Newark Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Newark, 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 Newark: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Newark spend about 60 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 251 hours, about 10.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 15% more time on the road than the New Jersey average of 26.2 minutes each way, a difference of 4.0 minutes.
Newark holds about 3.3% of New Jersey's population but accounts for roughly 3.8% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Newark would save about 101 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,116 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newark | 30.2 min | 60.3 min | 251 hrs/yr | $7,790 | 4,048 |
| 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.
Newark Commute Map
On average, it takes 30.2 minutes to get to work in Newark. That's 35% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 public transit. About 7.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Newark
- Car: 60.5%
- Public Transportation: 19.3%
- Worked at Home: 7.3%
- Other: 6.1%
- Walked: 5.1%
- Taxi: 1.4%
- Bicycle: 0.3%
- Motorcycle: < 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Newark, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Newark 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 | Worked at Home | Other | Walked | Taxi | Bicycle | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 63.1% | 25.0% | 1.6% | 2.4% | 7.3% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2010 | 63.5% | 24.8% | 1.7% | 2.0% | 7.3% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2011 | 62.8% | 25.3% | 1.6% | 2.0% | 7.7% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2012 | 61.0% | 26.9% | 1.6% | 1.8% | 7.9% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2013 | 62.3% | 26.3% | 1.9% | 1.0% | 7.9% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2014 | 61.3% | 26.8% | 1.8% | 1.1% | 8.3% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2015 | 61.1% | 26.7% | 1.6% | 1.0% | 8.8% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.0% |
| 2016 | 62.2% | 26.5% | 1.7% | 0.9% | 8.0% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2017 | 62.4% | 26.3% | 1.7% | 0.9% | 8.1% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2018 | 62.2% | 26.3% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 7.6% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2019 | 62.0% | 25.7% | 1.6% | 3.6% | 6.4% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2020 | 62.0% | 23.7% | 2.7% | 5.2% | 5.6% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2021 | 61.4% | 21.4% | 3.8% | 6.9% | 5.4% | 1.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2022 | 61.0% | 20.2% | 4.6% | 7.8% | 5.2% | 1.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2023 | 61.4% | 18.6% | 6.1% | 7.5% | 4.9% | 1.1% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2024 | 60.5% | 19.3% | 7.3% | 6.1% | 5.1% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2010 at 63.5%. Overall it fell from 63.1% in 2009 to 60.5% in 2024, down 2.6 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.
Working from home gained the most ground in Newark: its share of workers rose from 1.6% in 2009 to 7.3% in 2024, up 5.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 25.0% to 19.3% of workers (down 5.7 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.
Walking peaked at 8.8% in 2015 and has since fallen back to 5.1%.
Commute Start Times in Newark
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Newark?
The bars show when commuters in Newark 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
Newark5.1%
New Jersey3.9%
|
5.1% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Newark4.8%
New Jersey3.1%
|
4.8% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Newark4.0%
New Jersey3.9%
|
4.0% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Newark9.3%
New Jersey8.0%
|
9.3% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Newark5.8%
New Jersey8.9%
|
5.8% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Newark19.7%
New Jersey14.2%
|
19.7% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Newark8.2%
New Jersey11.8%
|
8.2% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Newark14.7%
New Jersey14.0%
|
14.7% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Newark3.4%
New Jersey7.6%
|
3.4% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Newark5.6%
New Jersey8.1%
|
5.6% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Newark3.0%
New Jersey3.2%
|
3.0% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Newark1.7%
New Jersey1.5%
|
1.7% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Newark7.2%
New Jersey6.3%
|
7.2% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Newark7.5%
New Jersey5.4%
|
7.5% |
Newark New Jersey Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Newark is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 19.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.2% across New Jersey. Early starts are more common than in New Jersey: 13.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.9% there. The morning rush looks much like New Jersey's: 48.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.0%) 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 Newark, 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 Newark 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 Newark 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 | Newark | New Jersey | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:36 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 7:39 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:40 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 7:41 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:41 AM | 7:51 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:41 AM | 7:51 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:36 AM | 7:51 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:35 AM | 7:51 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:31 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:29 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:28 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:29 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:28 AM | 7:49 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:31 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:35 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:35 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Newark were on the road by 7:35 AM, 2 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:36 AM). That goes against the trend across New Jersey, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Newark now leave 3 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 Newark has moved 6 minutes later.
How does Newark's commute time compare?
| Metric | Newark | New Jersey | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 30.2 min | 26.2 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 | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 7.3% | 16.8% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 5.1% | 2.6% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 19.3% | 8.1% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Newark is 30.2 minutes, longer than the 26.2 minutes in New Jersey.
19.3% commute by public transit, higher than the 8.1% in New Jersey. 5.1% commute by walking, higher than the 2.6% in New Jersey.
Newark, NJ Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
How Newark, NJ compares with the 2 cities closest to it.
| Area | Population | One-way commute | Work from home | Typical departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newark, NJ | 309,652 | 30.2 min #1/3 | 7.3% #3/3 | 7:35 AM #1/3 |
| Harrison, NJ | 20,334 | 36.8 min | 19.8% | 7:59 AM |
| East Orange, NJ | 69,597 | 30.6 min | 9.7% | 7:53 AM |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Newark, New Jersey.
Is living in Newark, New Jersey good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 251 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,790 at a typical national wage. That's 15% more than the typical New Jersey commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Newark, New Jersey?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Newark, 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.