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Auburn Hills Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 4:05 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Auburn Hills?
Map AI 9/24/26, 4:05 PM

Commute Time Burden in Auburn Hills: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Auburn Hills spend about 38 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 157 hours, about 6.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 12% less time on the road than the Michigan average of 21.3 minutes each way, a difference of 2.5 minutes.

Auburn Hills holds about 0.2% of Michigan's population and accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Auburn Hills would save about 63 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,949 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)
Auburn Hills 18.9 min 37.7 min 157 hrs/yr $4,872 3,476
Michigan 21.3 min 42.6 min 178 hrs/yr $5,509 1,585
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.

Auburn Hills Commute Map

On average, it takes 18.9 minutes to get to work in Auburn Hills. That's 16% 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 18.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Auburn Hills

  • Car: 78.0%
  • Worked at Home: 18.8%
  • Walked: 1.6%
  • Other: 1.4%
  • Taxi: 0.2%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1%
  • Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low

Public transit is essentially absent in Auburn Hills, versus 0.9% in Michigan.

Biking is unusually rare in Auburn Hills: 4657.6 times less than the Michigan average (0.0% vs 0.3%).

Commute Mode Trends in Auburn Hills, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Auburn Hills 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 Taxi Motorcycle Public Transportation Bicycle
2009 94.2% 2.4% 2.7% 0.1% 0.3% 0.1% 0.0% 0.2%
2010 94.2% 2.2% 2.3% 0.6% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2%
2011 92.1% 2.5% 3.9% 0.7% 0.3% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3%
2012 92.6% 3.6% 2.4% 0.4% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.4%
2013 92.3% 3.6% 2.3% 0.6% 0.4% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3%
2014 91.4% 4.8% 2.7% 0.6% 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.1%
2015 91.2% 4.9% 2.8% 0.3% 0.3% 0.1% 0.2% 0.1%
2016 92.5% 4.8% 1.9% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%
2017 93.1% 4.0% 2.0% 0.4% 0.2% 0.1% 0.2% 0.0%
2018 93.0% 3.8% 1.9% 0.4% 0.2% 0.1% 0.3% 0.3%
2019 93.2% 3.3% 1.7% 0.5% 0.2% 0.0% 0.9% 0.3%
2020 91.0% 5.3% 1.7% 0.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.7% 0.3%
2021 86.3% 10.3% 1.7% 0.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.5% 0.3%
2022 83.5% 12.4% 1.7% 1.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.5% 0.3%
2023 81.9% 14.8% 1.4% 1.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.3% 0.0%
2024 78.0% 18.8% 1.6% 1.4% 0.2% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 94.2% in 2009 to 78.0% in 2024, down 16.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Auburn Hills: its share of workers rose from 2.4% in 2009 to 18.8% in 2024, up 16.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 15.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.7% to 1.6% of workers (down 1.1 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2012 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Auburn Hills

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Auburn Hills?

The bars show when commuters in Auburn Hills 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 Michigan for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM
5.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
2.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5.3%
6:00-6:29 AM
9.8%
6:30-6:59 AM
7.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
13.0%
7:30-7:59 AM
12.5%
8:00-8:29 AM
13.0%
8:30-8:59 AM
6.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9.6%
10:00-10:59 AM
3.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM
8.0%
4:00-11:59 PM
4.1%

Auburn Hills Michigan Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Auburn Hills is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.0% across Michigan. Early starts are less common than in Michigan: 12.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush looks much like Michigan's: 45.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.0% 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 Auburn Hills, 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 Auburn Hills 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 Auburn Hills next to Michigan 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 Auburn Hills Michigan United States
2009 7:52 AM 7:44 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:54 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:54 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM
2012 8:00 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:56 AM 7:45 AM 7:39 AM
2014 8:04 AM 7:45 AM 7:39 AM
2015 8:02 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM
2016 8:04 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM
2017 8:04 AM 7:43 AM 7:38 AM
2018 8:04 AM 7:43 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:58 AM 7:42 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:57 AM 7:42 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:50 AM 7:42 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:47 AM 7:43 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:49 AM 7:43 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:48 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Auburn Hills were on the road by 7:48 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:52 AM). Across Michigan, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Auburn Hills now leave 10 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 Auburn Hills has moved 11 minutes earlier.

How does Auburn Hills's commute time compare?

Metric Auburn Hills Michigan US Average
Avg. Commute Time 18.9 min 21.3 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 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 18.8% 13.5% 15.0%
Walked 1.6% 2.0% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.9% 3.2%

The average commute time in Auburn Hills is 18.9 minutes, shorter than the 21.3 minutes in Michigan.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Michigan. 1.6% commute by walking, lower than the 2.0% in Michigan.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Auburn Hills, MI Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Auburn Hills, MI compares with the 2 cities closest to it.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Auburn Hills, MI 24,784 18.9 min #2/3 18.8% #2/3 7:48 AM #1/3
Pontiac, MI 62,501 18.3 min 4.9% 7:57 AM
Rochester Hills, MI 77,315 21.5 min 23.6% 7:56 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Is commuting expensive in Auburn Hills, Michigan?

Commuters here spend an estimated 157 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,872 at a typical national wage. That's 12% less than the typical Michigan commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Auburn Hills, Michigan?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Auburn Hills, Michigan. 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.

Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Auburn Hills, Michigan?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.9% in Michigan, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

Is Auburn Hills, Michigan a good location for remote and hybrid workers?

About 18.8% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Auburn Hills would save about 63 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,949 at the same national wage assumption used above.