Commuting in St. Louis 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, 6:15 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in St. Louis County?
Map AI9/24/26, 6:15 PM
Commute Time Burden in St. Louis County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in St. Louis County spend about 34 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 141 hours, about 5.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 17% less time on the road than the Minnesota average of 20.3 minutes each way, a difference of 3.4 minutes.
St. Louis County holds about 3.5% of Minnesota's population but accounts for roughly 2.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in St. Louis County would save about 56 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,751 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)
St. Louis County
16.9 min
33.9 min
141 hrs/yr
$4,377
823
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
16.9
minutes to get to work in
St. Louis County.
That's 24% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 11.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in St. Louis County
Car:
81.7%
Worked at Home:
11.2%
Walked:
3.6%
Public Transportation:
1.8%
Other:
0.9%
Bicycle:
0.6%
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in St. Louis County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in St. Louis 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
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
88.5%
3.7%
4.1%
2.4%
0.5%
0.5%
0.1%
0.2%
2010
88.5%
3.6%
4.1%
2.4%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
2011
88.0%
3.6%
4.4%
2.5%
0.5%
0.6%
0.2%
0.2%
2012
87.9%
3.8%
4.3%
2.6%
0.5%
0.5%
0.1%
0.2%
2013
87.8%
3.5%
4.6%
2.5%
0.6%
0.5%
0.1%
0.3%
2014
87.9%
3.8%
4.4%
2.3%
0.7%
0.5%
0.2%
0.2%
2015
87.5%
3.9%
4.7%
2.5%
0.7%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
2016
87.6%
4.0%
4.6%
2.4%
0.7%
0.5%
0.1%
0.2%
2017
87.5%
3.9%
4.9%
2.3%
0.6%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2018
87.6%
4.1%
4.8%
2.3%
0.5%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
87.9%
4.1%
4.4%
2.3%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
87.3%
5.3%
4.3%
1.8%
0.5%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
85.8%
7.2%
4.1%
1.5%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
84.7%
8.3%
3.7%
1.6%
0.6%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
2023
83.5%
9.9%
3.6%
1.6%
0.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
81.7%
11.2%
3.6%
1.8%
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 81.7% in 2024, down 6.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in St. Louis County: its share of workers rose from 3.7% in 2009 to 11.2% in 2024, up 7.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 2.4% to 1.8% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in St. Louis County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in St. Louis County?
The bars show when commuters in St. Louis 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 AMSt. Louis County3.8%Minnesota5.0%
3.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSt. Louis County3.8%Minnesota3.8%
3.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSt. Louis County4.8%Minnesota5.2%
4.8%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSt. Louis County7.4%Minnesota8.4%
7.4%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSt. Louis County10.1%Minnesota10.2%
10.1%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSt. Louis County13.4%Minnesota14.8%
13.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSt. Louis County16.2%Minnesota13.8%
16.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSt. Louis County9.8%Minnesota10.4%
9.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSt. Louis County4.8%Minnesota4.7%
4.8%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSt. Louis County6.3%Minnesota5.8%
6.3%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSt. Louis County3.0%Minnesota2.7%
3.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSt. Louis County1.8%Minnesota1.3%
1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSt. Louis County8.7%Minnesota8.2%
8.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSt. Louis County6.3%Minnesota5.8%
6.3%
St. Louis CountyMinnesotaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in St. Louis County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Minnesota. Early starts are less common than in Minnesota: 12.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush looks much like Minnesota's: 49.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.2% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.0%) 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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis 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
St. Louis County
Minnesota
United States
2009
7:42 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:42 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:42 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:42 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:41 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:40 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:40 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:41 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:41 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:40 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:40 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:39 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:39 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:40 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:43 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in St. Louis County were on the road by 7:43 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Minnesota, the typical start barely moved either. Commuters in St. Louis County now leave 5 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 St. Louis County has moved 3 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for St. Louis County in the whole series.
How does St. Louis County's commute time compare?
Metric
St. Louis County
Minnesota
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.9 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
11.2%
17.6%
15.0%
Walked
3.6%
2.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.8%
1.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in St. Louis County is 16.9 minutes, shorter than the 20.3 minutes in Minnesota.
The share of commuters using public transit is about the same as Minnesota. 3.6% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in Minnesota.
St. Louis County, MN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
St. Louis County, MN is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 200,015 residents against a local median of 36,511. Where St. Louis County, MN breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 17% above the local median of 9.5% at 11.2%.
The counties themselves spread 4.1% on work from home, so St. Louis County, MN sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. St. Louis County, MN has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in St. Louis County, Minnesota.
Is commuting expensive in St. Louis County, Minnesota?
Commuters here spend an estimated 141 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,377 at a typical national wage. That's 17% less than the typical Minnesota commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in St. Louis County, Minnesota?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in St. Louis 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.
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).