Commuting in Dickinson County, Michigan: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:24 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Dickinson County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:24 PM
Commute Time Burden in Dickinson County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Dickinson County spend about 24 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 102 hours, about 4.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 43% less time on the road than the Michigan average of 21.3 minutes each way, a difference of 9.1 minutes.
Dickinson County holds about 0.3% of Michigan's population but accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Dickinson County would save about 41 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,260 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)
Dickinson County
12.2 min
24.4 min
102 hrs/yr
$3,149
334
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.
On average, it takes
12.2
minutes to get to work in
Dickinson County.
That's 46% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the top 3 fastest 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 9.0% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Dickinson County
Car:
85.6%
Worked at Home:
9.0%
Walked:
3.0%
Other:
1.2%
Bicycle:
0.6%
Public Transportation:
0.3%
Taxi:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Dickinson County, versus 0.1% in Michigan.
Commute Mode Trends in Dickinson County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Dickinson 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
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
92.5%
4.0%
2.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2010
92.7%
4.0%
2.3%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.3%
2011
93.4%
3.2%
2.4%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
2012
92.7%
3.7%
2.5%
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.5%
2013
92.0%
3.3%
3.2%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.5%
2014
92.8%
2.6%
2.9%
0.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.5%
2015
93.6%
2.2%
2.8%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.5%
2016
93.8%
2.4%
2.4%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.4%
2017
93.1%
2.3%
2.5%
1.6%
0.0%
0.3%
0.0%
0.2%
2018
93.4%
3.0%
1.7%
1.3%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
0.3%
2019
93.3%
3.5%
1.7%
1.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.2%
2020
92.7%
4.2%
1.7%
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.3%
2021
89.5%
6.1%
2.1%
1.7%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.3%
2022
87.8%
7.7%
2.3%
1.6%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
2023
87.9%
7.9%
2.5%
1.0%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
85.6%
9.0%
3.0%
1.2%
0.6%
0.3%
0.3%
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 93.8%. Overall it fell from 92.5% in 2009 to 85.6% in 2024, down 6.9 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.
Working from home gained the most ground in Dickinson County: its share of workers rose from 4.0% in 2009 to 9.0% in 2024, up 5.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Biking overtook riding a motorcycle to become the 5th most common choice in the 2022 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Dickinson County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Dickinson County?
The bars show when commuters in Dickinson 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
12:00-4:59 AMDickinson County9.6%Michigan5.3%
9.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMDickinson County3.5%Michigan3.9%
3.5%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMDickinson County8.5%Michigan5.1%
8.5%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMDickinson County4.9%Michigan8.0%
4.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMDickinson County11.7%Michigan9.0%
11.7%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMDickinson County14.5%Michigan13.0%
14.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMDickinson County16.0%Michigan12.1%
16.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMDickinson County5.6%Michigan10.9%
5.6%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMDickinson County3.8%Michigan5.6%
3.8%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMDickinson County3.7%Michigan6.7%
3.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMDickinson County2.2%Michigan3.2%
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMDickinson County0.5%Michigan1.6%
0.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMDickinson County8.9%Michigan8.5%
8.9%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMDickinson County6.4%Michigan7.1%
6.4%
Dickinson CountyMichiganSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Dickinson County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.1% across Michigan. Early starts are more common than in Michigan: 21.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Michigan: 47.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.8%) 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 Dickinson 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 Dickinson 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 Dickinson 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
Dickinson County
Michigan
United States
2009
7:39 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:36 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:39 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:34 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:34 AM
7:45 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:33 AM
7:45 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:32 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:25 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:30 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:31 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:27 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:25 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:34 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:29 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:27 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:24 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Dickinson County were on the road by 7:24 AM, 14 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:39 AM). Across Michigan, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Dickinson County now leave 13 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 Dickinson County has moved 3 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Dickinson County in the whole series.
How does Dickinson County's commute time compare?
Metric
Dickinson County
Michigan
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
12.2 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
9.0%
13.5%
15.0%
Walked
3.0%
2.0%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.3%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Dickinson County is 12.2 minutes, shorter than the 21.3 minutes in Michigan.
0.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Michigan. 3.0% commute by walking, higher than the 2.0% in Michigan.
Dickinson County, MI Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Dickinson County, MI is typical in size for this group, 25,954 residents against a local median of 23,247, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. Dickinson County, MI's one-way commute, at 12.2 min, runs 23% below the 15.9 min typical of the counties around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 2.3 min on one-way commute, so Dickinson County, MI sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Dickinson County, MI has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Dickinson County, Michigan.
Is living in Dickinson County, Michigan good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 102 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,149 at a typical national wage. That's 43% less than the typical Michigan commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Dickinson County, Michigan?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Dickinson 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.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).