Commuting in Benton County, Minnesota: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:18 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Benton County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:18 PM
Commute Time Burden in Benton County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Benton County spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 153 hours, about 6.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 10% less time on the road than the Minnesota average of 20.3 minutes each way, a difference of 1.9 minutes.
Benton County holds about 0.7% of Minnesota's population and accounts for roughly 0.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Benton County would save about 61 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,900 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)
Benton County
18.4 min
36.8 min
153 hrs/yr
$4,750
1,154
Minnesota
20.3 min
40.6 min
169 hrs/yr
$5,249
854
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
18.4
minutes to get to work in
Benton County.
That's 18% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 9.5% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Benton County
Car:
85.7%
Worked at Home:
9.5%
Walked:
3.2%
Other:
0.8%
Public Transportation:
0.4%unusually low
Bicycle:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Benton County: 4.0 times less than the Minnesota average (0.4% vs 1.8%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Benton County: 6.5 times less than the Minnesota average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Benton County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Benton 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
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
89.5%
4.2%
3.7%
0.4%
1.2%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2010
89.7%
4.7%
3.1%
0.5%
1.1%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
2011
90.3%
5.0%
2.3%
0.3%
1.5%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2012
91.1%
5.0%
1.8%
0.3%
1.1%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2013
91.8%
4.8%
1.7%
0.4%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2014
91.5%
4.5%
1.9%
0.5%
0.9%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
2015
91.1%
4.9%
1.5%
0.8%
1.0%
0.7%
0.1%
0.0%
2016
91.4%
4.0%
1.7%
0.7%
1.0%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
2017
91.0%
4.1%
1.9%
0.9%
1.3%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
2018
90.6%
4.0%
1.9%
0.9%
1.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
2019
92.5%
3.8%
1.4%
0.8%
1.2%
0.0%
0.1%
0.3%
2020
90.7%
5.1%
2.2%
0.6%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.3%
2021
89.9%
6.1%
2.3%
0.6%
0.8%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2022
88.8%
6.5%
3.1%
0.6%
0.7%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2023
87.8%
7.5%
3.0%
0.8%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
0.2%
2024
85.7%
9.5%
3.2%
0.8%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2019 at 92.5%. Overall it fell from 89.5% in 2009 to 85.7% in 2024, down 3.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Benton County: its share of workers rose from 4.2% in 2009 to 9.5% in 2024, up 5.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.2% to 0.4% of workers (down 0.8 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Benton County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Benton County?
The bars show when commuters in Benton 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 Minnesota for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMBenton County6.6%Minnesota5.0%
6.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMBenton County5.9%Minnesota3.8%
5.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMBenton County5.4%Minnesota5.2%
5.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMBenton County8.9%Minnesota8.4%
8.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMBenton County12.5%Minnesota10.2%
12.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMBenton County17.0%Minnesota14.8%
17.0%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMBenton County12.6%Minnesota13.8%
12.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMBenton County7.6%Minnesota10.4%
7.6%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMBenton County2.7%Minnesota4.7%
2.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMBenton County2.9%Minnesota5.8%
2.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMBenton County2.2%Minnesota2.7%
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMBenton County1.0%Minnesota1.3%
1.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMBenton County7.6%Minnesota8.2%
7.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMBenton County7.1%Minnesota5.8%
7.1%
Benton CountyMinnesotaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Benton County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.8% across Minnesota. Early starts are more common than in Minnesota: 18.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush looks much like Minnesota's: 49.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.2% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (20.7%) 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 Benton 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 Benton 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 Benton County next to Minnesota 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
Benton County
Minnesota
United States
2009
7:30 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:30 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:31 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:28 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:25 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:24 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:21 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:22 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:23 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:25 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:25 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:24 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:22 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:22 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:19 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:19 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Benton County were on the road by 7:19 AM, 11 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:30 AM). Across Minnesota, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Benton County now leave 19 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 Benton County has moved 6 minutes earlier.
How does Benton County's commute time compare?
Metric
Benton County
Minnesota
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.4 min
20.3 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
9.5%
17.6%
15.0%
Walked
3.2%
2.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.4%
1.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Benton County is 18.4 minutes, shorter than the 20.3 minutes in Minnesota.
0.4% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.8% in Minnesota. 3.2% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in Minnesota.
Benton County, MN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Benton County, MN is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 41,593 residents against a local median of 100,509. Where Benton County, MN breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 23% below the local median of 23.7 min at 18.4 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 11.6 min on one-way commute, so Benton County, MN sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Benton County, MN has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Benton County, Minnesota.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Benton County, Minnesota?
Commuters here spend an estimated 153 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,750 at a typical national wage. That's 10% less than the typical Minnesota commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Benton County, Minnesota?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Benton County, Minnesota. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Do people use public transit in Benton County, Minnesota?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.4% of commuters use it versus 1.8% in Minnesota, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Minnesota?
Among counties in Minnesota, the shortest average commutes are in Brown County (10.6 min), Pennington County (10.8 min), Cottonwood County (10.9 min). The longest are in Chisago County (30.9 min), Wright County (28.8 min), Sherburne County (28.8 min).