Commuting in Lee County, Mississippi: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:31 PM
Is the commute in Lee County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:31 PM
Commute Time Burden in Lee County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Lee County spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 154 hours, about 6.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 14% less time on the road than the Mississippi average of 21.5 minutes each way, a difference of 3.1 minutes.
Lee County holds about 2.8% of Mississippi's population but accounts for roughly 2.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Lee County would save about 61 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,904 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)
Lee County
18.4 min
36.8 min
154 hrs/yr
$4,759
966
Mississippi
21.5 min
43.0 min
179 hrs/yr
$5,558
914
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
18.4
minutes to get to work in
Lee County.
That's 18% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 80% of counties in Mississippi
The most common departure window is 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 5.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Lee County
Car:
93.1%
Worked at Home:
5.4%
Other:
0.7%
Walked:
0.5%
Taxi:
0.2%unusually high
Public Transportation:
0.2%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Lee County, versus 0.1% in Mississippi.
Taking a taxi is unusually common in Lee County: 3.2 times more than the Mississippi average (0.2% vs 0.1%).
Commute Mode Trends in Lee County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Lee 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
Other
Walked
Public Transportation
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
96.4%
1.7%
0.3%
1.2%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2010
96.7%
1.4%
0.3%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2011
97.5%
1.2%
0.2%
0.8%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2012
97.4%
1.3%
0.2%
0.8%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2013
97.0%
1.6%
0.2%
0.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2014
96.4%
1.8%
0.3%
1.0%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2015
96.1%
1.9%
0.4%
1.0%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2016
95.7%
2.0%
0.5%
1.2%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2017
95.7%
2.1%
0.5%
1.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2018
95.8%
2.2%
0.5%
0.9%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2019
96.2%
2.1%
0.7%
0.6%
0.0%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
96.0%
2.7%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
95.1%
3.7%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
94.7%
4.2%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
94.3%
4.6%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
93.1%
5.4%
0.7%
0.5%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2011 at 97.5%. Overall it fell from 96.4% in 2009 to 93.1% in 2024, down 3.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Lee County: its share of workers rose from 1.7% in 2009 to 5.4% in 2024, up 3.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 1.2% to 0.5% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Lee County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lee County?
The bars show when commuters in Lee 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 Mississippi for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMLee County6.0%Mississippi6.6%
6.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMLee County4.3%Mississippi4.5%
4.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMLee County6.2%Mississippi5.3%
6.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMLee County12.2%Mississippi11.1%
12.2%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMLee County15.3%Mississippi12.4%
15.3%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMLee County14.8%Mississippi17.1%
14.8%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMLee County14.8%Mississippi12.6%
14.8%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMLee County7.6%Mississippi8.2%
7.6%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMLee County3.2%Mississippi3.0%
3.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMLee County4.0%Mississippi4.0%
4.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMLee County1.8%Mississippi2.1%
1.8%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMLee County0.8%Mississippi0.8%
0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMLee County4.0%Mississippi5.8%
4.0%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMLee County5.1%Mississippi6.4%
5.1%
Lee CountyMississippiSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Lee County is 6:30-6:59 AM, when 15.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.4% across Mississippi. Early starts are about as common as in Mississippi: 16.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.4% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Mississippi: 52.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.4% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (15.6%) 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 Lee 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 Lee 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 Lee County next to Mississippi 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
Lee County
Mississippi
United States
2009
7:23 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:23 AM
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:20 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:20 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:21 AM
7:20 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:20 AM
7:20 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:19 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:21 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:20 AM
7:19 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:18 AM
7:19 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:19 AM
7:19 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:17 AM
7:19 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:14 AM
7:18 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:13 AM
7:18 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:15 AM
7:18 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:12 AM
7:18 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Lee County were on the road by 7:12 AM, 10 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:23 AM). The shift is sharper than across Mississippi, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Lee County now leave 26 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 Lee County has moved 7 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Lee County in the whole series.
How does Lee County's commute time compare?
Metric
Lee County
Mississippi
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.4 min
21.5 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
06:30 AM – 06:59 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
5.4%
5.9%
15.0%
Walked
0.5%
1.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
0.3%
3.2%
The average commute time in Lee County is 18.4 minutes, shorter than the 21.5 minutes in Mississippi.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.3% in Mississippi. 0.5% commute by walking, lower than the 1.3% in Mississippi.
Lee County, MS Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Lee County, MS is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 83,034 residents against a local median of 28,122. Lee County, MS's work from home, at 5.4%, runs 109% above the 2.6% typical of the counties around it.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 18.4 min against a local median of 22.5 min, 18% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 18% below the local median it puts Lee County, MS at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 4.7% on work from home, so Lee County, MS sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Lee County, MS has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Lee County, Mississippi.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Lee County, Mississippi?
Commuters here spend an estimated 154 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,759 at a typical national wage. That's 14% less than the typical Mississippi commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Lee County, Mississippi?
Traffic peaks between 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM in Lee County, 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.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).