Transylvania County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Transylvania County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Transylvania 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 152 hours, about 6.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 16% less time on the road than the North Carolina average of 21.9 minutes each way, a difference of 3.6 minutes.

Transylvania County holds about 0.3% of North Carolina's population and accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Transylvania County would save about 61 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,887 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)
Transylvania County	18.3 min	36.5 min	152 hrs/yr	$4,718	400
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.

Commute Time Map: North Carolina Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 18.3 minutes to get to work in Transylvania County. That's 19% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 91% of counties in North Carolina

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 12.5% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Transylvania County

• Car: 84.6%
• Worked at Home: 12.5%
• Walked: 2.0%
• Bicycle: 0.5%
• Other: 0.4%
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Transylvania County, versus 0.1% in North Carolina.

Public transit is unusually rare in Transylvania County: 10.7 times less than the North Carolina average (0.1% vs 0.7%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Transylvania County, versus 0.2% in North Carolina.

Commute Mode Trends in Transylvania County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Transylvania 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.

• Car
• Worked at Home
• Walked
• Bicycle
• Other
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Motorcycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Bicycle	Other	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	90.2%	4.3%	3.2%	0.5%	1.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.4%
2010	90.4%	4.2%	2.9%	0.6%	1.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2011	90.8%	3.8%	3.1%	0.1%	2.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2012	91.4%	3.7%	2.8%	0.0%	1.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2013	91.5%	4.5%	2.3%	0.0%	1.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2014	91.1%	5.1%	1.8%	0.0%	1.5%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2015	90.7%	5.9%	1.9%	0.4%	0.8%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	89.6%	7.1%	1.9%	0.5%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	89.7%	7.1%	2.1%	0.6%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	88.6%	8.0%	2.0%	1.0%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2019	88.1%	7.7%	2.6%	1.1%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	88.5%	8.0%	2.3%	0.7%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	87.8%	8.8%	2.1%	0.8%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	86.5%	10.0%	2.1%	0.7%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	85.5%	10.7%	2.3%	0.7%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	84.6%	12.5%	2.0%	0.5%	0.4%	0.1%	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 2013 at 91.5%. Overall it fell from 90.2% in 2009 to 84.6% in 2024, down 5.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Transylvania County: its share of workers rose from 4.3% in 2009 to 12.5% in 2024, up 8.2 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.2% to 2.0% of workers (down 1.2 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Transylvania County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Transylvania County?

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

12:00-4:59 AM	12:00-4:59 AM Transylvania County4.9% North Carolina4.4%	4.9%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Transylvania County1.7% North Carolina3.5%	1.7%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Transylvania County4.2% North Carolina4.6%	4.2%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Transylvania County5.9% North Carolina9.0%	5.9%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Transylvania County7.8% North Carolina10.2%	7.8%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Transylvania County17.9% North Carolina15.3%	17.9%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Transylvania County16.7% North Carolina12.8%	16.7%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Transylvania County12.2% North Carolina11.7%	12.2%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Transylvania County7.3% North Carolina5.4%	7.3%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Transylvania County10.2% North Carolina6.4%	10.2%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Transylvania County1.8% North Carolina2.8%	1.8%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Transylvania County1.1% North Carolina1.4%	1.1%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Transylvania County4.1% North Carolina6.3%	4.1%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Transylvania County4.3% North Carolina6.4%	4.3%

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

The busiest time to head out in Transylvania County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across North Carolina. Early starts are less common than in North Carolina: 10.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.5% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in North Carolina: 54.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.6%) 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 Transylvania 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 Transylvania 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 Transylvania County 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.

• Transylvania County
• North Carolina
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Transylvania County	North Carolina	United States
2009	7:44 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:42 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:40 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:41 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:46 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:50 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:52 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:53 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:52 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:48 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:51 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:44 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:42 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:46 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:48 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:44 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Transylvania County were on the road by 7:44 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across North Carolina, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Transylvania County now leave 6 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 Transylvania County has moved 7 minutes earlier.

How does Transylvania County's commute time compare?

Metric	Transylvania County	North Carolina	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	18.3 min	21.9 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	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	12.5%	16.3%	15.0%
Walked	2.0%	1.6%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	0.7%	3.2%

The average commute time in Transylvania County is 18.3 minutes, shorter than the 21.9 minutes in North Carolina.

0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in North Carolina. 2.0% commute by walking, higher than the 1.6% in North Carolina.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau