Commuting in Lincoln County, Maine: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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How much time do drivers in Lincoln County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:26 PM
Commute Time Burden in Lincoln County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Lincoln County spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 177 hours, about 7.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% more time on the road than the Maine average of 20.8 minutes each way, a difference of 0.4 minutes.
Lincoln County holds about 2.6% of Maine's population but accounts for roughly 2.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Lincoln County would save about 71 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,194 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)
Lincoln County
21.2 min
42.5 min
177 hrs/yr
$5,485
914
Maine
20.8 min
41.6 min
173 hrs/yr
$5,372
1,015
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.
On average, it takes
21.2
minutes to get to work in
Lincoln County.
That's 5% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 13.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Lincoln County
Car:
82.8%
Worked at Home:
13.2%
Walked:
2.3%
Other:
1.3%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Public Transportation:
0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Lincoln County: 3.5 times less than the Maine average (0.1% vs 0.5%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Lincoln County: 15.0 times less than the Maine average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Lincoln County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Lincoln 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
Bicycle
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
88.6%
7.3%
2.8%
0.8%
0.1%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2010
88.9%
7.2%
2.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2011
88.6%
7.7%
2.5%
0.8%
0.0%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
89.2%
7.2%
2.4%
0.9%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2013
88.5%
7.1%
2.6%
1.1%
0.2%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2014
89.3%
6.1%
2.6%
1.0%
0.2%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2015
88.7%
6.1%
3.2%
1.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2016
88.6%
6.4%
2.9%
1.1%
0.4%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2017
87.2%
7.0%
3.3%
1.3%
0.4%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
2018
87.0%
8.0%
3.3%
1.2%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
87.6%
7.4%
3.4%
1.1%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
87.8%
8.2%
2.7%
1.0%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
86.5%
9.5%
2.7%
1.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
86.5%
10.2%
2.3%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
84.9%
11.3%
2.7%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
82.8%
13.2%
2.3%
1.3%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2014 at 89.3%. Overall it fell from 88.6% in 2009 to 82.8% in 2024, down 5.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Lincoln County: its share of workers rose from 7.3% in 2009 to 13.2% in 2024, up 5.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.8% to 2.3% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Lincoln County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lincoln County?
The bars show when commuters in Lincoln 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 Maine for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMLincoln County4.5%Maine6.3%
4.5%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMLincoln County6.6%Maine4.1%
6.6%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMLincoln County5.5%Maine5.7%
5.5%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMLincoln County9.7%Maine9.3%
9.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMLincoln County13.2%Maine11.4%
13.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMLincoln County13.3%Maine15.8%
13.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMLincoln County12.4%Maine12.8%
12.4%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMLincoln County10.2%Maine9.9%
10.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMLincoln County5.4%Maine4.7%
5.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMLincoln County6.3%Maine5.3%
6.3%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMLincoln County2.3%Maine2.4%
2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMLincoln County1.2%Maine1.4%
1.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMLincoln County6.2%Maine6.3%
6.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMLincoln County3.1%Maine4.6%
3.1%
Lincoln CountyMaineSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Lincoln County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.8% across Maine. Early starts are about as common as in Maine: 16.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.0% there. The morning rush looks much like Maine's: 49.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.9% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.1%) 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County next to Maine 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
Lincoln County
Maine
United States
2009
7:20 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:21 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:21 AM
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:20 AM
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:23 AM
7:27 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:22 AM
7:27 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:20 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:19 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:16 AM
7:25 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:13 AM
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:10 AM
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:12 AM
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:09 AM
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:14 AM
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:21 AM
7:25 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:24 AM
7:25 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Lincoln County were on the road by 7:24 AM, 3 minutes later than in 2009 (7:20 AM). That goes against the trend across Maine, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Lincoln County now leave 14 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 Lincoln County has moved 14 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Lincoln County in the whole series.
How does Lincoln County's commute time compare?
Metric
Lincoln County
Maine
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.2 min
20.8 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
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
13.2%
15.9%
15.0%
Walked
2.3%
3.4%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.1%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Lincoln County is about the same as in Maine.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in Maine. 2.3% commute by walking, lower than the 3.4% in Maine.
Lincoln County, ME Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Lincoln County, ME is typical in size for this group, 36,099 residents against a local median of 41,003, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. Lincoln County, ME sits close to the middle of its own neighbourhood. No measure below is more than 15% off the local median, so the choice between these counties turns on things this data does not capture.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 15% below the local median at 13.2% against 15.6%. Lincoln County, ME has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Lincoln County, Maine.
Is commuting expensive in Lincoln County, Maine?
Commuters here spend an estimated 177 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,485 at a typical national wage. That's 2% more than the typical Maine commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Lincoln County, Maine?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Lincoln County, Maine. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How common is public transit use in Lincoln County, Maine?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 0.5% in Maine, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Which counties in Maine have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in Maine, the shortest average commutes are in Aroostook County (13.5 min), Piscataquis County (16.3 min), Knox County (16.6 min). The longest are in York County (23.9 min), Oxford County (23.4 min), Somerset County (22.5 min).