Yellow Medicine County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Yellow Medicine 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, 8:20 PM

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

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:20 PM

Commute Time Burden in Yellow Medicine County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Yellow Medicine County spend about 36 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 148 hours, about 6.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 12% less time on the road than the Minnesota average of 20.3 minutes each way, a difference of 2.5 minutes.

Yellow Medicine 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 Yellow Medicine County would save about 59 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,841 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)
Yellow Medicine County	17.8 min	35.6 min	148 hrs/yr	$4,602	322
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

Yellow Medicine County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 17.8 minutes to get to work in Yellow Medicine County. That's 21% 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 9.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Yellow Medicine County

Commute Mode Trends in Yellow Medicine County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Yellow Medicine 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	85.1%	8.2%	5.2%	0.1%	0.3%	0.9%	0.0%	0.2%
2010	86.7%	7.9%	4.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.8%	0.0%	0.2%
2011	84.9%	8.5%	4.1%	0.8%	0.7%	0.9%	0.0%	0.1%
2012	85.0%	8.3%	4.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%
2013	84.1%	8.5%	5.8%	0.5%	0.8%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2014	83.0%	9.2%	6.0%	0.7%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2015	82.7%	9.4%	6.2%	0.4%	1.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2016	83.5%	8.9%	5.8%	0.8%	0.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%
2017	84.2%	8.1%	5.9%	0.7%	0.8%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	85.7%	7.9%	4.4%	0.7%	0.9%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2019	87.1%	7.3%	3.3%	0.7%	1.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	88.7%	7.5%	2.5%	0.6%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	88.1%	8.6%	2.6%	0.1%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%
2022	87.5%	8.8%	2.9%	0.1%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2023	86.2%	9.2%	3.4%	0.3%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
2024	85.7%	9.0%	3.8%	0.6%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2020 at 88.7% and lowest in 2015 at 82.7%. Overall it rose from 85.1% in 2009 to 85.7% in 2024, up 0.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Yellow Medicine County: its share of workers rose from 8.2% in 2009 to 9.0% in 2024, up 0.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.2% to 3.8% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).

Public transit overtook riding a motorcycle to become the 4th most common choice in the 2022 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Yellow Medicine County

Hitting SnoozeThe 3rd-biggest shift to later mornings among Minnesota's 87 counties: the typical start is 9 minutes later than in 2009.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Yellow Medicine County?

The bars show when commuters in Yellow Medicine 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		3.2%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.1%
5:30-5:59 AM		4.9%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.5%
6:30-6:59 AM		9.3%
7:00-7:29 AM		17.3%
7:30-7:59 AM		17.7%
8:00-8:29 AM		10.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.3%
9:00-9:59 AM		4.7%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.1%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.5%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.8%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.7%

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

The busiest time to head out in Yellow Medicine County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 17.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Minnesota. Early starts are less common than in Minnesota: 12.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Minnesota: 55.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.2% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (18.9%) 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 Yellow Medicine 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 Yellow Medicine 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 Yellow Medicine 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	Yellow Medicine County	Minnesota	United States
2009	7:24 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:25 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:26 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:23 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:25 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:25 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:25 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:29 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:32 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:31 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:30 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:30 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:26 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:29 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:31 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:33 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Yellow Medicine County were on the road by 7:33 AM, 9 minutes later than in 2009 (7:24 AM). Across Minnesota, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Yellow Medicine County now leave 5 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 Yellow Medicine County has moved 3 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Yellow Medicine County in the whole series.

How does Yellow Medicine County's commute time compare?

Metric	Yellow Medicine County	Minnesota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	17.8 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	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	9.0%	17.6%	15.0%
Walked	3.8%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.6%	1.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in Yellow Medicine County is 17.8 minutes, shorter than the 20.3 minutes in Minnesota.

0.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.8% in Minnesota. 3.8% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in Minnesota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Yellow Medicine County, MN Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Yellow Medicine County, MN is typical in size for this group, 9,450 residents against a local median of 9,748, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. Yellow Medicine County, MN's one-way commute, at 17.8 min, runs 35% above the 13.2 min typical of the counties around it. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 9.0% against a local median of 12.4%, 27% below it. The counties themselves spread 8.6 min on one-way commute, so Yellow Medicine County, MN sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Yellow Medicine County, MN has the 5th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Yellow Medicine County, MN	9,450	17.8 min #5/6	9.0% #4/6	7:33 AM #5/6
Lyon County, MN	25,503	11.9 min	12.4%	7:34 AM
Lac qui Parle County, MN	6,682	13.2 min	13.5%	7:32 AM
Chippewa County, MN	12,377	11.8 min	8.5%	7:20 AM
Lincoln County, MN	5,603	20.5 min	16.4%	7:25 AM
Swift County, MN	9,748	14.0 min	7.5%	7:26 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota.

Is living in Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 148 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,602 at a typical national wage. That's 12% less than the typical Minnesota commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Yellow Medicine 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.

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).