Wells County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Wells County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Wells County spend about 18 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 74 hours, about 3.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 36% less time on the road than the North Dakota average of 13.8 minutes each way, a difference of 4.9 minutes.

Wells County holds about 0.5% 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 Wells County would save about 30 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $917 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)
Wells County	8.9 min	17.8 min	74 hrs/yr	$2,294	152
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

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On average, it takes 8.9 minutes to get to work in Wells County. That's 60% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 87% of counties in North Dakota

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 10.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Wells County

• Car: 76.1%
• Walked: 11.2% unusually high
• Worked at Home: 10.4%
• Bicycle: 1.4% unusually high
• Public Transportation: 0.8%
• Other: 0.1%
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

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

Walking is unusually common in Wells County: 3.5 times more than the North Dakota average (11.2% vs 3.2%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Wells County, versus 0.1% in North Dakota.

Biking is unusually common in Wells County: 5.3 times more than the North Dakota average (1.4% vs 0.3%).

Wells County stands out for active commuting: 12.6% of workers walk or bike to work, 3.6 times the North Dakota average of 3.5%.

Commute Mode Trends in Wells County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Wells 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
• Walked
• Worked at Home
• Bicycle
• Public Transportation
• Other
• Taxi
• Motorcycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Walked	Worked at Home	Bicycle	Public Transportation	Other	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	79.5%	7.3%	10.4%	0.4%	0.6%	1.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2010	78.8%	8.1%	10.9%	0.9%	0.0%	0.9%	0.0%	0.4%
2011	79.2%	7.7%	12.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2012	76.6%	6.3%	15.9%	0.5%	0.0%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%
2013	76.2%	7.2%	15.4%	0.9%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2014	76.6%	7.8%	14.6%	0.7%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2015	79.0%	6.7%	13.1%	0.2%	0.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	78.8%	8.0%	12.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	83.0%	8.5%	7.0%	0.3%	0.0%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	86.1%	6.9%	5.8%	0.0%	0.0%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2019	83.5%	8.3%	6.8%	0.1%	0.0%	1.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	78.7%	13.1%	7.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	81.9%	9.2%	7.0%	0.5%	0.6%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	80.0%	10.4%	7.9%	0.5%	0.6%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	75.4%	13.1%	9.9%	0.4%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	76.1%	11.2%	10.4%	1.4%	0.8%	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 86.1% and lowest in 2023 at 75.4%. Overall it fell from 79.5% in 2009 to 76.1% in 2024, down 3.4 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Walking gained the most ground in Wells County: its share of workers rose from 7.3% in 2009 to 11.2% in 2024, up 3.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 2.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking overtook working from home to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2017 release and has stayed ahead since.

Working from home peaked at 15.9% in 2012 and has since fallen back to 10.4%.

Commute Start Times in Wells County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Wells County?

The bars show when commuters in Wells 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 Wells County1.1% North Dakota3.6%	1.1%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Wells County2.2% North Dakota2.7%	2.2%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Wells County1.0% North Dakota4.4%	1.0%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Wells County4.6% North Dakota6.7%	4.6%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Wells County13.1% North Dakota11.2%	13.1%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Wells County16.3% North Dakota14.8%	16.3%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Wells County24.1% North Dakota20.9%	24.1%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Wells County13.0% North Dakota11.0%	13.0%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Wells County5.6% North Dakota4.7%	5.6%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Wells County4.9% North Dakota4.5%	4.9%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Wells County5.7% North Dakota2.3%	5.7%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Wells County1.6% North Dakota1.0%	1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Wells County4.1% North Dakota6.4%	4.1%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Wells County2.6% North Dakota5.9%	2.6%

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

The busiest time to head out in Wells County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 24.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 20.9% across North Dakota. Early starts are less common than in North Dakota: 4.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in North Dakota: 66.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.9% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (18.9%) 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 Wells 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 Wells 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 Wells 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.

• Wells County
• North Dakota
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Wells County	North Dakota	United States
2009	7:45 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:51 AM	7:42 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:49 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:45 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:50 AM	7:40 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:50 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:50 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:47 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:44 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:38 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:40 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:44 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:42 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:45 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 Wells County were on the road by 7:44 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across North Dakota, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Wells 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 Wells County has moved 4 minutes later.

How does Wells County's commute time compare?

Metric	Wells County	North Dakota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	8.9 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	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	10.4%	8.1%	15.0%
Walked	11.2%	3.2%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.8%	0.3%	3.2%

The average commute time in Wells County is 8.9 minutes, shorter than the 13.8 minutes in North Dakota.

0.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.3% in North Dakota. 11.2% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in North Dakota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau