Commuting in Somerset County, 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, 8:18 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Somerset County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:18 PM
Commute Time Burden in Somerset County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Somerset County spend about 54 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 224 hours, about 9.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 3% more time on the road than the New Jersey average of 26.2 minutes each way, a difference of 0.7 minutes.
Somerset County holds about 3.7% 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 Somerset County would save about 90 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,779 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)
Somerset County
26.9 min
53.8 min
224 hrs/yr
$6,948
2,242
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.
On average, it takes
26.9
minutes to get to work in
Somerset County.
That's 20% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 70% of counties in New Jersey
The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 22.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Somerset County
Car:
70.3%
Worked at Home:
22.7%
Public Transportation:
3.4%
Other:
1.7%
Walked:
1.2%
Taxi:
0.6%
Bicycle:
0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Somerset County: 7.2 times less than the New Jersey average (0.0% vs 0.0%).
Commute Mode Trends in Somerset County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Somerset 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
Public Transportation
Other
Walked
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
87.6%
4.1%
5.4%
0.5%
1.7%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2010
87.4%
4.1%
5.4%
0.6%
1.7%
0.2%
0.4%
0.1%
2011
87.4%
4.7%
5.1%
0.8%
1.4%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2012
87.2%
4.9%
4.9%
1.0%
1.5%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2013
86.7%
5.2%
4.9%
1.1%
1.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2014
86.7%
5.4%
4.9%
1.0%
1.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2015
86.5%
5.7%
4.7%
0.9%
1.8%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2016
86.4%
5.7%
4.8%
0.8%
1.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2017
86.2%
5.9%
5.1%
0.5%
2.0%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2018
86.2%
6.0%
5.3%
0.3%
1.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2019
85.8%
6.2%
5.3%
0.5%
1.9%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2020
82.5%
9.7%
4.8%
1.0%
1.5%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
78.3%
14.3%
4.3%
1.2%
1.3%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2022
74.9%
17.9%
3.7%
1.5%
1.4%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
72.0%
20.5%
3.7%
1.8%
1.3%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
70.3%
22.7%
3.4%
1.7%
1.2%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 87.6% in 2009 to 70.3% in 2024, down 17.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Somerset County: its share of workers rose from 4.1% in 2009 to 22.7% in 2024, up 18.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 16.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 5.4% to 3.4% of workers (down 2.0 percentage points).
Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2013 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Somerset County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Somerset County?
The bars show when commuters in Somerset 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 Jersey for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMSomerset County3.9%New Jersey3.9%
3.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSomerset County3.7%New Jersey3.1%
3.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSomerset County3.0%New Jersey3.9%
3.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSomerset County7.6%New Jersey8.0%
7.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSomerset County8.9%New Jersey8.9%
8.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSomerset County13.1%New Jersey14.2%
13.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSomerset County12.2%New Jersey11.8%
12.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSomerset County15.2%New Jersey14.0%
15.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSomerset County9.1%New Jersey7.6%
9.1%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSomerset County8.9%New Jersey8.1%
8.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSomerset County2.9%New Jersey3.2%
2.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSomerset County1.3%New Jersey1.5%
1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSomerset County5.2%New Jersey6.3%
5.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSomerset County5.0%New Jersey5.4%
5.0%
Somerset CountyNew JerseySource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Somerset County is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 15.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.0% across New Jersey. Early starts are about as common as in New Jersey: 10.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.9% there. The morning rush looks much like New Jersey's: 49.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.2%) 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 Somerset 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 Somerset 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 Somerset County 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.
Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show typical departure times by year
Year
Somerset County
New Jersey
United States
2009
7:50 AM
7:48 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:51 AM
7:49 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:52 AM
7:49 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:51 AM
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:52 AM
7:51 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:53 AM
7:51 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:54 AM
7:51 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:55 AM
7:51 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:56 AM
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:55 AM
7:50 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:55 AM
7:49 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:55 AM
7:49 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:53 AM
7:49 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:55 AM
7:50 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:55 AM
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:54 AM
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Somerset County were on the road by 7:54 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:50 AM). New Jersey followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes later. Commuters in Somerset County now leave 16 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Somerset County's commute time compare?
Metric
Somerset County
New Jersey
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
26.9 min
26.2 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
22.7%
16.8%
15.0%
Walked
1.2%
2.6%
2.4%
Public Transit
3.4%
8.1%
3.2%
The average commute time in Somerset County is 26.9 minutes, longer than the 26.2 minutes in New Jersey.
3.4% commute by public transit, lower than the 8.1% in New Jersey. 1.2% commute by walking, lower than the 2.6% in New Jersey.
Somerset County, NJ Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Somerset County, NJ is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 349,714 residents against a local median of 514,287. Where Somerset County, NJ breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 16% above the local median of 19.5% at 22.7%.
The counties themselves spread 7.5% on work from home, so Somerset County, NJ sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Somerset County, NJ has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Somerset County, New Jersey.
Is living in Somerset County, New Jersey good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 224 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,948 at a typical national wage. That's 3% more than the typical New Jersey commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Somerset County, New Jersey?
Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Somerset County, New Jersey. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How much money can remote workers save in Somerset County, New Jersey?
About 22.7% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Somerset County would save about 90 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,779 at the same national wage assumption used above.
How do commute times compare across counties in New Jersey?
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).