Cottonwood County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Cottonwood County, Minnesota: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 8:01 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in Cottonwood County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:01 PM

Commute Time Burden in Cottonwood County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Cottonwood County spend about 22 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 91 hours, about 3.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 46% less time on the road than the Minnesota average of 20.3 minutes each way, a difference of 9.4 minutes.

Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood County would save about 36 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,125 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)
Cottonwood County	10.9 min	21.8 min	91 hrs/yr	$2,812	235
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

Fastest commutes among counties in Minnesota

Brown County (10.6 min)
Pennington County (10.8 min)
Cottonwood County (10.9 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Minnesota

Chisago County (30.9 min)
Wright County (28.8 min)
Sherburne County (28.8 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Cottonwood County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 10.9 minutes to get to work in Cottonwood County. That's 51% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the top 3 fastest counties in Minnesota

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 10.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Cottonwood County

Public transit is unusually rare in Cottonwood County: 15.6 times less than the Minnesota average (0.1% vs 1.8%).

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Cottonwood County: 5.5 times less than the Minnesota average (0.0% vs 0.2%).

Commute Mode Trends in Cottonwood County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Cottonwood 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	Motorcycle	Taxi
2009	81.2%	9.4%	5.7%	0.8%	0.9%	1.5%	0.5%	0.0%
2010	83.0%	8.2%	5.2%	0.7%	1.0%	1.4%	0.5%	0.0%
2011	83.2%	8.2%	4.8%	1.2%	1.3%	1.1%	0.2%	0.0%
2012	82.7%	7.1%	6.3%	1.2%	1.2%	1.4%	0.1%	0.0%
2013	82.7%	6.9%	7.6%	0.7%	1.0%	1.0%	0.1%	0.0%
2014	82.9%	6.8%	7.1%	1.0%	0.9%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2015	83.0%	7.4%	6.6%	1.2%	0.6%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	85.8%	6.5%	5.7%	1.0%	0.3%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	87.9%	5.9%	4.1%	0.7%	0.1%	0.7%	0.7%	0.0%
2018	87.6%	6.3%	4.1%	0.7%	0.1%	0.7%	0.6%	0.0%
2019	88.2%	6.4%	3.3%	0.8%	0.1%	0.6%	0.6%	0.0%
2020	87.3%	6.3%	4.3%	0.4%	0.1%	0.7%	0.8%	0.0%
2021	85.9%	7.4%	3.9%	1.2%	0.2%	0.7%	0.7%	0.0%
2022	84.9%	8.7%	4.6%	1.5%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
2023	83.8%	10.1%	3.8%	1.5%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2024	82.1%	10.7%	4.3%	2.0%	0.7%	0.1%	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 88.2%. Overall it rose from 81.2% in 2009 to 82.1% in 2024, up 0.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Cottonwood County: its share of workers rose from 9.4% in 2009 to 10.7% in 2024, up 1.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.7% to 4.3% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).

Biking overtook public transit to become the 5th most common choice in the 2022 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Cottonwood County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Cottonwood County?

The bars show when commuters in Cottonwood 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		3.3%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.9%
5:30-5:59 AM		7.2%
6:00-6:29 AM		11.7%
6:30-6:59 AM		11.0%
7:00-7:29 AM		15.2%
7:30-7:59 AM		20.3%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.3%
8:30-8:59 AM		2.9%
9:00-9:59 AM		4.4%
10:00-10:59 AM		1.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.1%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.2%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.0%

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

The busiest time to head out in Cottonwood County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 20.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Minnesota. Early starts are about as common as in Minnesota: 13.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Minnesota: 55.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.2% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (16.1%) 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 Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood 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	Cottonwood County	Minnesota	United States
2009	7:27 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:32 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:32 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:34 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:35 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:35 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:34 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:32 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:30 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:24 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:25 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:21 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:24 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:28 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:27 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:27 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Cottonwood County were on the road by 7:27 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Minnesota, the typical start barely moved either. Commuters in Cottonwood County now leave 11 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 Cottonwood County has moved 3 minutes later.

How does Cottonwood County's commute time compare?

Metric	Cottonwood County	Minnesota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	10.9 min	20.3 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	10.7%	17.6%	15.0%
Walked	4.3%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.1%	1.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in Cottonwood County is 10.9 minutes, shorter than the 20.3 minutes in Minnesota.

0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.8% in Minnesota. 4.3% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in Minnesota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Cottonwood County, MN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Cottonwood County, MN is typical in size for this group, 11,447 residents against a local median of 11,205, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. Cottonwood County, MN's one-way commute, at 10.9 min, runs 32% below the 16.1 min typical of the counties around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.

The counties themselves spread 7.7 min on one-way commute, so Cottonwood County, MN sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Cottonwood County, MN has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Cottonwood County, MN	11,447	10.9 min #2/6	10.7% #2/6	7:27 AM #5/6
Jackson County, MN	9,933	16.1 min	10.1%	7:27 AM
Redwood County, MN	13,610	12.9 min	11.0%	7:29 AM
Brown County, MN	25,800	10.6 min	7.3%	7:24 AM
Watonwan County, MN	11,205	17.4 min	8.1%	7:20 AM
Murray County, MN	8,097	18.3 min	9.9%	7:22 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Cottonwood County, Minnesota.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Cottonwood County, Minnesota?

Commuters here spend an estimated 91 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $2,812 at a typical national wage. That's 46% less than the typical Minnesota commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Cottonwood County, Minnesota?

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

Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Cottonwood County, Minnesota?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 1.8% in Minnesota, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

How do commute times compare across 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).