Cary Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Cary, North Carolina: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 12:14 下午

What does a typical morning commute look like in Cary?

Map AI 9/24/26, 12:14 下午

Commute Time Burden in Cary: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Cary spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 176 hours, about 7.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 3% less time on the road than the North Carolina average of 21.9 minutes each way, a difference of 0.8 minutes.

Cary holds about 1.5% of North Carolina's population but accounts for roughly 1.4% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Cary would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,180 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)
Cary	21.1 min	42.2 min	176 hrs/yr	$5,450	3,069
North Carolina	21.9 min	43.7 min	182 hrs/yr	$5,645	1,609
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.

Cary Commute Map

On average, it takes 21.1 minutes to get to work in Cary. That's 6% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 35.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Cary

Driving is 23% less common in Cary than the North Carolina average (61.4% vs 80.0%).

Commute Mode Trends in Cary, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Cary 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	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	89.2%	6.8%	1.2%	1.5%	0.8%	0.0%	0.2%	0.3%
2010	88.5%	7.6%	1.2%	1.6%	0.7%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2011	88.5%	7.6%	1.3%	1.5%	0.7%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
2012	88.3%	8.1%	1.1%	1.3%	0.8%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
2013	88.9%	7.7%	0.9%	1.4%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%
2014	88.4%	8.2%	0.9%	1.4%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2015	87.6%	9.1%	0.8%	1.3%	0.8%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%
2016	87.1%	9.8%	0.7%	1.2%	0.6%	0.1%	0.2%	0.3%
2017	87.3%	9.7%	0.7%	1.2%	0.5%	0.1%	0.2%	0.4%
2018	86.9%	10.0%	0.6%	1.3%	0.5%	0.1%	0.2%	0.4%
2019	86.9%	10.0%	0.7%	1.2%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%	0.4%
2020	82.5%	14.7%	0.8%	1.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%
2021	75.6%	21.5%	0.8%	1.3%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%
2022	69.8%	27.2%	0.9%	1.2%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%
2023	65.4%	31.6%	1.1%	1.0%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
2024	61.4%	35.7%	1.3%	0.8%	0.3%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 89.2% in 2009 to 61.4% in 2024, down 27.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Cary: its share of workers rose from 6.8% in 2009 to 35.7% in 2024, up 28.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 25.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 1.5% to 0.8% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Cary

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Cary?

The bars show when commuters in Cary 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 North Carolina for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		2.2%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.4%
5:30-5:59 AM		2.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		5.3%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.5%
7:00-7:29 AM		11.5%
7:30-7:59 AM		13.5%
8:00-8:29 AM		17.3%
8:30-8:59 AM		10.5%
9:00-9:59 AM		12.7%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.9%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM		4.8%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.3%

Cary North Carolina Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Cary is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 17.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.7% across North Carolina. Early starts are less common than in North Carolina: 7.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.5% there. The morning rush looks much like North Carolina's: 49.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.2%) 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 Cary, 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 Cary 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 Cary next to North Carolina 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	Cary	North Carolina	United States
2009	7:55 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:57 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	8:01 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2012	8:02 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2013	8:02 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2014	8:02 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2015	8:03 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	8:02 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	8:03 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2018	8:05 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	8:05 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:04 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:06 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:06 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:07 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:09 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Cary were on the road by 8:09 AM, 13 minutes later than in 2009 (7:55 AM). The shift is sharper than across North Carolina, where the typical start moved 1 minute later. Commuters in Cary now leave 31 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 Cary has moved 4 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Cary in the whole series.

How does Cary's commute time compare?

Metric	Cary	North Carolina	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	21.1 min	21.9 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	08:00 AM – 08:29 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	35.7%	16.3%	15.0%
Walked	0.8%	1.6%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.3%	0.7%	3.2%

The average commute time in Cary is 21.1 minutes, shorter than the 21.9 minutes in North Carolina.

0.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in North Carolina. 0.8% commute by walking, lower than the 1.6% in North Carolina.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Cary, NC Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

Cary, NC is the 2nd largest of the 6 cities compared here, 159,804 residents against a local median of 29,205. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest cities, which makes Cary, NC an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.

The largest of those small differences is work from home, 12% above the local median at 35.7% against 31.8%. Cary, NC has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Cary, NC	159,804	21.1 min #3/6	35.7% #2/6	8:09 AM #6/6
Morrisville, NC	22,339	20.1 min	39.6%	8:08 AM
Apex, NC	47,941	23.0 min	34.8%	7:57 AM
Holly Springs, NC	29,205	30.2 min	31.8%	7:49 AM
Raleigh, NC	423,734	21.0 min	26.2%	8:03 AM
Fuquay-Varina, NC	24,602	32.4 min	29.3%	7:23 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Cary, North Carolina.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Cary, North Carolina?

Commuters here spend an estimated 176 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,450 at a typical national wage. That's 3% less than the typical North Carolina commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Cary, North Carolina?

Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Cary, North Carolina. 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.

Is Cary, North Carolina a good location for remote and hybrid workers?

About 35.7% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Cary would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,180 at the same national wage assumption used above.