Commuting in Madison 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, 8:11 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Madison County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:11 PM
Commute Time Burden in Madison County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Madison 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 99 hours, about 4.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 30% less time on the road than the Nebraska average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 5.2 minutes.
Madison County holds about 1.8% of Nebraska's population but accounts for roughly 1.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Madison County would save about 39 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,223 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)
Madison County
11.8 min
23.7 min
99 hrs/yr
$3,058
994
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
11.8
minutes to get to work in
Madison County.
That's 47% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 70% 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 5.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Madison County
Car:
90.7%
Worked at Home:
5.6%
Walked:
2.2%
Other:
1.1%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Bicycle:
0.1%
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Madison County: 27.5 times less than the Nebraska average (0.0% vs 0.5%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Madison County, versus 0.1% in Nebraska.
Commute Mode Trends in Madison County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Madison 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
Other
Motorcycle
Bicycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
2009
91.9%
3.8%
3.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2010
92.6%
4.3%
2.5%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2011
92.7%
4.2%
2.2%
0.3%
0.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2012
92.6%
4.0%
2.5%
0.2%
0.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2013
91.6%
4.0%
2.7%
0.8%
0.1%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2014
92.5%
3.7%
1.9%
1.1%
0.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.2%
2015
91.9%
3.4%
2.1%
1.6%
0.1%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
2016
91.7%
3.6%
2.0%
1.7%
0.1%
0.3%
0.3%
0.4%
2017
91.3%
4.0%
1.8%
1.3%
0.1%
0.4%
0.4%
0.8%
2018
91.4%
4.2%
1.8%
0.8%
0.1%
0.5%
0.4%
0.8%
2019
91.5%
3.9%
2.0%
0.7%
0.1%
0.6%
0.8%
0.4%
2020
90.6%
5.1%
2.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.5%
0.6%
0.4%
2021
90.5%
4.6%
2.8%
0.8%
0.2%
0.5%
0.5%
0.2%
2022
90.5%
4.7%
2.7%
1.0%
0.3%
0.5%
0.4%
0.0%
2023
90.5%
5.4%
2.4%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
2024
90.7%
5.6%
2.2%
1.1%
0.2%
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 2011 at 92.7% and lowest in 2021 at 90.5%. Overall it fell from 91.9% in 2009 to 90.7% in 2024, down 1.2 percentage points.
Working from home gained the most ground in Madison County: its share of workers rose from 3.8% in 2009 to 5.6% in 2024, up 1.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.6% to 2.2% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Madison County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Madison County?
The bars show when commuters in Madison 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 AMMadison County7.7%Nebraska4.3%
7.7%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMMadison County3.8%Nebraska3.2%
3.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMMadison County6.6%Nebraska5.1%
6.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMMadison County5.7%Nebraska7.7%
5.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMMadison County7.6%Nebraska10.5%
7.6%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMMadison County13.6%Nebraska15.5%
13.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMMadison County21.0%Nebraska16.7%
21.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMMadison County10.1%Nebraska10.5%
10.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMMadison County3.9%Nebraska4.4%
3.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMMadison County3.7%Nebraska4.8%
3.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMMadison County2.2%Nebraska2.4%
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMMadison County1.3%Nebraska1.4%
1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMMadison County4.4%Nebraska7.1%
4.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMMadison County8.3%Nebraska6.5%
8.3%
Madison CountyNebraskaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Madison County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 21.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.7% across Nebraska. Early starts are more common than in Nebraska: 18.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.6% there. The morning rush looks much like Nebraska's: 52.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 53.1% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (20.0%) 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 Madison 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 Madison 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 Madison 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
Madison County
Nebraska
United States
2009
7:40 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:39 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
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:32 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:31 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:34 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:37 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:37 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:37 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Madison County were on the road by 7:37 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:40 AM). Nebraska followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Madison County now leave at about the same time as the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Madison County has moved 3 minutes later.
How does Madison County's commute time compare?
Metric
Madison County
Nebraska
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
11.8 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
5.6%
11.1%
15.0%
Walked
2.2%
2.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Madison County is 11.8 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Nebraska.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in Nebraska. 2.2% commute by walking, lower than the 2.3% in Nebraska.
Madison County, NE Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Madison County, NE is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 35,532 residents against a local median of 6,305. Madison County, NE's work from home, at 5.6%, runs 29% below the 8.0% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 4.7% on work from home, so Madison County, NE sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Madison County, NE has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Madison County, Nebraska.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Madison County, Nebraska?
Commuters here spend an estimated 99 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,058 at a typical national wage. That's 30% less than the typical Nebraska commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Madison County, Nebraska?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Madison 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.
Do people use public transit in Madison 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.
Which counties in Nebraska have the fastest and slowest commutes?
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).