Chippewa County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Chippewa County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Chippewa 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 99 hours, about 4.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 42% less time on the road than the Minnesota average of 20.3 minutes each way, a difference of 8.5 minutes.

Chippewa County holds about 0.2% of Minnesota's population but accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Chippewa County would save about 39 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,224 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)
Chippewa County	11.8 min	23.7 min	99 hrs/yr	$3,059	292
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.

Commute Time Map: Minnesota Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 11.8 minutes to get to work in Chippewa County. That's 47% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 92% of counties in Minnesota

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 8.5% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Chippewa County

• Car: 89.4%
• Worked at Home: 8.5%
• Walked: 1.5%
• Other: 0.4%
• Bicycle: 0.2%
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Chippewa County, versus 0.1% in Minnesota.

Public transit is unusually rare in Chippewa County: 19.8 times less than the Minnesota average (0.1% vs 1.8%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Chippewa County, versus 0.2% in Minnesota.

Commute Mode Trends in Chippewa County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Chippewa 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.

• Car
• Worked at Home
• Walked
• Other
• Bicycle
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Motorcycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Other	Bicycle	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	88.9%	5.3%	3.9%	0.3%	0.9%	0.3%	0.1%	0.3%
2010	88.8%	5.4%	3.8%	0.2%	1.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%
2011	88.1%	5.7%	4.1%	0.2%	1.0%	0.3%	0.2%	0.4%
2012	86.9%	7.1%	4.2%	0.1%	1.0%	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%
2013	88.2%	6.5%	3.5%	0.2%	0.7%	0.4%	0.2%	0.3%
2014	89.9%	5.6%	3.0%	0.2%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%
2015	88.8%	5.9%	3.4%	0.1%	0.8%	0.9%	0.0%	0.2%
2016	88.8%	6.1%	3.2%	0.1%	1.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	87.9%	6.9%	3.3%	0.2%	0.6%	1.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2018	87.1%	7.2%	4.4%	0.2%	0.1%	1.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2019	87.0%	7.2%	4.7%	0.2%	0.1%	0.8%	0.0%	0.1%
2020	87.3%	8.2%	3.8%	0.2%	0.1%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2021	87.3%	7.8%	4.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2022	89.3%	6.5%	3.6%	0.2%	0.1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	88.6%	8.2%	2.8%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	89.4%	8.5%	1.5%	0.4%	0.2%	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 was highest in 2014 at 89.9% and lowest in 2012 at 86.9%. Overall it rose from 88.9% in 2009 to 89.4% in 2024, up 0.5 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Chippewa County: its share of workers rose from 5.3% in 2009 to 8.5% in 2024, up 3.2 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.9% to 1.5% of workers (down 2.4 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Chippewa County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Chippewa County?

The bars show when commuters in Chippewa 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 AM Chippewa County3.7% Minnesota5.0%	3.7%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Chippewa County5.3% Minnesota3.8%	5.3%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Chippewa County7.3% Minnesota5.2%	7.3%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Chippewa County9.3% Minnesota8.4%	9.3%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Chippewa County12.1% Minnesota10.2%	12.1%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Chippewa County18.6% Minnesota14.8%	18.6%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Chippewa County16.4% Minnesota13.8%	16.4%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Chippewa County7.2% Minnesota10.4%	7.2%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Chippewa County2.4% Minnesota4.7%	2.4%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Chippewa County3.1% Minnesota5.8%	3.1%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Chippewa County2.0% Minnesota2.7%	2.0%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Chippewa County0.3% Minnesota1.3%	0.3%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Chippewa County6.2% Minnesota8.2%	6.2%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Chippewa County6.1% Minnesota5.8%	6.1%

Chippewa County Minnesota Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Chippewa County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 18.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.8% across Minnesota. Early starts are more common than in Minnesota: 16.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Minnesota: 54.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.2% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (17.7%) 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 Chippewa 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 Chippewa 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 Chippewa 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.

• Chippewa County
• Minnesota
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Chippewa County	Minnesota	United States
2009	7:26 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:26 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:24 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:29 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:23 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:22 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:22 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:24 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:26 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:26 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:24 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	7:20 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:19 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:20 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Chippewa County were on the road by 7:20 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:26 AM). Across Minnesota, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Chippewa County now leave 18 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 Chippewa County has moved 4 minutes earlier.

How does Chippewa County's commute time compare?

Metric	Chippewa County	Minnesota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	11.8 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	8.5%	17.6%	15.0%
Walked	1.5%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	1.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in Chippewa County is 11.8 minutes, shorter than the 20.3 minutes in Minnesota.

0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.8% in Minnesota. 1.5% commute by walking, lower than the 2.5% in Minnesota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau