Northampton Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Northampton, 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

How long is the round-trip commute in Northampton?

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

Commute Time Burden in Northampton: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Northampton spend about 36 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 152 hours, about 6.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 29% less time on the road than the Massachusetts average of 25.6 minutes each way, a difference of 7.3 minutes.

Northampton holds about 0.4% of Massachusetts's population but accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Northampton would save about 61 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,883 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)
Northampton	18.2 min	36.4 min	152 hrs/yr	$4,708	2,107
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.

Northampton Commute Map

On average, it takes 18.2 minutes to get to work in Northampton. That's 19% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 24.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Northampton

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Northampton, versus 0.1% in Massachusetts.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Northampton, versus 0.4% in Massachusetts.

Commute Mode Trends in Northampton, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Northampton 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	Public Transportation	Bicycle	Other	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	73.3%	8.2%	14.2%	1.4%	2.4%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%
2010	72.2%	8.7%	13.2%	2.2%	3.1%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%
2011	73.7%	9.1%	10.8%	2.7%	2.8%	0.7%	0.0%	0.2%
2012	71.8%	9.2%	11.9%	3.2%	3.1%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%
2013	70.7%	9.6%	11.9%	3.5%	3.8%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2014	71.1%	9.6%	11.4%	3.3%	4.1%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2015	70.6%	9.3%	12.8%	2.9%	3.9%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2016	70.9%	9.8%	13.0%	2.4%	3.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	70.0%	11.3%	12.6%	2.3%	3.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	71.5%	10.5%	12.5%	2.6%	2.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2019	73.5%	9.5%	11.5%	2.8%	2.3%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2020	71.2%	14.1%	10.3%	2.1%	1.9%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%
2021	68.9%	16.6%	10.2%	1.9%	1.7%	0.5%	0.1%	0.0%
2022	67.0%	19.8%	9.0%	2.3%	1.3%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%
2023	64.9%	21.9%	8.7%	2.9%	1.3%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	62.9%	24.1%	8.2%	2.8%	1.7%	0.3%	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 2011 at 73.7%. Overall it fell from 73.3% in 2009 to 62.9% in 2024, down 10.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Northampton: its share of workers rose from 8.2% in 2009 to 24.1% in 2024, up 15.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 14.2% to 8.2% of workers (down 6.0 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Biking peaked at 4.1% in 2014 and has since fallen back to 1.7%.

Commute Start Times in Northampton

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Northampton?

The bars show when commuters in Northampton 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		2.5%
5:00-5:29 AM		0.3%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.0%
6:00-6:29 AM		4.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		6.9%
7:00-7:29 AM		11.1%
7:30-7:59 AM		15.8%
8:00-8:29 AM		15.6%
8:30-8:59 AM		10.4%
9:00-9:59 AM		8.5%
10:00-10:59 AM		6.9%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.7%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.2%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.2%

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

The busiest time to head out in Northampton is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.7% across Massachusetts. Early starts are less common than in Massachusetts: 5.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 11.1% there. The morning rush looks much like Massachusetts's: 49.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.0% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (29.6%) 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 Northampton, 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 Northampton 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 Northampton 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	Northampton	Massachusetts	United States
2009	8:20 AM	7:47 AM	7:37 AM
2010	8:19 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2011	8:17 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2012	8:17 AM	7:49 AM	7:38 AM
2013	8:20 AM	7:49 AM	7:39 AM
2014	8:20 AM	7:48 AM	7:39 AM
2015	8:19 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2016	8:19 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2017	8:18 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2018	8:17 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2019	8:17 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:09 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:11 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:12 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:06 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:11 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Northampton were on the road by 8:11 AM, 9 minutes earlier than in 2009 (8:20 AM). Across Massachusetts, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Northampton now leave 33 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 Northampton has moved 6 minutes earlier.

How does Northampton's commute time compare?

Metric	Northampton	Massachusetts	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	18.2 min	25.6 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	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	24.1%	18.6%	15.0%
Walked	8.2%	4.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.8%	6.5%	3.2%

The average commute time in Northampton is 18.2 minutes, shorter than the 25.6 minutes in Massachusetts.

2.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 6.5% in Massachusetts. 8.2% commute by walking, higher than the 4.1% in Massachusetts.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Northampton, MA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Northampton, MA compares with the 2 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Northampton, MA	30,986	18.2 min #2/3	24.1% #1/3	8:11 AM #2/3
Holyoke, MA	37,770	18.6 min	11.1%	7:34 AM
Amherst Town, MA	38,191	15.2 min	21.0%	8:42 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Northampton, Massachusetts.

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

Commuters here spend an estimated 152 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,708 at a typical national wage. That's 29% less than the typical Massachusetts commuter spends.

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

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Northampton, Massachusetts. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.