Commuting in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:24 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Hillsborough County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:24 PM
Commute Time Burden in Hillsborough County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Hillsborough County spend about 46 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 190 hours, about 7.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% more time on the road than the New Hampshire average of 22.5 minutes each way, a difference of 0.3 minutes.
Hillsborough County holds about 30.6% of New Hampshire's population but accounts for roughly 30.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Hillsborough County would save about 76 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,353 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)
Hillsborough County
22.8 min
45.5 min
190 hrs/yr
$5,882
1,801
New Hampshire
22.5 min
45.0 min
188 hrs/yr
$5,813
1,232
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
22.8
minutes to get to work in
Hillsborough County.
That's 2% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the 5 slowest counties in New Hampshire
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 18.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Hillsborough County
Car:
78.0%
Worked at Home:
18.1%
Walked:
1.8%
Other:
1.1%
Public Transportation:
0.6%
Taxi:
0.2%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Hillsborough County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Hillsborough 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
Public Transportation
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
91.5%
4.5%
2.2%
0.5%
0.8%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2010
91.0%
5.0%
2.1%
0.5%
0.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2011
91.0%
5.4%
1.8%
0.5%
0.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
90.9%
5.5%
1.8%
0.5%
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2013
90.7%
5.6%
2.0%
0.5%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2014
90.2%
6.0%
2.0%
0.5%
0.9%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2015
90.1%
6.2%
2.0%
0.5%
0.9%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2016
90.1%
5.9%
2.3%
0.5%
0.8%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2017
89.9%
6.1%
2.2%
0.5%
0.8%
0.1%
0.2%
0.2%
2018
89.7%
6.4%
2.0%
0.5%
0.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.2%
2019
89.5%
6.4%
2.1%
0.6%
1.0%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
87.8%
8.3%
2.1%
0.6%
0.8%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2021
84.8%
11.5%
1.8%
0.7%
0.8%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2022
82.5%
13.9%
1.8%
0.8%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2023
80.3%
16.1%
1.7%
0.9%
0.6%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
78.0%
18.1%
1.8%
1.1%
0.6%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 91.5% in 2009 to 78.0% in 2024, down 13.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 8 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Hillsborough County: its share of workers rose from 4.5% in 2009 to 18.1% in 2024, up 13.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Hillsborough County
😴Sleeping InThe 2nd-highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among New Hampshire's 10 counties: 22.1% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Hillsborough County?
The bars show when commuters in Hillsborough 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 New Hampshire for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
Hillsborough CountyNew HampshireSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Hillsborough County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.1% across New Hampshire. Early starts are about as common as in New Hampshire: 15.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush looks much like New Hampshire's: 48.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (22.1%) 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 Hillsborough 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 Hillsborough 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 Hillsborough County next to New Hampshire 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
Hillsborough County
New Hampshire
United States
2009
7:37 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:36 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:36 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:34 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:35 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:35 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:36 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:36 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:35 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:34 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:34 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:34 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:33 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:33 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:33 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:32 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Hillsborough County were on the road by 7:32 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:37 AM). New Hampshire followed the same path, with the typical start moving 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Hillsborough County now leave 6 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 Hillsborough County has moved 2 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Hillsborough County in the whole series.
How does Hillsborough County's commute time compare?
Metric
Hillsborough County
New Hampshire
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
22.8 min
22.5 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
18.1%
16.8%
15.0%
Walked
1.8%
2.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.6%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Hillsborough County is about the same as in New Hampshire.
0.6% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.5% in New Hampshire. 1.8% commute by walking, lower than the 2.3% in New Hampshire.
Hillsborough County, NH Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Hillsborough County, NH is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 426,152 residents against a local median of 319,036. Hillsborough County, NH's work from home, at 18.1%, runs 16% above the 15.6% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 11.6% on work from home, so Hillsborough County, NH sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Hillsborough County, NH has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire?
Commuters here spend an estimated 190 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,882 at a typical national wage. That's 1% more than the typical New Hampshire commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Which counties in New Hampshire have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in New Hampshire, the shortest average commutes are in Coos County (17.5 min), Grafton County (17.5 min), Cheshire County (18.6 min). The longest are in Rockingham County (25.8 min), Sullivan County (23.5 min), Merrimack County (23.0 min).