St. Michael Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in St. Michael, 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, 4:06 PM

Is the commute in St. Michael longer than the national average?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:06 PM

Commute Time Burden in St. Michael: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in St. Michael spend about 62 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 258 hours, about 10.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 53% more time on the road than the Minnesota average of 20.3 minutes each way, a difference of 10.7 minutes.

St. Michael holds about 0.4% of Minnesota's population but accounts for roughly 0.7% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in St. Michael would save about 103 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,205 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. Michael	31.0 min	62.0 min	258 hrs/yr	$8,012	1,331
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.

St. Michael Commute Map

On average, it takes 31.0 minutes to get to work in St. Michael. That's 38% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 21.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in St. Michael

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in St. Michael, versus 0.1% in Minnesota.

Walking is unusually rare in St. Michael: 16.6 times less than the Minnesota average (0.2% vs 2.5%).

Public transit is unusually rare in St. Michael: 8.7 times less than the Minnesota average (0.2% vs 1.8%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in St. Michael, versus 0.2% in Minnesota.

Biking is essentially absent in St. Michael, versus 0.5% in Minnesota.

Few people walk or bike to work in St. Michael: just 0.2%, 19.7 times below the Minnesota average of 3.0%.

Commute Mode Trends in St. Michael, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in St. Michael 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	Other	Public Transportation	Walked	Taxi	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	90.2%	7.5%	0.2%	1.8%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2010	90.7%	6.6%	0.3%	1.6%	0.7%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%
2011	91.2%	5.8%	0.3%	1.8%	0.7%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%
2012	91.6%	5.5%	0.3%	1.5%	1.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%
2013	91.8%	4.5%	1.0%	1.8%	0.9%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%
2014	91.9%	4.3%	1.1%	1.0%	1.3%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%
2015	93.1%	3.7%	0.9%	0.9%	1.1%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%
2016	92.0%	4.5%	0.9%	0.9%	1.3%	0.0%	0.2%	0.1%
2017	92.0%	4.3%	0.8%	1.2%	1.4%	0.0%	0.2%	0.1%
2018	92.3%	5.3%	0.1%	0.7%	1.2%	0.0%	0.2%	0.1%
2019	92.3%	5.5%	0.0%	0.9%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2020	88.5%	9.4%	0.2%	0.7%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2021	85.4%	13.2%	0.2%	0.6%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	83.1%	15.8%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	81.8%	17.3%	0.2%	0.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	77.9%	21.4%	0.4%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2015 at 93.1%. Overall it fell from 90.2% in 2009 to 77.9% in 2024, down 12.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in St. Michael: its share of workers rose from 7.5% in 2009 to 21.4% in 2024, up 13.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 15.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.8% to 0.2% of workers (down 1.6 percentage points).

Walking peaked at 1.4% in 2017 and has since fallen back to 0.2%.

Commute Start Times in St. Michael

What Time Do People Leave for Work in St. Michael?

The bars show when commuters in St. Michael 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		6.5%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.1%
5:30-5:59 AM		6.8%
6:00-6:29 AM		10.6%
6:30-6:59 AM		11.9%
7:00-7:29 AM		20.2%
7:30-7:59 AM		9.1%
8:00-8:29 AM		8.3%
8:30-8:59 AM		3.2%
9:00-9:59 AM		4.4%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.9%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.7%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.0%

St. Michael Minnesota Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in St. Michael is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 20.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.8% across Minnesota. Early starts are more common than in Minnesota: 17.4% 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 5 commuters (19.3%) 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. Michael, 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. Michael 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. Michael 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. Michael	Minnesota	United States
2009	7:11 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:12 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:12 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:15 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:18 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:20 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:16 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:12 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:12 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:12 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:15 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:13 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:16 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:16 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:14 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:15 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in St. Michael were on the road by 7:15 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:11 AM). Across Minnesota, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in St. Michael now leave 23 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does St. Michael's commute time compare?

Metric	St. Michael	Minnesota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	31.0 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	06:30 AM – 06:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	21.4%	17.6%	15.0%
Walked	0.2%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.2%	1.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in St. Michael is 31.0 minutes, longer than the 20.3 minutes in Minnesota.

0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.8% in Minnesota. 0.2% commute by walking, lower than the 2.5% in Minnesota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

St. Michael, MN Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How St. Michael, MN compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
St. Michael, MN	25,386	31.0 min #1/2	21.4% #1/2	7:15 AM #1/2
Otsego, MN	20,942	31.1 min	14.0%	7:18 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in St. Michael, Minnesota.

Is living in St. Michael, Minnesota good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 258 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $8,012 at a typical national wage. That's 53% more than the typical Minnesota commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in St. Michael, Minnesota?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in St. Michael, Minnesota. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

How common is public transit use in St. Michael, Minnesota?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.2% of commuters use it versus 1.8% in Minnesota, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.