Hennepin County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Hennepin 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, 8:32 PM

What does a typical morning commute look like in Hennepin County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:32 PM

Commute Time Burden in Hennepin County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Hennepin County spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 173 hours, about 7.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% more time on the road than the Minnesota average of 20.3 minutes each way, a difference of 0.5 minutes.

Hennepin County holds about 22.2% of Minnesota's population but accounts for roughly 22.7% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Hennepin County would save about 69 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,151 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)
Hennepin County	20.8 min	41.6 min	173 hrs/yr	$5,378	2,563
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

Hennepin County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 20.8 minutes to get to work in Hennepin County. That's 7% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 72% of counties in Minnesota

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 25.2% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Hennepin County

Commute Mode Trends in Hennepin County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Hennepin 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	Public Transportation	Walked	Other	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	82.7%	4.8%	7.0%	3.3%	0.5%	1.5%	0.1%	0.2%
2010	82.0%	5.0%	7.4%	3.3%	0.5%	1.6%	0.1%	0.2%
2011	81.8%	5.0%	7.6%	3.1%	0.5%	1.7%	0.1%	0.2%
2012	81.8%	4.9%	7.6%	3.1%	0.5%	1.7%	0.1%	0.2%
2013	81.9%	5.0%	7.4%	3.2%	0.6%	1.6%	0.1%	0.2%
2014	81.7%	5.0%	7.4%	3.3%	0.6%	1.7%	0.1%	0.2%
2015	81.5%	5.2%	7.3%	3.3%	0.6%	1.8%	0.1%	0.2%
2016	81.4%	5.4%	7.2%	3.4%	0.6%	1.8%	0.1%	0.2%
2017	80.9%	5.6%	7.4%	3.3%	0.7%	1.7%	0.1%	0.2%
2018	80.6%	5.9%	7.3%	3.4%	0.7%	1.7%	0.2%	0.2%
2019	80.4%	6.2%	7.1%	3.5%	0.8%	1.7%	0.2%	0.2%
2020	77.0%	10.7%	6.5%	3.3%	0.9%	1.4%	0.3%	0.1%
2021	73.4%	15.3%	5.5%	3.1%	0.9%	1.2%	0.3%	0.1%
2022	70.7%	19.0%	4.8%	3.1%	0.9%	1.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2023	68.4%	22.4%	4.0%	2.8%	1.0%	0.9%	0.3%	0.1%
2024	66.2%	25.2%	3.5%	2.8%	1.0%	0.9%	0.3%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 82.7% in 2009 to 66.2% in 2024, down 16.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 11 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Hennepin County: its share of workers rose from 4.8% in 2009 to 25.2% in 2024, up 20.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 19.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 7.0% to 3.5% of workers (down 3.5 percentage points).

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Hennepin County

Night OwlThe 2nd-latest start among Minnesota's 87 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:56 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Hennepin County?

The bars show when commuters in Hennepin 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		3.4%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.3%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.4%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.5%
6:30-6:59 AM		8.8%
7:00-7:29 AM		13.2%
7:30-7:59 AM		14.4%
8:00-8:29 AM		13.7%
8:30-8:59 AM		7.4%
9:00-9:59 AM		8.3%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.6%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM		8.5%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.0%

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

The busiest time to head out in Hennepin County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 14.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Minnesota. Early starts are less common than in Minnesota: 9.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush looks much like Minnesota's: 50.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.2% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.1%) 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 Hennepin 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 Hennepin 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 Hennepin 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	Hennepin County	Minnesota	United States
2009	7:48 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:49 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:49 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:50 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:50 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:50 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:50 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:50 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:50 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:49 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:50 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:50 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:51 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:53 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:54 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:56 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Hennepin County were on the road by 7:56 AM, 8 minutes later than in 2009 (7:48 AM). Across Minnesota, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Hennepin County now leave 18 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 Hennepin County has moved 6 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Hennepin County in the whole series.

How does Hennepin County's commute time compare?

Metric	Hennepin County	Minnesota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	20.8 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	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	25.2%	17.6%	15.0%
Walked	2.8%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	3.5%	1.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in Hennepin County is 20.8 minutes, longer than the 20.3 minutes in Minnesota.

3.5% commute by public transit, higher than the 1.8% in Minnesota. 2.8% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in Minnesota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Hennepin County, MN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Hennepin County, MN is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 1,268,249 residents against a local median of 154,543. Hennepin County, MN's work from home, at 25.2%, runs 28% above the 19.7% typical of the counties around it.

The counties themselves spread 8.5% on work from home, so Hennepin County, MN sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Hennepin County, MN has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Hennepin County, MN	1,268,249	20.8 min #2/6	25.2% #1/6	7:56 AM #6/6
Anoka County, MN	370,272	23.6 min	17.2%	7:24 AM
Scott County, MN	154,543	23.2 min	19.7%	7:30 AM
Carver County, MN	110,041	22.6 min	23.5%	7:39 AM
Ramsey County, MN	542,690	20.4 min	20.5%	7:55 AM
Wright County, MN	148,225	28.8 min	15.0%	7:11 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Is commuting expensive in Hennepin County, Minnesota?

Commuters here spend an estimated 173 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,378 at a typical national wage. That's 2% more than the typical Minnesota commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Hennepin County, Minnesota?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Hennepin County, Minnesota. 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 much time do residents in Hennepin County, Minnesota save by working from home?

About 25.2% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Hennepin County would save about 69 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,151 at the same national wage assumption used above.

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).