Benzie County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 10/22/26, 12:26 AM

How long is the round-trip commute in Benzie County?

Map AI 10/22/26, 12:26 AM

Commute Time Burden in Benzie County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Benzie 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 188 hours, about 7.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% more time on the road than the Michigan average of 21.3 minutes each way, a difference of 1.2 minutes.

Benzie County 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 Benzie County would save about 75 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,327 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)
Benzie County	22.5 min	45.0 min	188 hrs/yr	$5,817	737
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.

Commute Time Map: Michigan Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Michigan

Luce County (11.4 min)
Dickinson County (12.2 min)
Schoolcraft County (12.5 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Michigan

Lapeer County (31.3 min)
Lake County (31.1 min)
Livingston County (28.6 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Benzie County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 22.5 minutes to get to work in Benzie County. That's about the same as the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 76% of counties in Michigan

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 11.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Benzie County

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Benzie County, versus 0.1% in Michigan.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Benzie County, versus 0.1% in Michigan.

Commute Mode Trends in Benzie County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Benzie 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	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	89.9%	6.3%	3.0%	0.3%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
2010	89.5%	6.3%	3.3%	0.3%	0.5%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
2011	89.3%	6.2%	2.9%	0.3%	1.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2012	89.4%	6.2%	2.7%	0.4%	1.2%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2013	89.0%	6.5%	2.4%	0.5%	1.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2014	89.5%	5.9%	2.1%	0.7%	1.6%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%
2015	89.9%	5.2%	2.1%	0.8%	1.8%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	90.7%	5.1%	1.8%	0.8%	1.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	89.4%	6.1%	1.8%	1.1%	1.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	90.7%	4.7%	2.0%	0.7%	1.4%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2019	90.7%	5.4%	1.6%	0.7%	1.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	89.6%	6.9%	1.2%	1.0%	0.9%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	87.9%	8.2%	1.1%	1.2%	1.1%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	87.0%	9.3%	0.9%	1.3%	1.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	86.8%	10.5%	0.7%	1.1%	0.8%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	85.7%	11.1%	1.2%	1.0%	0.8%	0.2%	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 2016 at 90.7%. Overall it fell from 89.9% in 2009 to 85.7% in 2024, down 4.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Benzie County: its share of workers rose from 6.3% in 2009 to 11.1% in 2024, up 4.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.0% to 1.2% of workers (down 1.8 percentage points).

Public transit peaked at 1.8% in 2015 and has since fallen back to 0.8%.

Commute Start Times in Benzie County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Benzie County?

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

12:00-4:59 AM		3.5%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.2%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.6%
6:00-6:29 AM		5.4%
6:30-6:59 AM		10.3%
7:00-7:29 AM		15.3%
7:30-7:59 AM		16.0%
8:00-8:29 AM		10.4%
8:30-8:59 AM		6.3%
9:00-9:59 AM		9.3%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.4%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.7%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.0%

Benzie County Michigan Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Benzie County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.1% across Michigan. Early starts are less common than in Michigan: 9.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Michigan: 52.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.2%) 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 Benzie 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 Benzie 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 Benzie County 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	Benzie County	Michigan	United States
2009	7:43 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:45 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:46 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:47 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:46 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:43 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:42 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:39 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:34 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:31 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:33 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:31 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:36 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:42 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:43 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:48 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Benzie County were on the road by 7:48 AM, 6 minutes later than in 2009 (7:43 AM). Across Michigan, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Benzie County now leave 11 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 Benzie County has moved 15 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Benzie County in the whole series.

How does Benzie County's commute time compare?

Metric	Benzie County	Michigan	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	22.5 min	21.3 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	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	11.1%	13.5%	15.0%
Walked	1.2%	2.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.8%	0.9%	3.2%

The average commute time in Benzie County is 22.5 minutes, longer than the 21.3 minutes in Michigan.

0.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Michigan. 1.2% commute by walking, lower than the 2.0% in Michigan.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Benzie County, MI Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Benzie County, MI is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 18,310 residents against a local median of 29,204. Where Benzie County, MI breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 27% above the local median of 17.8 min at 22.5 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

The counties themselves spread 5.2 min on one-way commute, so Benzie County, MI sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Benzie County, MI has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Benzie County, MI	18,310	22.5 min #6/6	11.1% #3/6	7:48 AM #4/6
Manistee County, MI	25,350	16.8 min	10.8%	7:41 AM
Leelanau County, MI	22,734	21.2 min	15.9%	7:55 AM
Mason County, MI	29,204	16.0 min	11.0%	7:38 AM
Grand Traverse County, MI	96,166	18.0 min	15.2%	7:51 AM
Wexford County, MI	34,076	17.8 min	7.1%	7:25 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Benzie County, Michigan.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Benzie County, Michigan?

Commuters here spend an estimated 188 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,817 at a typical national wage. That's 6% more than the typical Michigan commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Benzie County, Michigan?

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

How do commute times compare across counties in Michigan?

Among counties in Michigan, the shortest average commutes are in Luce County (11.4 min), Dickinson County (12.2 min), Schoolcraft County (12.5 min). The longest are in Lapeer County (31.3 min), Lake County (31.1 min), Livingston County (28.6 min).