Commuting in Jefferson County, Nebraska: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 7:58 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Jefferson County?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:58 PM
Commute Time Burden in Jefferson County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Jefferson County spend about 22 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 93 hours, about 3.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 34% less time on the road than the Nebraska average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 5.8 minutes.
Jefferson County holds about 0.4% of Nebraska's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Jefferson County would save about 37 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,155 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)
Jefferson County
11.2 min
22.4 min
93 hrs/yr
$2,888
303
Nebraska
17.0 min
34.0 min
142 hrs/yr
$4,390
691
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
11.2
minutes to get to work in
Jefferson County.
That's 50% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 73% of counties in Nebraska
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 walking. About 4.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Jefferson County
Car:
87.6%
Walked:
6.3%
Worked at Home:
4.7%
Other:
1.2%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Jefferson County: 3.1 times less than the Nebraska average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Jefferson County: 327411055.4 times less than the Nebraska average (0.0% vs 0.5%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Jefferson County, versus 0.1% in Nebraska.
Biking is unusually rare in Jefferson County: 5.5 times less than the Nebraska average (0.1% vs 0.3%).
Commute Mode Trends in Jefferson County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Jefferson 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
Other
Bicycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
86.9%
3.5%
7.7%
0.6%
1.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2010
84.7%
4.0%
8.7%
0.6%
1.4%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2011
86.2%
3.4%
9.1%
0.4%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2012
84.0%
4.6%
8.6%
0.3%
0.7%
1.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2013
87.7%
3.4%
7.1%
0.3%
0.1%
1.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2014
85.3%
5.2%
7.9%
0.3%
0.2%
0.9%
0.2%
0.0%
2015
85.8%
5.9%
7.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.8%
0.0%
0.0%
2016
84.1%
8.6%
6.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.8%
0.0%
0.0%
2017
87.9%
6.0%
5.9%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
87.6%
5.0%
6.6%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.5%
0.0%
2019
88.9%
3.5%
6.7%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
2020
90.6%
2.4%
6.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2021
90.5%
1.5%
6.6%
1.0%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2022
89.6%
2.5%
5.8%
1.6%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2023
90.8%
1.9%
5.5%
1.8%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
87.6%
6.3%
4.7%
1.2%
0.1%
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 2023 at 90.8% and lowest in 2012 at 84.0%. Overall it rose from 86.9% in 2009 to 87.6% in 2024, up 0.7 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.
Walking gained the most ground in Jefferson County: its share of workers rose from 3.5% in 2009 to 6.3% in 2024, up 2.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 2.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Working from home lost the most ground, falling from 7.7% to 4.7% of workers (down 3.0 percentage points).
Walking overtook working from home to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2024 release and has stayed ahead since.
Walking peaked at 8.6% in 2016 and has since fallen back to 6.3%.
Commute Start Times in Jefferson County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Jefferson County?
The bars show when commuters in Jefferson 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 Nebraska for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMJefferson County9.0%Nebraska4.3%
9.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMJefferson County5.3%Nebraska3.2%
5.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMJefferson County5.2%Nebraska5.1%
5.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMJefferson County10.6%Nebraska7.7%
10.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMJefferson County11.1%Nebraska10.5%
11.1%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMJefferson County11.3%Nebraska15.5%
11.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMJefferson County16.5%Nebraska16.7%
16.5%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMJefferson County12.1%Nebraska10.5%
12.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMJefferson County3.5%Nebraska4.4%
3.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMJefferson County4.4%Nebraska4.8%
4.4%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMJefferson County3.8%Nebraska2.4%
3.8%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMJefferson County0.3%Nebraska1.4%
0.3%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMJefferson County3.5%Nebraska7.1%
3.5%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMJefferson County3.4%Nebraska6.5%
3.4%
Jefferson CountyNebraskaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Jefferson County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.7% across Nebraska. Early starts are more common than in Nebraska: 19.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.6% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Nebraska: 51.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 53.1% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (15.4%) 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson County next to Nebraska 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
Jefferson County
Nebraska
United States
2009
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:35 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:35 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:35 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:24 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:19 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:20 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:16 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:23 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Jefferson County were on the road by 7:23 AM, 14 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:38 AM). The shift is sharper than across Nebraska, where the typical start moved 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Jefferson County now leave 15 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 Jefferson County has moved 12 minutes earlier.
How does Jefferson County's commute time compare?
Metric
Jefferson County
Nebraska
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
11.2 min
17.0 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
4.7%
11.1%
15.0%
Walked
6.3%
2.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Jefferson County is 11.2 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Nebraska.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in Nebraska. 6.3% commute by walking, higher than the 2.3% in Nebraska.
Jefferson County, NE Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Jefferson County, NE is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 7,161 residents against a local median of 5,541. The measure that sets Jefferson County, NE apart most is one-way commute: 11.2 min, 27% below the local median of 15.3 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 4.7 min on one-way commute, so Jefferson County, NE sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Jefferson County, NE has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Jefferson County, Nebraska.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Jefferson County, Nebraska?
Commuters here spend an estimated 93 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $2,888 at a typical national wage. That's 34% less than the typical Nebraska commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Jefferson County, Nebraska?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Jefferson County, Nebraska. 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.
How common is public transit use in Jefferson County, Nebraska?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.5% in Nebraska, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
How do commute times compare across counties in Nebraska?
Among counties in Nebraska, the shortest average commutes are in Hooker County (7.4 min), Cherry County (8.0 min), Box Butte County (8.0 min). The longest are in Cass County (28.0 min), Banner County (27.2 min), Saunders County (26.9 min).