Waldo County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 6:45 PM

Is the commute in Waldo County longer than the national average?

Map AI 9/24/26, 6:45 PM

Commute Time Burden in Waldo County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Waldo County spend about 45 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 187 hours, about 7.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 8% more time on the road than the Maine average of 20.8 minutes each way, a difference of 1.6 minutes.

Waldo County holds about 2.9% of Maine's population but accounts for roughly 3.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Waldo County would save about 75 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,314 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)
Waldo County	22.4 min	44.8 min	187 hrs/yr	$5,786	720
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.

Commute Time Map: Maine Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Maine

Aroostook County (13.5 min)
Piscataquis County (16.3 min)
Knox County (16.6 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Maine

York County (23.9 min)
Oxford County (23.4 min)
Somerset County (22.5 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Waldo County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 22.4 minutes to get to work in Waldo County. That's about the same as the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the 5 slowest counties in Maine

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 15.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Waldo County

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Waldo County, versus 0.2% in Maine.

Commute Mode Trends in Waldo County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Waldo 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	Motorcycle	Bicycle	Taxi
2009	85.7%	7.9%	5.1%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2010	85.5%	8.1%	4.8%	0.5%	0.3%	0.1%	0.5%	0.1%
2011	86.4%	7.6%	4.1%	0.8%	0.3%	0.1%	0.6%	0.1%
2012	86.4%	7.8%	3.4%	1.0%	0.3%	0.2%	0.9%	0.1%
2013	86.5%	7.9%	3.3%	1.0%	0.4%	0.2%	0.6%	0.1%
2014	85.9%	8.2%	3.4%	1.0%	0.5%	0.1%	0.8%	0.1%
2015	85.5%	8.5%	3.8%	1.0%	0.4%	0.2%	0.7%	0.0%
2016	85.7%	8.4%	3.6%	1.0%	0.5%	0.2%	0.7%	0.0%
2017	86.5%	7.9%	3.9%	0.5%	0.4%	0.1%	0.6%	0.0%
2018	87.7%	7.6%	3.4%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%	0.4%	0.0%
2019	86.9%	7.7%	3.6%	0.7%	0.4%	0.2%	0.4%	0.0%
2020	84.7%	10.1%	3.3%	0.8%	0.5%	0.1%	0.4%	0.0%
2021	83.5%	11.5%	3.1%	0.7%	0.6%	0.1%	0.4%	0.0%
2022	82.2%	13.0%	2.9%	1.0%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2023	79.6%	15.1%	3.6%	0.8%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2024	79.8%	15.6%	3.3%	0.7%	0.5%	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 was highest in 2018 at 87.7% and lowest in 2023 at 79.6%. Overall it fell from 85.7% in 2009 to 79.8% in 2024, down 5.9 percentage points.

Working from home gained the most ground in Waldo County: its share of workers rose from 7.9% in 2009 to 15.6% in 2024, up 7.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.1% to 3.3% of workers (down 1.8 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Waldo County

Rush-Hour RegularsThe highest share of rush-hour departures among Maine's 16 counties: 53.6% of commuters leave between 6:30 and 8:29 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Waldo County?

The bars show when commuters in Waldo 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		5.4%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.9%
5:30-5:59 AM		5.3%
6:00-6:29 AM		11.2%
6:30-6:59 AM		13.6%
7:00-7:29 AM		17.4%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.6%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.5%
9:00-9:59 AM		5.1%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.1%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.0%
12:00-3:59 PM		4.4%
4:00-11:59 PM		2.5%

Waldo County Maine Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Waldo County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.8% across Maine. Early starts are about as common as in Maine: 15.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.0% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Maine: 53.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.9% there. About 1 in 7 commuters (15.1%) 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 Waldo 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 Waldo 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 Waldo 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	Waldo County	Maine	United States
2009	7:18 AM	7:26 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:19 AM	7:26 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:16 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:16 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:19 AM	7:27 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:18 AM	7:27 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:18 AM	7:26 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:19 AM	7:26 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:17 AM	7:25 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:17 AM	7:24 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:18 AM	7:24 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:16 AM	7:24 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:16 AM	7:24 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:17 AM	7:24 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:17 AM	7:25 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:16 AM	7:25 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Waldo County were on the road by 7:16 AM, 1 minute earlier than in 2009 (7:18 AM). Maine followed the same path, with the typical start moving 1 minute earlier. Commuters in Waldo County now leave 21 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Waldo County's commute time compare?

Metric	Waldo County	Maine	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	22.4 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	15.6%	15.9%	15.0%
Walked	3.3%	3.4%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.5%	0.5%	3.2%

The average commute time in Waldo County is 22.4 minutes, longer than the 20.8 minutes in Maine.

The share of commuters using public transit is about the same as Maine. 3.3% commute by walking, lower than the 3.4% in Maine.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Waldo County, ME Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Waldo County, ME is typical in size for this group, 40,192 residents against a local median of 41,003, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. Nothing separates Waldo County, ME sharply from the counties around it. Each measure below lands within 15% of the local median, close enough that the differences are within what survey sampling alone would produce.

The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 5% above the local median at 22.4 min against 21.2 min. Waldo County, ME has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Waldo County, ME	40,192	22.4 min #6/6	15.6% #3/6	7:16 AM #1/6
Knox County, ME	41,003	16.6 min	16.6%	7:30 AM
Lincoln County, ME	36,099	21.2 min	13.2%	7:23 AM
Kennebec County, ME	126,799	21.1 min	15.3%	7:18 AM
Hancock County, ME	56,460	21.6 min	13.7%	7:18 AM
Sagadahoc County, ME	37,285	22.2 min	16.9%	7:19 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Waldo County, Maine.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Waldo County, Maine?

Commuters here spend an estimated 187 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,786 at a typical national wage. That's 8% more than the typical Maine commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Waldo County, Maine?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Waldo 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.

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).