Commuting in Nelson County, North Dakota: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:07 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Nelson County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:07 PM
Commute Time Burden in Nelson County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Nelson County spend about 24 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 100 hours, about 4.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 13% less time on the road than the North Dakota average of 13.8 minutes each way, a difference of 1.8 minutes.
Nelson County holds about 0.4% of North Dakota's population but accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Nelson County would save about 40 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,239 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)
Nelson County
12.0 min
24.0 min
100 hrs/yr
$3,097
68
North Dakota
13.8 min
27.6 min
115 hrs/yr
$3,567
360
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
12.0
minutes to get to work in
Nelson County.
That's 47% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 8.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Nelson County
Car:
80.4%
Walked:
9.2%
Worked at Home:
8.1%
Bicycle:
1.6%unusually high
Other:
0.6%
Public Transportation:
0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Nelson County, versus 0.2% in North Dakota.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Nelson County, versus 0.1% in North Dakota.
Biking is unusually common in Nelson County: 5.8 times more than the North Dakota average (1.6% vs 0.3%).
Nelson County stands out for active commuting: 10.8% of workers walk or bike to work, 3.1 times the North Dakota average of 3.5%.
Commute Mode Trends in Nelson County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Nelson 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
Walked
Worked at Home
Bicycle
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
79.2%
6.0%
14.2%
0.5%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2010
78.6%
6.4%
14.3%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2011
79.8%
5.9%
13.5%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2012
79.6%
6.4%
13.0%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2013
78.2%
7.5%
13.1%
0.1%
1.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2014
78.9%
8.0%
11.9%
0.1%
1.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2015
81.6%
7.1%
10.2%
0.0%
1.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2016
80.2%
7.0%
8.1%
0.0%
4.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2017
82.1%
5.8%
8.0%
0.0%
4.0%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
84.9%
5.1%
5.7%
0.1%
4.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
83.6%
6.9%
6.4%
0.1%
2.8%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
82.8%
7.5%
6.4%
0.7%
2.3%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
78.2%
11.5%
7.1%
0.8%
2.1%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
78.8%
10.3%
7.0%
1.6%
2.0%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
78.7%
10.6%
8.4%
1.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
80.4%
9.2%
8.1%
1.6%
0.6%
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 was highest in 2018 at 84.9% and lowest in 2013 at 78.2%. Overall it rose from 79.2% in 2009 to 80.4% in 2024, up 1.2 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.
Walking gained the most ground in Nelson County: its share of workers rose from 6.0% in 2009 to 9.2% in 2024, up 3.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 2.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Working from home lost the most ground, falling from 14.2% to 8.1% of workers (down 6.1 percentage points).
Walking overtook working from home to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2019 release and has stayed ahead since.
Walking peaked at 11.5% in 2021 and has since fallen back to 9.2%.
Commute Start Times in Nelson County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Nelson County?
The bars show when commuters in Nelson 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 Dakota for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMNelson County4.7%North Dakota3.6%
4.7%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMNelson County3.7%North Dakota2.7%
3.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMNelson County2.6%North Dakota4.4%
2.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMNelson County6.6%North Dakota6.7%
6.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMNelson County9.6%North Dakota11.2%
9.6%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMNelson County20.4%North Dakota14.8%
20.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMNelson County15.8%North Dakota20.9%
15.8%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMNelson County16.1%North Dakota11.0%
16.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMNelson County3.9%North Dakota4.7%
3.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMNelson County2.0%North Dakota4.5%
2.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMNelson County3.9%North Dakota2.3%
3.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMNelson County1.5%North Dakota1.0%
1.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMNelson County6.2%North Dakota6.4%
6.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMNelson County2.9%North Dakota5.9%
2.9%
Nelson CountyNorth DakotaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Nelson County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 20.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.8% across North Dakota. Early starts are about as common as in North Dakota: 11.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in North Dakota: 62.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.9% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (16.6%) 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 Nelson 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 Nelson 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 Nelson County next to North Dakota 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
Nelson County
North Dakota
United States
2009
7:30 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:31 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:30 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:29 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:30 AM
7:40 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:25 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:26 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:26 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:30 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:35 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Nelson County were on the road by 7:35 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:30 AM). That goes against the trend across North Dakota, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Nelson County now leave 3 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 Nelson County has moved 12 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Nelson County in the whole series.
How does Nelson County's commute time compare?
Metric
Nelson County
North Dakota
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
12.0 min
13.8 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
8.1%
8.1%
15.0%
Walked
9.2%
3.2%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.1%
0.3%
3.2%
The average commute time in Nelson County is 12.0 minutes, shorter than the 13.8 minutes in North Dakota.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.3% in North Dakota. 9.2% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in North Dakota.
Nelson County, ND Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Nelson County, ND is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 3,016 residents against a local median of 10,396. Nelson County, ND's work from home, at 8.1%, runs 26% above the 6.5% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 8.0% on work from home, so Nelson County, ND sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Nelson County, ND has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Nelson County, North Dakota.
Is living in Nelson County, North Dakota good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 100 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,097 at a typical national wage. That's 13% less than the typical North Dakota commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Nelson County, North Dakota?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Nelson County, North Dakota. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in North Dakota?
Among counties in North Dakota, the shortest average commutes are in McIntosh County (6.9 min), Foster County (7.7 min), Pierce County (7.7 min). The longest are in McHenry County (28.9 min), Renville County (23.5 min), Oliver County (22.8 min).