Ontonagon County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Ontonagon County, 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, 3:39 PM

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

Map AI 9/24/26, 3:39 PM

Commute Time Burden in Ontonagon County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Ontonagon County spend about 35 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 147 hours, about 6.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 17% less time on the road than the Michigan average of 21.3 minutes each way, a difference of 3.7 minutes.

Ontonagon County holds about 0.1% of Michigan's population but accounts for roughly 0.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Ontonagon County would save about 59 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,818 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)
Ontonagon County	17.6 min	35.2 min	147 hrs/yr	$4,545	104
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

Ontonagon County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 17.6 minutes to get to work in Ontonagon County. That's 21% 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 11.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Ontonagon County

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

Walking is unusually common in Ontonagon County: 3.0 times more than the Michigan average (6.0% vs 2.0%).

Biking is essentially absent in Ontonagon County, versus 0.3% in Michigan.

Commute Mode Trends in Ontonagon County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Ontonagon 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	Taxi	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	89.7%	2.2%	6.6%	0.9%	0.3%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%
2010	89.4%	2.5%	6.4%	1.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%
2011	89.4%	2.7%	6.0%	1.1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%
2012	88.5%	4.0%	5.1%	1.6%	0.5%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2013	90.5%	3.9%	4.4%	0.8%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2014	89.1%	4.2%	5.4%	0.9%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2015	89.0%	4.8%	4.7%	0.9%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2016	87.4%	5.3%	6.1%	0.6%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	87.6%	5.9%	5.5%	0.4%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
2018	86.1%	7.2%	5.4%	0.4%	0.7%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
2019	87.0%	7.3%	4.3%	0.4%	0.6%	0.0%	0.1%	0.2%
2020	86.6%	7.3%	4.8%	0.5%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%
2021	89.0%	6.9%	3.1%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%
2022	86.3%	8.5%	3.7%	1.1%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2023	83.8%	10.8%	3.8%	1.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2024	80.7%	11.7%	6.0%	1.1%	0.4%	0.1%	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 2013 at 90.5%. Overall it fell from 89.7% in 2009 to 80.7% in 2024, down 9.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Ontonagon County: its share of workers rose from 2.2% in 2009 to 11.7% in 2024, up 9.5 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 6.6% to 6.0% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2017 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Ontonagon County

Hitting SnoozeThe 3rd-biggest shift to later mornings among Michigan's 83 counties: the typical start is 8 minutes later than in 2009.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Ontonagon County?

The bars show when commuters in Ontonagon 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		6.0%
5:00-5:29 AM		5.8%
5:30-5:59 AM		9.1%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.0%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.1%
7:00-7:29 AM		7.3%
7:30-7:59 AM		16.5%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.7%
8:30-8:59 AM		7.4%
9:00-9:59 AM		3.6%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.8%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.3%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.7%
4:00-11:59 PM		9.6%

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

The busiest time to head out in Ontonagon County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.1% across Michigan. Early starts are more common than in Michigan: 20.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Michigan: 40.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.1%) 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 Ontonagon 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 Ontonagon 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 Ontonagon 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	Ontonagon County	Michigan	United States
2009	7:38 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:58 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:52 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:55 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:51 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:51 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:44 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:43 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:47 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:52 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:55 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:00 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:04 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:56 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:50 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:46 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Ontonagon County were on the road by 7:46 AM, 8 minutes later than in 2009 (7:38 AM). Across Michigan, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Ontonagon County now leave 8 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 Ontonagon County has moved 9 minutes earlier.

How does Ontonagon County's commute time compare?

Metric	Ontonagon County	Michigan	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	17.6 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	11.7%	13.5%	15.0%
Walked	6.0%	2.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.4%	0.9%	3.2%

The average commute time in Ontonagon County is 17.6 minutes, shorter than the 21.3 minutes in Michigan.

0.4% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Michigan. 6.0% commute by walking, higher than the 2.0% in Michigan.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Ontonagon County, MI Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Ontonagon County, MI is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 5,848 residents against a local median of 14,317. Where Ontonagon County, MI breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 55% above the local median of 7.5% at 11.7%.

One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 17.6 min against a local median of 13.5 min, 31% above it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 31% above the local median it puts Ontonagon County, MI at the weaker end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 5.6% on work from home, so Ontonagon County, MI sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Ontonagon County, MI has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Ontonagon County, MI	5,848	17.6 min #6/6	11.7% #1/6	7:46 AM #5/6
Gogebic County, MI	14,317	12.6 min	7.5%	7:20 AM
Houghton County, MI	34,105	13.5 min	10.0%	7:58 AM
Vilas County, WI	23,647	16.2 min	11.3%	7:28 AM
Iron County, WI	6,210	16.3 min	6.8%	7:15 AM
Baraga County, MI	8,191	12.5 min	5.8%	7:42 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Ontonagon County, Michigan.

Is commuting expensive in Ontonagon County, Michigan?

Commuters here spend an estimated 147 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,545 at a typical national wage. That's 17% less than the typical Michigan commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Ontonagon County, Michigan?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Ontonagon County, 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.

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).