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Russell County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Russell County, Kentucky: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 3:48 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Russell County?
Map AI 9/24/26, 3:48 PM

Commute Time Burden in Russell County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Russell County spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 131 hours, about 5.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 24% less time on the road than the Kentucky average of 20.8 minutes each way, a difference of 5.1 minutes.

Russell County holds about 0.4% of Kentucky's population but accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Russell County would save about 52 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,624 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)
Russell County 15.7 min 31.4 min 131 hrs/yr $4,061 427
Kentucky 20.8 min 41.6 min 173 hrs/yr $5,369 832
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: Kentucky Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Kentucky
  1. Calloway County (13.9 min)
  2. Owsley County (15.0 min)
  3. Taylor County (15.3 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Kentucky
  1. Owen County (37.7 min)
  2. Spencer County (33.3 min)
  3. Bracken County (33.2 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Russell County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 15.7 minutes to get to work in Russell County. That's 30% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the top 5 fastest counties in Kentucky

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 5.3% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Russell County

  • Car: 92.3%
  • Worked at Home: 5.3%
  • Walked: 2.1%
  • Other: 0.3%
  • 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 Russell County, versus 0.1% in Kentucky.

Public transit is essentially absent in Russell County, versus 0.6% in Kentucky.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Russell County, versus 0.1% in Kentucky.

Biking is essentially absent in Russell County, versus 0.2% in Kentucky.

Commute Mode Trends in Russell County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Russell 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 89.3% 4.2% 1.8% 4.2% 0.2% 0.0% 0.2% 0.0%
2010 91.2% 2.8% 2.1% 3.7% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2011 92.9% 1.7% 1.6% 3.5% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2012 91.8% 2.5% 1.6% 3.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.2% 0.0%
2013 92.8% 2.4% 1.5% 3.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0%
2014 93.9% 2.2% 1.6% 2.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2015 93.1% 2.8% 1.6% 2.2% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2016 93.1% 2.9% 1.7% 1.9% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2017 95.5% 2.3% 1.6% 0.2% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2018 95.3% 2.0% 1.2% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2019 95.4% 2.0% 0.6% 1.5% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2020 94.6% 2.3% 1.4% 1.3% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2021 94.3% 3.2% 1.4% 0.9% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2022 94.5% 3.0% 1.3% 1.1% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 93.3% 4.1% 2.0% 0.5% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 92.3% 5.3% 2.1% 0.3% 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 2017 at 95.5%. Overall it rose from 89.3% in 2009 to 92.3% in 2024, up 3.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Russell County: its share of workers rose from 4.2% in 2009 to 5.3% in 2024, up 1.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Commute Start Times in Russell County

  • Dawn PatrolThe 2nd-highest share of pre-6 AM departures among Kentucky's 120 counties: 31.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Russell County?

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

12:00-4:59 AM
16.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
8.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
10.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
9.7%
7:00-7:29 AM
10.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
22.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
3.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
2.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
2.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
1.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
3.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
2.0%

Russell County Kentucky Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Russell County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 22.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.4% across Kentucky. Early starts are more common than in Kentucky: 31.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.5% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Kentucky: 45.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 9 commuters (11.2%) 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 Russell 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 Russell 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 Russell County next to Kentucky 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 Russell County Kentucky United States
2009 6:56 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2010 6:57 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:02 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:05 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:03 AM 7:35 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:06 AM 7:35 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:01 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:00 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2017 6:56 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2018 6:55 AM 7:34 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:02 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:04 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:07 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:02 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2023 6:58 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM
2024 6:57 AM 7:33 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Russell County were on the road by 6:57 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (6:56 AM). That goes against the trend across Kentucky, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Russell County now leave 41 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 Russell County has moved 5 minutes earlier.

How does Russell County's commute time compare?

Metric Russell County Kentucky US Average
Avg. Commute Time 15.7 min 20.8 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 5.3% 10.2% 15.0%
Walked 2.1% 2.0% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.6% 3.2%

The average commute time in Russell County is 15.7 minutes, shorter than the 20.8 minutes in Kentucky.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in Kentucky. 2.1% commute by walking, higher than the 2.0% in Kentucky.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Russell County, KY Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Russell County, KY is typical in size for this group, 18,221 residents against a local median of 15,914, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. Russell County, KY's work from home, at 5.3%, runs 45% below the 9.6% typical of the counties around it.

The counties themselves spread 11.1% on work from home, so Russell County, KY sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Russell County, KY has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Russell County, KY 18,221 15.7 min #1/6 5.3% #5/6 6:57 AM #2/6
Adair County, KY 19,089 18.8 min 13.7% 7:17 AM
Clinton County, KY 9,202 16.7 min 7.3% 7:02 AM
Wayne County, KY 19,602 17.3 min 10.8% 7:22 AM
Casey County, KY 15,914 25.3 min 9.6% 7:22 AM
Cumberland County, KY 5,948 16.2 min 2.6% 6:57 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Russell County, Kentucky.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Russell County, Kentucky?

Commuters here spend an estimated 131 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,061 at a typical national wage. That's 24% less than the typical Kentucky commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Russell County, Kentucky?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Russell County, Kentucky. 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 Russell County, Kentucky?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.6% in Kentucky, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

Which counties in Kentucky have the fastest and slowest commutes?

Among counties in Kentucky, the shortest average commutes are in Calloway County (13.9 min), Owsley County (15.0 min), Taylor County (15.3 min). The longest are in Owen County (37.7 min), Spencer County (33.3 min), Bracken County (33.2 min).