Olmsted County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Olmsted 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, 8:00 PM

Is the commute in Olmsted County longer than the national average?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:00 PM

Commute Time Burden in Olmsted County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Olmsted County spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 135 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 20% less time on the road than the Minnesota average of 20.3 minutes each way, a difference of 4.1 minutes.

Olmsted County holds about 2.9% of Minnesota's population but accounts for roughly 2.3% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Olmsted County would save about 54 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,676 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)
Olmsted County	16.2 min	32.4 min	135 hrs/yr	$4,189	1,054
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

Olmsted County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 16.2 minutes to get to work in Olmsted County. That's 28% 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 15.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Olmsted County

Commute Mode Trends in Olmsted County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Olmsted 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	Public Transportation	Other	Bicycle	Motorcycle	Taxi
2009	88.5%	3.6%	3.1%	3.5%	0.6%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%
2010	88.2%	4.1%	2.9%	3.4%	0.5%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%
2011	87.5%	4.2%	3.1%	3.7%	0.7%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%
2012	87.2%	4.3%	3.1%	3.9%	0.7%	0.5%	0.2%	0.0%
2013	87.2%	4.1%	3.1%	4.1%	0.6%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%
2014	86.7%	4.1%	3.0%	4.7%	0.6%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2015	86.3%	3.7%	3.2%	5.0%	0.6%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%
2016	85.8%	3.8%	3.4%	5.2%	0.5%	0.9%	0.2%	0.1%
2017	85.3%	4.1%	3.5%	5.4%	0.5%	0.9%	0.2%	0.1%
2018	85.2%	4.2%	3.5%	5.4%	0.5%	0.9%	0.2%	0.1%
2019	85.1%	4.7%	3.6%	4.9%	0.6%	0.8%	0.1%	0.1%
2020	82.8%	7.5%	3.6%	4.5%	0.7%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%
2021	81.1%	9.4%	3.6%	4.2%	0.8%	0.7%	0.0%	0.1%
2022	79.9%	11.1%	3.5%	3.6%	0.9%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%
2023	77.7%	13.6%	3.6%	3.2%	1.0%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%
2024	76.2%	15.4%	3.7%	2.9%	0.9%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 88.5% in 2009 to 76.2% in 2024, down 12.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 11 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Olmsted County: its share of workers rose from 3.6% in 2009 to 15.4% in 2024, up 11.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 10.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 3.5% to 2.9% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).

Walking overtook public transit to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Olmsted County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Olmsted County?

The bars show when commuters in Olmsted 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		2.7%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.1%
5:30-5:59 AM		4.8%
6:00-6:29 AM		10.0%
6:30-6:59 AM		13.5%
7:00-7:29 AM		17.2%
7:30-7:59 AM		14.3%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.6%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.1%
9:00-9:59 AM		5.1%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.0%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.2%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.6%

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

The busiest time to head out in Olmsted County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.8% across Minnesota. Early starts are less common than in Minnesota: 9.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Minnesota: 54.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.2% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.8%) 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 Olmsted 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 Olmsted 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 Olmsted 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	Olmsted County	Minnesota	United States
2009	7:31 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	7:31 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:32 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:31 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:33 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:32 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:31 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:32 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:31 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:27 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:27 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:27 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:27 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:30 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Olmsted County were on the road by 7:30 AM, 1 minute earlier than in 2009 (7:31 AM). Across Minnesota, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Olmsted County now leave 8 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Olmsted County's commute time compare?

Metric	Olmsted County	Minnesota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	16.2 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	15.4%	17.6%	15.0%
Walked	3.7%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.9%	1.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in Olmsted County is 16.2 minutes, shorter than the 20.3 minutes in Minnesota.

2.9% commute by public transit, higher than the 1.8% in Minnesota. 3.7% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in Minnesota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Olmsted County, MN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Olmsted County, MN is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 164,423 residents against a local median of 21,565. Olmsted County, MN's work from home, at 15.4%, runs 36% above the 11.4% typical of the counties around it.

One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 16.2 min against a local median of 22.8 min, 29% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 29% below the local median it puts Olmsted County, MN at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 5.6% on work from home, so Olmsted County, MN sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Olmsted County, MN has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Olmsted County, MN	164,423	16.2 min #2/6	15.4% #1/6	7:30 AM #6/6
Wabasha County, MN	21,565	22.8 min	11.4%	7:14 AM
Fillmore County, MN	21,414	25.1 min	12.4%	7:17 AM
Dodge County, MN	21,046	23.5 min	12.9%	7:05 AM
Mower County, MN	40,341	13.7 min	7.3%	7:22 AM
Goodhue County, MN	47,943	20.1 min	10.7%	7:18 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Olmsted County, Minnesota.

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

Commuters here spend an estimated 135 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,189 at a typical national wage. That's 20% less than the typical Minnesota commuter spends.

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

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Olmsted 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.

Which counties in Minnesota have the fastest and slowest commutes?

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).