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Thomas County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Thomas County, Nebraska: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 7:55 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Thomas County?
Map AI 9/24/26, 7:55 PM

Commute Time Burden in Thomas County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Thomas 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 91 hours, about 3.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 36% less time on the road than the Nebraska average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 6.1 minutes.

Thomas County holds about 0.0% of Nebraska's population and accounts for roughly 0.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Thomas County would save about 36 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,131 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)
Thomas County 10.9 min 21.9 min 91 hrs/yr $2,826 61
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.

Commute Time Map: Nebraska Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Nebraska
  1. Hooker County (7.4 min)
  2. Cherry County (8.0 min)
  3. Box Butte County (8.0 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Nebraska
  1. Cass County (28.0 min)
  2. Banner County (27.2 min)
  3. Saunders County (26.9 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Thomas County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 10.9 minutes to get to work in Thomas County. That's 51% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 76% of counties in Nebraska

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 11.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Thomas County

  • Car: 72.7%
  • Walked: 14.4% unusually high
  • Worked at Home: 11.7%
  • Other: 1.2%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Thomas County, versus 0.1% in Nebraska.

Walking is unusually common in Thomas County: 6.2 times more than the Nebraska average (14.4% vs 2.3%).

Public transit is essentially absent in Thomas County, versus 0.5% in Nebraska.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Thomas County, versus 0.1% in Nebraska.

Biking is essentially absent in Thomas County, versus 0.3% in Nebraska.

Thomas County stands out for active commuting: 14.4% of workers walk or bike to work, 5.4 times the Nebraska average of 2.7%.

Commute Mode Trends in Thomas County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Thomas 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 Public Transportation Taxi Motorcycle Bicycle
2009 58.1% 8.3% 28.6% 4.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.8% 0.0%
2010 64.4% 5.7% 25.3% 3.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.7% 0.0%
2011 66.3% 9.5% 20.1% 3.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.8% 0.0%
2012 66.4% 11.8% 18.0% 3.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0%
2013 68.9% 13.4% 15.9% 1.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0%
2014 69.5% 11.4% 18.6% 0.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2015 66.4% 14.1% 19.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2016 72.1% 10.3% 17.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2017 74.9% 8.4% 16.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2018 73.1% 9.7% 17.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2019 78.0% 9.1% 12.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2020 79.4% 10.1% 10.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2021 77.2% 7.7% 15.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2022 70.5% 14.5% 15.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 71.8% 15.9% 11.7% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 72.7% 14.4% 11.7% 1.2% 0.0% 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 peaked in 2020 at 79.4%. Overall it rose from 58.1% in 2009 to 72.7% in 2024, up 14.6 percentage points. It has risen in each of the last 2 releases.

Walking gained the most ground in Thomas County: its share of workers rose from 8.3% in 2009 to 14.4% in 2024, up 6.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Working from home lost the most ground, falling from 28.6% to 11.7% of workers (down 16.9 percentage points).

Walking overtook working from home to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 15.9% in 2023 and has since fallen back to 14.4%.

Commute Start Times in Thomas County

  • Rush-Hour RegularsThe highest share of rush-hour departures among Nebraska's 93 counties: 81.6% of commuters leave between 6:30 and 8:29 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Thomas County?

The bars show when commuters in Thomas 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
5.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
2.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
0.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
0.0%
6:30-6:59 AM
21.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
12.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
36.8%
8:00-8:29 AM
11.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
3.8%
9:00-9:59 AM
3.8%
10:00-10:59 AM
0.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
0.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
0.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
2.1%

Thomas County Nebraska Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Thomas County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 36.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.7% across Nebraska. Early starts are less common than in Nebraska: 8.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Nebraska: 81.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 53.1% there. About 1 in 15 commuters (6.6%) 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 Thomas 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 Thomas 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 Thomas 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 Thomas County Nebraska United States
2009 7:43 AM 7:39 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:42 AM 7:38 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:39 AM 7:38 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:39 AM 7:38 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:38 AM 7:38 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:35 AM 7:38 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:38 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:36 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:36 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:35 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:34 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:24 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:26 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:40 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:41 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:37 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Thomas County were on the road by 7:37 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:43 AM). The shift is sharper than across Nebraska, where the typical start moved 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Thomas County now leave 1 minute 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 Thomas County has moved 3 minutes later.

How does Thomas County's commute time compare?

Metric Thomas County Nebraska US Average
Avg. Commute Time 10.9 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 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 11.7% 11.1% 15.0%
Walked 14.4% 2.3% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.5% 3.2%

The average commute time in Thomas County is 10.9 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Nebraska.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in Nebraska. 14.4% commute by walking, higher than the 2.3% in Nebraska.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Thomas County, NE Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Thomas County, NE is typical in size for this group, 564 residents against a local median of 647, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. Where Thomas County, NE breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 16% below the local median of 13.0 min at 10.9 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.

The counties themselves spread 8.6 min on one-way commute, so Thomas County, NE sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Thomas County, NE has the 3rd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Thomas County, NE 564 10.9 min #3/6 11.7% #4/6 7:37 AM #3/6
Logan County, NE 773 13.7 min 12.3% 7:22 AM
Blaine County, NE 422 16.0 min 21.7% 7:39 AM
Hooker County, NE 647 7.4 min 10.6% 7:32 AM
McPherson County, NE 475 13.0 min 18.1% 8:10 AM
Brown County, NE 2,869 8.2 min 8.6% 7:39 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Thomas County, Nebraska.

Is commuting expensive in Thomas County, Nebraska?

Commuters here spend an estimated 91 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $2,826 at a typical national wage. That's 36% less than the typical Nebraska commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Thomas County, Nebraska?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Thomas County, Nebraska. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

Do people use public transit in Thomas 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).