Commuting in New Jersey: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 11:43 AM
What does a typical morning commute look like in New Jersey?
Map AI9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Commute Time Burden in New Jersey: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in New Jersey spend about 52 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 218 hours, about 9.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 17% more time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 3.8 minutes.
New Jersey holds about 2.8% of US's population but accounts for roughly 3.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in New Jersey would save about 87 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,706 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)
New Jersey
26.2 min
52.4 min
218 hrs/yr
$6,764
2,109
US
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
26.2
minutes to get to work in
New Jersey.
That's 17% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the 5 slowest states in US
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 16.8% work from home.
How People Get to Work in New Jersey
Car:
69.9%
Worked at Home:
16.8%
Public Transportation:
8.1%
Walked:
2.6%
Other:
1.6%
Taxi:
0.6%
Bicycle:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in New Jersey: 3.5 times less than the US average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Commute Mode Trends in New Jersey, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in New Jersey 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
Public Transportation
Walked
Other
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
81.0%
3.4%
10.4%
3.3%
1.4%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2010
80.6%
3.5%
10.6%
3.3%
1.4%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2011
80.5%
3.6%
10.7%
3.2%
1.4%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2012
80.5%
3.7%
10.7%
3.2%
1.4%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2013
80.3%
3.9%
10.8%
3.1%
1.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2014
80.2%
3.9%
10.9%
3.0%
1.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2015
80.0%
4.0%
11.1%
3.1%
1.2%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2016
79.8%
4.1%
11.2%
3.0%
1.2%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2017
79.5%
4.2%
11.5%
3.0%
1.2%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
2018
79.4%
4.4%
11.5%
2.9%
1.1%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
2019
79.2%
4.5%
11.6%
2.8%
1.1%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
2020
77.4%
7.3%
10.7%
2.6%
1.2%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
2021
74.9%
10.6%
9.7%
2.6%
1.3%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
2022
73.0%
13.1%
9.0%
2.6%
1.5%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
2023
71.4%
15.0%
8.5%
2.6%
1.6%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
2024
69.9%
16.8%
8.1%
2.6%
1.6%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 81.0% in 2009 to 69.9% in 2024, down 11.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 12 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in New Jersey: its share of workers rose from 3.4% in 2009 to 16.8% in 2024, up 13.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 12.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 10.4% to 8.1% of workers (down 2.3 percentage points).
Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in New Jersey
What Time Do People Leave for Work in New Jersey?
The bars show when commuters in New Jersey 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 the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMNew Jersey3.9%The U.S.5.5%
3.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMNew Jersey3.1%The U.S.4.0%
3.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMNew Jersey3.9%The U.S.4.9%
3.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMNew Jersey8.0%The U.S.8.7%
8.0%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMNew Jersey8.9%The U.S.9.4%
8.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMNew Jersey14.2%The U.S.14.4%
14.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMNew Jersey11.8%The U.S.11.9%
11.8%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMNew Jersey14.0%The U.S.11.5%
14.0%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMNew Jersey7.6%The U.S.5.5%
7.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMNew Jersey8.1%The U.S.6.8%
8.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMNew Jersey3.2%The U.S.3.1%
3.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMNew Jersey1.5%The U.S.1.5%
1.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMNew Jersey6.3%The U.S.6.8%
6.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMNew Jersey5.4%The U.S.6.1%
5.4%
New JerseyThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in New Jersey is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.4% across the U.S.. Early starts are less common than in the U.S.: 10.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush looks much like the U.S.'s: 49.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.5%) 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 New Jersey, 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 New Jersey 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 New Jersey next to 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
New Jersey
United States
2009
7:48 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:49 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:49 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:51 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:51 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:51 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:51 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:50 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:49 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:49 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:49 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:50 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in New Jersey were on the road by 7:50 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:48 AM). Commuters in New Jersey now leave 12 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does New Jersey's commute time compare?
Metric
New Jersey
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
26.2 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
16.8%
15.0%
Walked
2.6%
2.4%
Public Transit
8.1%
3.2%
The average commute time in New Jersey is 26.2 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in US.
8.1% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.2% in US. 2.6% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in US.
New Jersey is the 2nd largest of the 6 states compared here, 9,334,304 residents against a local median of 3,347,044. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest states, which makes New Jersey an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 7% below the local median at 26.2 min against 28.3 min. New Jersey has the 3rd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
What is the financial impact of commuting in New Jersey?
Commuters here spend an estimated 218 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,764 at a typical national wage. That's 17% more than the typical US commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in New Jersey?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in 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.
Which counties in New Jersey have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in New Jersey, the shortest average commutes are in Cape May County (18.1 min), Cumberland County (21.2 min), Atlantic County (21.6 min). The longest are in Hudson County (32.7 min), Sussex County (32.6 min), Hunterdon County (31.0 min).