Dearborn Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Dearborn, 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 much time do drivers in Dearborn spend on the road daily?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:05 PM

Commute Time Burden in Dearborn: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Dearborn spend about 41 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 171 hours, about 7.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 4% less time on the road than the Michigan average of 21.3 minutes each way, a difference of 0.9 minutes.

Dearborn holds about 1.1% of Michigan's population but accounts for roughly 1.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Dearborn would save about 68 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,115 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)
Dearborn	20.5 min	40.9 min	171 hrs/yr	$5,288	3,895
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.

Dearborn Commute Map

On average, it takes 20.5 minutes to get to work in Dearborn. That's 9% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 09:00 AM – 09:59 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 Dearborn

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

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Dearborn: 4.9 times less than the Michigan average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Commute Mode Trends in Dearborn, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Dearborn 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	Public Transportation	Walked	Other	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	94.8%	1.8%	0.8%	1.6%	0.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%
2010	94.4%	2.0%	0.7%	1.8%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%
2011	94.3%	2.1%	0.7%	1.6%	0.7%	0.3%	0.0%	0.2%
2012	94.4%	2.2%	0.6%	1.8%	0.5%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2013	94.5%	2.4%	0.5%	1.7%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2014	94.5%	2.5%	0.6%	1.5%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2015	94.5%	2.5%	0.5%	1.5%	0.6%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2016	94.7%	2.1%	0.3%	1.6%	0.8%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%
2017	94.2%	2.4%	0.4%	1.6%	1.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2018	94.0%	2.3%	0.7%	1.6%	1.0%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2019	94.0%	2.2%	0.6%	1.5%	1.1%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%
2020	91.7%	4.5%	0.7%	1.3%	1.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
2021	88.3%	8.2%	0.9%	1.3%	1.0%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%
2022	86.9%	9.9%	1.0%	1.2%	0.7%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%
2023	85.2%	11.6%	0.9%	1.2%	0.9%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	84.3%	13.2%	0.9%	0.9%	0.4%	0.3%	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 94.8% in 2009 to 84.3% in 2024, down 10.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Dearborn: its share of workers rose from 1.8% in 2009 to 13.2% in 2024, up 11.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 1.6% to 0.9% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Dearborn

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Dearborn?

The bars show when commuters in Dearborn 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		3.8%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.3%
5:30-5:59 AM		2.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		7.6%
6:30-6:59 AM		4.5%
7:00-7:29 AM		11.0%
7:30-7:59 AM		8.0%
8:00-8:29 AM		14.2%
8:30-8:59 AM		9.2%
9:00-9:59 AM		11.1%
10:00-10:59 AM		6.6%
11:00-11:59 AM		3.3%
12:00-3:59 PM		9.5%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.2%

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

The busiest time to head out in Dearborn is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 14.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 10.9% across Michigan. Early starts are less common than in Michigan: 8.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Michigan: 37.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.0% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (36.7%) 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 Dearborn, 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 Dearborn 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 Dearborn 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	Dearborn	Michigan	United States
2009	8:03 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2010	8:01 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2011	8:03 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2012	8:03 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2013	8:07 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2014	8:06 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2015	8:07 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2016	8:09 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2017	8:10 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2018	8:08 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2019	8:10 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:10 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:12 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:15 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:19 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:21 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Dearborn were on the road by 8:21 AM, 18 minutes later than in 2009 (8:03 AM). Across Michigan, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Dearborn now leave 43 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 Dearborn has moved 11 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Dearborn in the whole series.

How does Dearborn's commute time compare?

Metric	Dearborn	Michigan	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	20.5 min	21.3 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	09:00 AM – 09:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	13.2%	13.5%	15.0%
Walked	0.9%	2.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.9%	0.9%	3.2%

The average commute time in Dearborn is 20.5 minutes, shorter than the 21.3 minutes in Michigan.

The share of commuters using public transit is about the same as Michigan. 0.9% commute by walking, lower than the 2.0% in Michigan.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Dearborn, MI Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

Dearborn, MI is the largest of the 4 cities compared here, 107,299 residents against a local median of 39,240. Where Dearborn, MI breaks from the cities next to it is work from home, sitting 26% above the local median of 10.4% at 13.2%.

The cities themselves spread 4.8% on work from home, so Dearborn, MI sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Dearborn, MI has the highest work from home of the 4 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Dearborn, MI	107,299	20.5 min #1/4	13.2% #1/4	8:21 AM #4/4
Allen Park, MI	27,928	21.1 min	10.4%	7:36 AM
Dearborn Heights, MI	61,726	21.8 min	12.4%	8:16 AM
Lincoln Park, MI	39,240	21.9 min	7.7%	7:28 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Dearborn, Michigan.

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

Commuters here spend an estimated 171 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,288 at a typical national wage. That's 4% less than the typical Michigan commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Dearborn, Michigan?

Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Dearborn, Michigan. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 09:00 AM – 09:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.