Commuting in Merrimack 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, 8:14 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Merrimack County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:14 PM
Commute Time Burden in Merrimack County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Merrimack 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 192 hours, about 8.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% more time on the road than the New Hampshire average of 22.5 minutes each way, a difference of 0.5 minutes.
Merrimack County holds about 11.2% of New Hampshire's population but accounts for roughly 11.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Merrimack County would save about 77 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,378 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)
Merrimack County
23.0 min
46.0 min
192 hrs/yr
$5,945
1,305
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
23.0
minutes to get to work in
Merrimack County.
That's 3% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the 3 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 14.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Merrimack County
Car:
81.3%
Worked at Home:
14.4%
Walked:
2.8%
Other:
0.7%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Public Transportation:
0.2%
Taxi:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Merrimack County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Merrimack 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
Motorcycle
Bicycle
Taxi
2009
89.7%
5.1%
3.5%
0.7%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2010
89.4%
5.4%
3.4%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2011
89.5%
5.2%
3.3%
1.0%
0.4%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2012
89.6%
5.4%
3.1%
1.1%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2013
89.5%
5.8%
2.9%
1.1%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2014
89.5%
5.9%
2.9%
1.0%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2015
88.8%
6.8%
2.7%
0.9%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2016
88.5%
7.1%
2.6%
0.9%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2017
89.3%
6.6%
2.5%
0.8%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2018
88.7%
7.1%
2.6%
0.8%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2019
88.8%
7.1%
2.5%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.2%
2020
88.2%
8.0%
2.4%
0.6%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2021
86.8%
9.7%
2.4%
0.5%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2022
83.9%
12.1%
2.7%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2023
82.7%
13.1%
2.7%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2024
81.3%
14.4%
2.8%
0.7%
0.2%
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 89.7% in 2009 to 81.3% in 2024, down 8.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Merrimack County: its share of workers rose from 5.1% in 2009 to 14.4% in 2024, up 9.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.5% to 2.8% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Merrimack County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Merrimack County?
The bars show when commuters in Merrimack 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.
Merrimack CountyNew HampshireSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Merrimack County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.1% across New Hampshire. Early starts are about as common as in New Hampshire: 14.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in New Hampshire: 52.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.8%) 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 Merrimack 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 Merrimack 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 Merrimack 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
Merrimack County
New Hampshire
United States
2009
7:30 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:28 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:30 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:30 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:32 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:31 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:33 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:32 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:30 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:29 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:30 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:26 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:26 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:27 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:27 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:27 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Merrimack County were on the road by 7:27 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:30 AM). New Hampshire followed the same path, with the typical start moving 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Merrimack County now leave 11 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 Merrimack County has moved 3 minutes earlier.
How does Merrimack County's commute time compare?
Metric
Merrimack County
New Hampshire
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.0 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
14.4%
16.8%
15.0%
Walked
2.8%
2.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Merrimack County is about the same as in New Hampshire.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in New Hampshire. 2.8% commute by walking, higher than the 2.3% in New Hampshire.
Merrimack County, NH Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Merrimack County, NH is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 155,964 residents against a local median of 92,112. Merrimack County, NH sits close to the middle of its own neighbourhood. No measure below is more than 15% off the local median, so the choice between these counties turns on things this data does not capture.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 11% below the local median at 14.4% against 16.2%. Merrimack County, NH has the 4th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Merrimack County, New Hampshire.
Is living in Merrimack County, New Hampshire good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 192 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,945 at a typical national wage. That's 2% more than the typical New Hampshire commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Merrimack County, New Hampshire?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Merrimack 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.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in New Hampshire?
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).