Forest Hills Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Forest 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, 4:06 PM

What does a typical morning commute look like in Forest Hills?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:06 PM

Commute Time Burden in Forest Hills: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Forest Hills spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 154 hours, about 6.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 13% less time on the road than the Michigan average of 21.3 minutes each way, a difference of 2.8 minutes.

Forest Hills holds about 0.3% of Michigan's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Forest Hills would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,910 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)
Forest Hills	18.5 min	37.0 min	154 hrs/yr	$4,775	2,456
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.

Forest Hills Commute Map

On average, it takes 18.5 minutes to get to work in Forest Hills. That's 18% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 22.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Forest Hills

Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Forest Hills: 4763768.9 times less than the Michigan average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Forest Hills, versus 0.1% in Michigan.

Commute Mode Trends in Forest Hills, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Forest 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	Public Transportation	Other	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	92.4%	5.0%	0.9%	0.1%	0.6%	0.5%	0.1%	0.5%
2010	92.5%	5.6%	0.8%	0.2%	0.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2011	93.6%	4.9%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%	0.6%	0.0%	0.3%
2012	93.7%	4.4%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%	0.7%	0.0%	0.3%
2013	92.7%	5.4%	0.6%	0.5%	0.1%	0.5%	0.0%	0.2%
2014	92.6%	6.3%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2015	92.0%	6.1%	0.9%	0.5%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	90.9%	7.3%	0.8%	0.5%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	89.2%	8.9%	1.0%	0.6%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	89.5%	8.7%	1.0%	0.3%	0.4%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2019	87.6%	10.2%	1.0%	0.4%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	81.8%	16.4%	0.7%	0.5%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	81.2%	17.0%	0.9%	0.5%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	78.5%	19.3%	1.2%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	75.0%	22.2%	1.2%	1.0%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	75.2%	22.6%	1.0%	0.6%	0.5%	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 was highest in 2012 at 93.7% and lowest in 2023 at 75.0%. Overall it fell from 92.4% in 2009 to 75.2% in 2024, down 17.2 percentage points.

Working from home gained the most ground in Forest Hills: its share of workers rose from 5.0% in 2009 to 22.6% in 2024, up 17.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 12.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Riding a motorcycle lost the most ground, falling from 0.5% to 0.0% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).

Public transit overtook riding a motorcycle to become the 4th most common choice in the 2013 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Forest Hills

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Forest Hills?

The bars show when commuters in Forest 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		2.4%
5:00-5:29 AM		0.9%
5:30-5:59 AM		2.1%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.1%
6:30-6:59 AM		6.3%
7:00-7:29 AM		15.8%
7:30-7:59 AM		25.2%
8:00-8:29 AM		17.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.8%
9:00-9:59 AM		5.7%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.5%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.6%
12:00-3:59 PM		4.7%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.2%

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

The busiest time to head out in Forest Hills is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 25.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.1% across Michigan. Early starts are less common than in Michigan: 5.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Michigan: 65.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (18.7%) 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 Forest 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 Forest 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 Forest 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	Forest Hills	Michigan	United States
2009	7:50 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:47 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:47 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:45 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:45 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:47 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:51 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:50 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:49 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:51 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:51 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:49 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:47 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:48 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:47 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:50 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Forest Hills were on the road by 7:50 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Michigan, the typical start barely moved either. Commuters in Forest Hills now leave 12 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Forest Hills's commute time compare?

Metric	Forest Hills	Michigan	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	18.5 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	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	22.6%	13.5%	15.0%
Walked	1.0%	2.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.6%	0.9%	3.2%

The average commute time in Forest Hills is 18.5 minutes, shorter than the 21.3 minutes in Michigan.

0.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Michigan. 1.0% commute by walking, lower than the 2.0% in Michigan.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Forest Hills, MI Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Forest Hills, MI compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Forest Hills, MI	27,933	18.5 min #2/2	22.6% #1/2	7:50 AM #1/2
Kentwood, MI	54,971	17.5 min	12.2%	7:55 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Forest Hills, Michigan.

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

Commuters here spend an estimated 154 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,775 at a typical national wage. That's 13% less than the typical Michigan commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Forest Hills, Michigan?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Forest 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 Forest Hills, Michigan a good location for remote and hybrid workers?

About 22.6% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Forest Hills would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,910 at the same national wage assumption used above.