Commuting in Lancaster 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, 7:53 PM
Is the commute in Lancaster County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:53 PM
Commute Time Burden in Lancaster County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Lancaster County spend about 35 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 145 hours, about 6.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% more time on the road than the Nebraska average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.4 minutes.
Lancaster County holds about 16.5% of Nebraska's population but accounts for roughly 16.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Lancaster County would save about 58 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,793 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)
Lancaster County
17.4 min
34.7 min
145 hrs/yr
$4,482
1,749
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
17.4
minutes to get to work in
Lancaster County.
That's 23% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 74% of counties in Nebraska
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 working from home. About 11.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Lancaster County
Car:
82.6%
Worked at Home:
11.6%
Walked:
3.3%
Bicycle:
0.8%
Public Transportation:
0.8%
Other:
0.7%
Taxi:
0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Lancaster County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Lancaster 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
Worked at Home
Walked
Public Transportation
Bicycle
Other
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
90.4%
3.3%
3.1%
1.3%
1.2%
0.3%
0.0%
0.3%
2010
90.2%
3.5%
3.2%
1.3%
1.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.3%
2011
90.3%
3.4%
3.2%
1.2%
1.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.3%
2012
90.5%
3.4%
2.9%
1.1%
1.4%
0.2%
0.0%
0.3%
2013
90.6%
3.4%
2.7%
1.2%
1.5%
0.3%
0.0%
0.3%
2014
90.5%
3.5%
2.5%
1.2%
1.5%
0.4%
0.0%
0.2%
2015
90.5%
3.4%
2.7%
1.3%
1.5%
0.4%
0.0%
0.2%
2016
90.4%
3.4%
2.7%
1.2%
1.5%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
2017
90.6%
3.3%
2.9%
1.2%
1.2%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
2018
90.3%
3.6%
3.2%
1.3%
1.2%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
90.3%
3.6%
3.2%
1.2%
1.1%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
89.0%
5.3%
3.0%
1.0%
0.9%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
87.3%
7.3%
3.1%
0.9%
0.7%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
85.7%
9.0%
3.0%
0.8%
0.8%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
84.6%
10.1%
3.0%
0.8%
0.8%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
82.6%
11.6%
3.3%
0.8%
0.8%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2013 at 90.6%. Overall it fell from 90.4% in 2009 to 82.6% in 2024, down 7.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Lancaster County: its share of workers rose from 3.3% in 2009 to 11.6% in 2024, up 8.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 8.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.3% to 0.8% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Lancaster County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lancaster County?
The bars show when commuters in Lancaster 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 AMLancaster County3.0%Nebraska4.3%
3.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMLancaster County2.3%Nebraska3.2%
2.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMLancaster County4.6%Nebraska5.1%
4.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMLancaster County6.6%Nebraska7.7%
6.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMLancaster County10.3%Nebraska10.5%
10.3%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMLancaster County14.3%Nebraska15.5%
14.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMLancaster County17.6%Nebraska16.7%
17.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMLancaster County11.2%Nebraska10.5%
11.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMLancaster County5.2%Nebraska4.4%
5.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMLancaster County5.7%Nebraska4.8%
5.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMLancaster County2.8%Nebraska2.4%
2.8%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMLancaster County1.4%Nebraska1.4%
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMLancaster County8.4%Nebraska7.1%
8.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMLancaster County6.6%Nebraska6.5%
6.6%
Lancaster CountyNebraskaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Lancaster County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 17.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.7% across Nebraska. Early starts are less common than in Nebraska: 9.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.6% there. The morning rush looks much like Nebraska's: 53.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 53.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.9%) 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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
Lancaster County
Nebraska
United States
2009
7:46 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:44 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:44 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:44 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:44 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:44 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:45 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Lancaster County were on the road by 7:45 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Nebraska, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Lancaster County now leave 7 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Lancaster County's commute time compare?
Metric
Lancaster County
Nebraska
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
17.4 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
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
11.6%
11.1%
15.0%
Walked
3.3%
2.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.8%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Lancaster County is about the same as in Nebraska.
0.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.5% in Nebraska. 3.3% commute by walking, higher than the 2.3% in Nebraska.
Lancaster County, NE Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Lancaster County, NE is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 326,713 residents against a local median of 21,629. Where Lancaster County, NE breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 69% above the local median of 6.9% at 11.6%.
The counties themselves spread 7.7% on work from home, so Lancaster County, NE sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Lancaster County, NE has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Lancaster County, Nebraska.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Lancaster County, Nebraska?
Commuters here spend an estimated 145 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,482 at a typical national wage. That's 2% more than the typical Nebraska commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Lancaster County, Nebraska?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).