4.4%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Pottawatomie County3.9% Kansas3.5%	3.9%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Pottawatomie County4.9% Kansas5.2%	4.9%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Pottawatomie County9.2% Kansas7.6%	9.2%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Pottawatomie County12.0% Kansas10.3%	12.0%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Pottawatomie County18.3% Kansas14.9%	18.3%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Pottawatomie County20.9% Kansas16.8%	20.9%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Pottawatomie County11.0% Kansas10.4%	11.0%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Pottawatomie County3.9% Kansas4.5%	3.9%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Pottawatomie County2.3% Kansas5.0%	2.3%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Pottawatomie County2.0% Kansas2.5%	2.0%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Pottawatomie County0.1% Kansas1.1%	0.1%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Pottawatomie County3.2% Kansas7.0%	3.2%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Pottawatomie County4.0% Kansas6.6%	4.0%

Pottawatomie County Kansas Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Pottawatomie County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 20.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.8% across Kansas. Early starts are about as common as in Kansas: 13.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.5% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Kansas: 62.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 52.3% there. About 1 in 9 commuters (11.6%) 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 Pottawatomie 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 Pottawatomie 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 Pottawatomie County next to Kansas 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.

• Pottawatomie County
• Kansas
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Pottawatomie County	Kansas	United States
2009	7:25 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:29 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:26 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:26 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:25 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:24 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:27 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:27 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:24 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:27 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:26 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:21 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:23 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:27 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:24 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:26 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Pottawatomie County were on the road by 7:26 AM, 1 minute later than in 2009 (7:25 AM). That goes against the trend across Kansas, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Pottawatomie County now leave 12 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Pottawatomie County's commute time compare?

Metric	Pottawatomie County	Kansas	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	19.0 min	17.2 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	7.4%	11.8%	15.0%
Walked	2.3%	2.3%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	0.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Pottawatomie County is 19.0 minutes, longer than the 17.2 minutes in Kansas.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.4% in Kansas. The share of commuters using walking is about the same as Kansas.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau