Atlantic City Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Atlantic City, New Jersey: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Atlantic City: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Atlantic City spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 153 hours, about 6.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 30% less time on the road than the New Jersey average of 26.2 minutes each way, a difference of 7.8 minutes.
Atlantic City holds about 0.4% of New Jersey's population but accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Atlantic City would save about 61 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,897 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic City | 18.4 min | 36.7 min | 153 hrs/yr | $4,742 | 2,111 |
| New Jersey | 26.2 min | 52.4 min | 218 hrs/yr | $6,764 | 2,109 |
| 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.
Atlantic City Commute Map
On average, it takes 18.4 minutes to get to work in Atlantic City. That's 18% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by public transit. About 5.0% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Atlantic City
- Car: 58.0%
- Public Transportation: 20.4%
- Walked: 11.9% unusually high
- Worked at Home: 5.0% unusually low
- Other: 2.1%
- Taxi: 1.7%
- Bicycle: 1.0% unusually high
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Atlantic City, versus 0.0% in New Jersey.
Walking is unusually common in Atlantic City: 4.6 times more than the New Jersey average (11.9% vs 2.6%).
Working from home is unusually rare in Atlantic City: 3.3 times less than the New Jersey average (5.0% vs 16.8%).
Biking is unusually common in Atlantic City: 3.2 times more than the New Jersey average (1.0% vs 0.3%).
Atlantic City stands out for active commuting: 12.9% of workers walk or bike to work, 4.4 times the New Jersey average of 2.9%.
Commute Mode Trends in Atlantic City, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Atlantic City 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Public Transportation | Walked | Worked at Home | Other | Taxi | Bicycle | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 50.8% | 26.6% | 16.3% | 1.2% | 2.5% | 0.7% | 1.9% | 0.0% |
| 2010 | 51.3% | 28.1% | 15.8% | 1.5% | 1.2% | 0.7% | 1.5% | 0.0% |
| 2011 | 49.2% | 28.3% | 17.0% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 0.6% | 1.8% | 0.0% |
| 2012 | 51.8% | 26.3% | 17.7% | 1.1% | 1.4% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 0.0% |
| 2013 | 47.9% | 26.6% | 18.9% | 0.8% | 2.3% | 1.2% | 2.3% | 0.0% |
| 2014 | 48.3% | 27.5% | 17.9% | 0.7% | 2.4% | 1.1% | 2.0% | 0.0% |
| 2015 | 50.4% | 26.7% | 17.2% | 0.6% | 2.4% | 1.0% | 1.7% | 0.0% |
| 2016 | 50.5% | 25.1% | 17.9% | 0.9% | 2.7% | 0.9% | 1.8% | 0.0% |
| 2017 | 51.3% | 24.4% | 17.2% | 1.1% | 3.4% | 0.8% | 1.7% | 0.1% |
| 2018 | 53.5% | 24.4% | 15.8% | 1.3% | 3.0% | 0.7% | 1.2% | 0.1% |
| 2019 | 51.9% | 23.1% | 18.5% | 1.7% | 3.0% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 0.0% |
| 2020 | 54.5% | 19.4% | 18.0% | 2.5% | 3.6% | 0.4% | 1.5% | 0.1% |
| 2021 | 53.1% | 19.9% | 18.0% | 3.1% | 3.8% | 0.6% | 1.4% | 0.1% |
| 2022 | 54.9% | 20.5% | 15.9% | 4.8% | 2.3% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 0.0% |
| 2023 | 53.1% | 20.7% | 16.0% | 5.9% | 2.5% | 0.6% | 1.2% | 0.0% |
| 2024 | 58.0% | 20.4% | 11.9% | 5.0% | 2.1% | 1.7% | 1.0% | 0.0% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share bottomed out in 2013 at 47.9%. Overall it rose from 50.8% in 2009 to 58.0% in 2024, up 7.2 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.
Working from home gained the most ground in Atlantic City: its share of workers rose from 1.2% in 2009 to 5.0% in 2024, up 3.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 26.6% to 20.4% of workers (down 6.2 percentage points).
Working from home overtook biking to become the 4th most common choice in the 2018 release and has stayed ahead since.
Walking peaked at 18.9% in 2013 and has since fallen back to 11.9%.
Commute Start Times in Atlantic City
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Atlantic City?
The bars show when commuters in Atlantic City 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 Jersey for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
| 12:00-4:59 AM |
12:00-4:59 AM
Atlantic City6.0%
New Jersey3.9%
|
6.0% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Atlantic City3.0%
New Jersey3.1%
|
3.0% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Atlantic City2.5%
New Jersey3.9%
|
2.5% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Atlantic City6.0%
New Jersey8.0%
|
6.0% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Atlantic City3.9%
New Jersey8.9%
|
3.9% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Atlantic City8.6%
New Jersey14.2%
|
8.6% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Atlantic City7.4%
New Jersey11.8%
|
7.4% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Atlantic City11.4%
New Jersey14.0%
|
11.4% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Atlantic City7.4%
New Jersey7.6%
|
7.4% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Atlantic City10.1%
New Jersey8.1%
|
10.1% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Atlantic City5.7%
New Jersey3.2%
|
5.7% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Atlantic City3.8%
New Jersey1.5%
|
3.8% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Atlantic City16.4%
New Jersey6.3%
|
16.4% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Atlantic City8.0%
New Jersey5.4%
|
8.0% |
Atlantic City New Jersey Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Atlantic City is 12:00-3:59 PM, when 16.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 6.3% across New Jersey. Early starts are about as common as in New Jersey: 11.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in New Jersey: 31.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.0% there. About 1 in 2 commuters (43.8%) 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 Atlantic City, 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 Atlantic City 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 Atlantic City next to New Jersey 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | Atlantic City | New Jersey | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 8:36 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 8:50 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 8:54 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 8:52 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 8:46 AM | 7:51 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 8:36 AM | 7:51 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 8:42 AM | 7:51 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 8:43 AM | 7:51 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 8:57 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 9:01 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 8:55 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 8:49 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 8:43 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 8:37 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 8:29 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 8:35 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Atlantic City were on the road by 8:35 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across New Jersey, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Atlantic City now leave 57 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Atlantic City has moved 20 minutes earlier.
How does Atlantic City's commute time compare?
| Metric | Atlantic City | New Jersey | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 18.4 min | 26.2 min | 22.4 min |
| Departure Window | 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM |
| Secondary Departure Window | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 5.0% | 16.8% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 11.9% | 2.6% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 20.4% | 8.1% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Atlantic City is 18.4 minutes, shorter than the 26.2 minutes in New Jersey.
20.4% commute by public transit, higher than the 8.1% in New Jersey. 11.9% commute by walking, higher than the 2.6% in New Jersey.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Atlantic City, New Jersey?
Commuters here spend an estimated 153 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,742 at a typical national wage. That's 30% less than the typical New Jersey commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Atlantic City, New Jersey?
Traffic peaks between 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.