Springfield Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Springfield, 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 many minutes is the average drive to work in Springfield?

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

Commute Time Burden in Springfield: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Springfield 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 7.4 minutes.

Springfield holds about 2.2% of Massachusetts's population but accounts for roughly 1.6% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Springfield would save about 61 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,880 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)
Springfield	18.2 min	36.4 min	152 hrs/yr	$4,701	2,285
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.

Springfield Commute Map

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

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 8.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Springfield

Driving is 22% more common in Springfield than the Massachusetts average (83.0% vs 68.2%).

Commute Mode Trends in Springfield, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Springfield 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	Other	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	88.6%	2.5%	3.5%	4.7%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
2010	88.5%	2.5%	3.4%	5.0%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2011	88.2%	2.5%	3.3%	5.2%	0.5%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2012	87.6%	2.9%	3.0%	5.5%	0.5%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2013	87.7%	2.9%	2.9%	5.3%	0.8%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%
2014	87.1%	2.9%	3.4%	5.3%	0.9%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2015	86.3%	2.8%	4.1%	5.3%	1.1%	0.1%	0.3%	0.0%
2016	86.1%	2.8%	4.5%	4.9%	1.3%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%
2017	85.8%	2.8%	4.9%	4.6%	1.4%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%
2018	85.3%	3.0%	5.2%	4.4%	1.5%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%
2019	84.8%	3.3%	4.5%	4.8%	2.0%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
2020	84.9%	4.8%	3.7%	4.4%	1.6%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%
2021	83.9%	6.6%	3.5%	4.3%	1.4%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2022	83.6%	7.4%	3.0%	4.0%	1.6%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2023	83.4%	7.6%	2.9%	3.8%	1.6%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%
2024	83.0%	8.4%	3.6%	2.6%	1.3%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 88.6% in 2009 to 83.0% in 2024, down 5.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Springfield: its share of workers rose from 2.5% in 2009 to 8.4% in 2024, up 5.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 4.7% to 2.6% of workers (down 2.1 percentage points).

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

Walking peaked at 5.2% in 2018 and has since fallen back to 3.6%.

Commute Start Times in Springfield

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Springfield?

The bars show when commuters in Springfield 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		3.9%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.1%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.3%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.0%
6:30-6:59 AM		10.6%
7:00-7:29 AM		13.3%
7:30-7:59 AM		9.6%
8:00-8:29 AM		11.1%
8:30-8:59 AM		6.6%
9:00-9:59 AM		4.8%
10:00-10:59 AM		4.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.1%
12:00-3:59 PM		9.4%
4:00-11:59 PM		9.9%

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

The busiest time to head out in Springfield is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.3% across Massachusetts. Early starts are about as common as in Massachusetts: 11.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 11.1% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Massachusetts: 44.5% 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 Springfield, 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 Springfield 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 Springfield 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	Springfield	Massachusetts	United States
2009	7:45 AM	7:47 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:46 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:48 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:50 AM	7:49 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:51 AM	7:49 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:52 AM	7:48 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:53 AM	7:48 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:54 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:52 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:54 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:54 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:53 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:51 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:52 AM	7:46 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:51 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:51 AM	7:47 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Springfield were on the road by 7:51 AM, 7 minutes later than in 2009 (7:45 AM). Across Massachusetts, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Springfield now leave 13 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 Springfield has moved 2 minutes earlier.

How does Springfield's commute time compare?

Metric	Springfield	Massachusetts	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	18.2 min	25.6 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	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	8.4%	18.6%	15.0%
Walked	3.6%	4.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.6%	6.5%	3.2%

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

2.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 6.5% in Massachusetts. 3.6% commute by walking, lower than the 4.1% in Massachusetts.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Springfield, MA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

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

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Springfield, MA	154,552	18.2 min #2/3	8.4% #2/3	7:51 AM #3/3
Chicopee, MA	55,293	18.2 min	8.0%	7:39 AM
West Springfield Town, MA	28,772	17.8 min	10.4%	7:40 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Is commuting expensive in Springfield, Massachusetts?

Commuters here spend an estimated 152 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,701 at a typical national wage. That's 29% less than the typical Massachusetts commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Springfield, Massachusetts?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Springfield, 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.