Ramsey County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Ramsey County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Ramsey County spend about 21 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 87 hours, about 3.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 25% less time on the road than the North Dakota average of 13.8 minutes each way, a difference of 3.4 minutes.

Ramsey County holds about 1.5% of North Dakota's population but accounts for roughly 1.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Ramsey County would save about 35 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,075 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)
Ramsey County	10.4 min	20.8 min	87 hrs/yr	$2,688	247
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.

Commute Time Map: North Dakota Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

N

On average, it takes 10.4 minutes to get to work in Ramsey County. That's 54% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 79% of counties in North Dakota

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 4.9% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Ramsey County

• Car: 89.9%
• Worked at Home: 4.9%
• Walked: 4.5%
• Taxi: 0.4% unusually high
• Bicycle: 0.3%
• Other: < 0.1%
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Ramsey County, versus 0.2% in North Dakota.

Public transit is essentially absent in Ramsey County, versus 0.3% in North Dakota.

Taking a taxi is unusually common in Ramsey County: 3.2 times more than the North Dakota average (0.4% vs 0.1%).

Commute Mode Trends in Ramsey County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Ramsey 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
• Taxi
• Bicycle
• Public Transportation
• Motorcycle
• Other

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Taxi	Bicycle	Public Transportation	Motorcycle	Other
2009	85.9%	8.2%	4.0%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.2%	1.4%
2010	85.0%	8.4%	4.4%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%	1.8%
2011	85.2%	8.9%	3.8%	0.0%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	1.6%
2012	85.8%	8.1%	4.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	1.6%
2013	84.4%	8.0%	4.7%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	2.3%
2014	87.7%	6.8%	4.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.5%	0.2%	0.5%
2015	87.8%	5.9%	4.0%	0.8%	0.1%	0.5%	0.2%	0.6%
2016	87.3%	4.9%	4.1%	1.0%	0.0%	0.8%	0.3%	1.6%
2017	83.8%	5.4%	7.2%	0.9%	0.0%	0.9%	0.2%	1.6%
2018	86.2%	4.4%	6.6%	0.8%	0.0%	0.9%	0.0%	1.2%
2019	84.1%	4.3%	7.9%	0.6%	0.0%	1.8%	0.0%	1.3%
2020	84.3%	4.1%	8.5%	0.0%	0.5%	1.3%	0.0%	1.3%
2021	88.5%	3.4%	6.7%	0.1%	0.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2022	90.6%	3.8%	4.2%	0.1%	0.4%	0.5%	0.0%	0.4%
2023	88.6%	4.8%	5.4%	0.1%	0.4%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	89.9%	4.9%	4.5%	0.4%	0.3%	0.0%	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 2022 at 90.6% and lowest in 2017 at 83.8%. Overall it rose from 85.9% in 2009 to 89.9% in 2024, up 4.0 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Walking gained the most ground in Ramsey County: its share of workers rose from 4.0% in 2009 to 4.5% in 2024, up 0.5 percentage points.

Working from home lost the most ground, falling from 8.2% to 4.9% of workers (down 3.3 percentage points).

Walking peaked at 8.5% in 2020 and has since fallen back to 4.5%.

Commute Start Times in Ramsey County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Ramsey County?

The bars show when commuters in Ramsey 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 AM Ramsey County1.8% North Dakota3.6%	1.8%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Ramsey County0.8% North Dakota2.7%	0.8%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Ramsey County4.3% North Dakota4.4%	4.3%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Ramsey County8.5% North Dakota6.7%	8.5%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Ramsey County10.0% North Dakota11.2%	10.0%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Ramsey County12.5% North Dakota14.8%	12.5%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Ramsey County25.0% North Dakota20.9%	25.0%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Ramsey County12.7% North Dakota11.0%	12.7%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Ramsey County5.7% North Dakota4.7%	5.7%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Ramsey County1.9% North Dakota4.5%	1.9%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Ramsey County2.1% North Dakota2.3%	2.1%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Ramsey County1.2% North Dakota1.0%	1.2%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Ramsey County7.4% North Dakota6.4%	7.4%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Ramsey County6.1% North Dakota5.9%	6.1%

Ramsey County North Dakota Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Ramsey County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 25.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 20.9% across North Dakota. Early starts are less common than in North Dakota: 7.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in North Dakota: 60.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.9% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (18.6%) 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 Ramsey 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 Ramsey 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 Ramsey 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.

• Ramsey County
• North Dakota
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Ramsey County	North Dakota	United States
2009	7:41 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:42 AM	7:42 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:44 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:43 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:46 AM	7:40 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:46 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:43 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:44 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:47 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:46 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:47 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:51 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:55 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:48 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:45 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:44 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Ramsey County were on the road by 7:44 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:41 AM). That goes against the trend across North Dakota, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Ramsey County now leave 7 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 Ramsey County has moved 3 minutes earlier.

How does Ramsey County's commute time compare?

Metric	Ramsey County	North Dakota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	10.4 min	13.8 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 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	4.9%	8.1%	15.0%
Walked	4.5%	3.2%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	0.3%	3.2%

The average commute time in Ramsey County is 10.4 minutes, shorter than the 13.8 minutes in North Dakota.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.3% in North Dakota. 4.5% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in North Dakota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau