Lexington Commute Time Map & Patterns

Help

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

You 9/24/26, 4:04 PM

What does a typical morning commute look like in Lexington?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:04 PM

Commute Time Burden in Lexington: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Lexington spend about 60 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 252 hours, about 10.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 18% more time on the road than the Massachusetts average of 25.6 minutes each way, a difference of 4.7 minutes.

Lexington holds about 0.5% of Massachusetts's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Lexington would save about 101 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,125 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)
Lexington	30.2 min	60.5 min	252 hrs/yr	$7,812	1,766
Massachusetts	25.6 min	51.1 min	213 hrs/yr	$6,603	2,164
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.

Lexington Commute Map

On average, it takes 30.2 minutes to get to work in Lexington. That's 35% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 09:00 AM – 09:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 36.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Lexington

Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Lexington: 151.3 times less than the Massachusetts average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Lexington: 2339.7 times less than the Massachusetts average (0.0% vs 0.4%).

Commute Mode Trends in Lexington, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Lexington 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	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	82.9%	7.7%	6.5%	1.8%	0.5%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%
2010	83.6%	7.7%	6.4%	1.2%	0.4%	0.5%	0.2%	0.0%
2011	82.5%	8.5%	6.5%	1.2%	0.5%	0.7%	0.2%	0.0%
2012	82.4%	9.1%	6.5%	0.9%	0.4%	0.5%	0.1%	0.0%
2013	83.3%	7.6%	7.0%	0.9%	0.3%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%
2014	80.9%	8.6%	7.4%	1.2%	0.5%	1.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2015	78.7%	8.7%	8.9%	1.8%	0.6%	1.1%	0.0%	0.1%
2016	78.8%	8.6%	8.7%	1.9%	0.7%	1.2%	0.1%	0.1%
2017	78.2%	9.1%	8.5%	2.1%	0.7%	1.2%	0.1%	0.1%
2018	77.2%	9.1%	8.7%	2.5%	1.1%	1.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2019	77.7%	8.7%	8.8%	2.5%	0.6%	1.2%	0.3%	0.1%
2020	74.6%	14.3%	6.6%	2.2%	0.7%	1.3%	0.3%	0.0%
2021	67.6%	22.8%	5.4%	2.2%	0.6%	1.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2022	62.5%	28.1%	5.4%	1.9%	1.0%	0.9%	0.2%	0.0%
2023	58.8%	31.6%	5.7%	2.2%	0.8%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	55.2%	36.7%	4.7%	1.8%	0.9%	0.7%	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 2010 at 83.6%. Overall it fell from 82.9% in 2009 to 55.2% in 2024, down 27.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Lexington: its share of workers rose from 7.7% in 2009 to 36.7% in 2024, up 29.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 28.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 6.5% to 4.7% of workers (down 1.8 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Lexington

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lexington?

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

12:00-4:59 AM		0.5%
5:00-5:29 AM		0.5%
5:30-5:59 AM		0.4%
6:00-6:29 AM		4.3%
6:30-6:59 AM		9.4%
7:00-7:29 AM		13.9%
7:30-7:59 AM		14.0%
8:00-8:29 AM		17.4%
8:30-8:59 AM		13.9%
9:00-9:59 AM		15.3%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM		4.1%
4:00-11:59 PM		1.9%

Lexington Massachusetts Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Lexington is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 17.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.5% across Massachusetts. Early starts are less common than in Massachusetts: 1.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 11.1% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Massachusetts: 54.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.8%) 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 Lexington, 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 Lexington 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 Lexington next to Massachusetts 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	Lexington	Massachusetts	United States
2009	8:04 AM	7:47 AM	7:37 AM
2010	8:01 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2011	8:02 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2012	8:02 AM	7:49 AM	7:38 AM
2013	8:03 AM	7:49 AM	7:39 AM
2014	8:05 AM	7:48 AM	7:39 AM
2015	8:03 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2016	8:04 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2017	8:03 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2018	8:01 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2019	8:00 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:00 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:00 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:05 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:09 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:12 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Lexington were on the road by 8:12 AM, 9 minutes later than in 2009 (8:04 AM). Across Massachusetts, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Lexington now leave 34 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Lexington has moved 13 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Lexington in the whole series.

How does Lexington's commute time compare?

Metric	Lexington	Massachusetts	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	30.2 min	25.6 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	09:00 AM – 09:59 AM	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	36.7%	18.6%	15.0%
Walked	1.8%	4.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	4.7%	6.5%	3.2%

The average commute time in Lexington is 30.2 minutes, longer than the 25.6 minutes in Massachusetts.

4.7% commute by public transit, lower than the 6.5% in Massachusetts. 1.8% commute by walking, lower than the 4.1% in Massachusetts.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Lexington, MA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

Lexington, MA is typical in size for this group, 34,306 residents against a local median of 36,717, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. Lexington, MA's work from home, at 36.7%, runs 32% above the 27.9% typical of the cities around it.

The cities themselves spread 12.0% on work from home, so Lexington, MA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Lexington, MA has the highest work from home of the 5 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Lexington, MA	34,306	30.2 min #3/5	36.7% #1/5	8:12 AM #4/5
Waltham, MA	64,842	22.3 min	24.2%	8:05 AM
Burlington, MA	26,309	23.6 min	22.5%	7:55 AM
Belmont, MA	27,165	30.7 min	31.5%	8:17 AM
Arlington, MA	46,270	31.5 min	34.5%	8:07 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Is living in Lexington, Massachusetts good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 252 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,812 at a typical national wage. That's 18% more than the typical Massachusetts commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Lexington, Massachusetts?

Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Lexington, Massachusetts. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 09:00 AM – 09:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

How much time do residents in Lexington, Massachusetts save by working from home?

About 36.7% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Lexington would save about 101 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,125 at the same national wage assumption used above.