Commuting in Mississippi: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 11:43 AM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Mississippi?
Map AI9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Commute Time Burden in Mississippi: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Mississippi spend about 43 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 179 hours, about 7.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 4% less time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 0.9 minutes.
Mississippi holds about 0.9% of US's population but accounts for roughly 0.8% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Mississippi would save about 72 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,223 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)
Mississippi
21.5 min
43.0 min
179 hrs/yr
$5,558
914
US
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
21.5
minutes to get to work in
Mississippi.
That's 4% 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 5.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Mississippi
Car:
91.1%
Worked at Home:
5.9%
Walked:
1.3%
Other:
1.2%
Public Transportation:
0.3%unusually low
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Public transit is unusually rare in Mississippi: 12.2 times less than the US average (0.3% vs 3.2%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Mississippi: 3.4 times less than the US average (0.1% vs 0.3%).
Biking is unusually rare in Mississippi: 5.5 times less than the US average (0.1% vs 0.4%).
Commute Mode Trends in Mississippi, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Mississippi 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
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
94.0%
2.4%
1.8%
1.0%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2010
94.1%
2.4%
1.8%
1.0%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2011
94.2%
2.4%
1.7%
1.0%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2012
94.2%
2.4%
1.7%
0.9%
0.4%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2013
94.3%
2.3%
1.6%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2014
94.3%
2.2%
1.6%
1.2%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2015
94.4%
2.2%
1.5%
1.2%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2016
94.4%
2.2%
1.5%
1.3%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2017
94.5%
2.1%
1.4%
1.4%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2018
94.5%
2.3%
1.4%
1.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
94.4%
2.4%
1.3%
1.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
93.8%
3.0%
1.3%
1.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
93.1%
3.8%
1.3%
1.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
92.5%
4.5%
1.3%
1.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
91.7%
5.3%
1.3%
1.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
91.1%
5.9%
1.3%
1.2%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2017 at 94.5%. Overall it fell from 94.0% in 2009 to 91.1% in 2024, down 2.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Mississippi: its share of workers rose from 2.4% in 2009 to 5.9% in 2024, up 3.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 1.8% to 1.3% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Mississippi
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Mississippi?
The bars show when commuters in Mississippi 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 the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMMississippi6.6%The U.S.5.5%
6.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMMississippi4.5%The U.S.4.0%
4.5%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMMississippi5.3%The U.S.4.9%
5.3%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMMississippi11.1%The U.S.8.7%
11.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMMississippi12.4%The U.S.9.4%
12.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMMississippi17.1%The U.S.14.4%
17.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMMississippi12.6%The U.S.11.9%
12.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMMississippi8.2%The U.S.11.5%
8.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMMississippi3.0%The U.S.5.5%
3.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMMississippi4.0%The U.S.6.8%
4.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMMississippi2.1%The U.S.3.1%
2.1%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMMississippi0.8%The U.S.1.5%
0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMMississippi5.8%The U.S.6.8%
5.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMMississippi6.4%The U.S.6.1%
6.4%
MississippiThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Mississippi is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.4% across the U.S.. Early starts are more common than in the U.S.: 16.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in the U.S.: 50.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.1%) 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 Mississippi, 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi next to 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
Mississippi
United States
2009
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:20 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:20 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:19 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:19 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:19 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:19 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:18 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:18 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:18 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:18 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Mississippi were on the road by 7:18 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:20 AM). Commuters in Mississippi now leave 20 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 Mississippi has moved 2 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Mississippi in the whole series.
How does Mississippi's commute time compare?
Metric
Mississippi
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.5 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
5.9%
15.0%
Walked
1.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.3%
3.2%
The average commute time in Mississippi is about the same as in US.
0.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.2% in US. 1.3% commute by walking, lower than the 2.4% in US.
Mississippi is the smallest of the 6 states compared here, 2,946,497 residents against a local median of 5,083,438. Where Mississippi breaks from the states next to it is work from home, sitting 33% below the local median of 8.8% at 5.9%.
The states themselves spread 7.8% on work from home, so Mississippi sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Mississippi has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Commuters here spend an estimated 179 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,558 at a typical national wage. That's 4% less than the typical US commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Mississippi?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Mississippi. 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.
How common is public transit use in Mississippi?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.3% of commuters use it versus 3.2% in the U.S., meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
How do commute times compare across counties in Mississippi?
Among counties in Mississippi, the shortest average commutes are in Sharkey County (11.9 min), Coahoma County (13.2 min), Leflore County (15.2 min). The longest are in Wilkinson County (36.8 min), Tate County (32.8 min), Greene County (32.7 min).