North Tonawanda Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in North Tonawanda: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in North Tonawanda spend about 40 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 168 hours, about 7.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 30% less time on the road than the New York average of 28.7 minutes each way, a difference of 8.5 minutes.

North Tonawanda holds about 0.2% of New York's population but accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in North Tonawanda would save about 67 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,083 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)
North Tonawanda	20.2 min	40.3 min	168 hrs/yr	$5,208	2,819
New York	28.7 min	57.4 min	239 hrs/yr	$7,414	1,586
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.

North Tonawanda Commute Map

On average, it takes 20.2 minutes to get to work in North Tonawanda. That's 10% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 14.5% work from home.

How People Get to Work in North Tonawanda

• Car: 81.3% unusually high
• Worked at Home: 14.5%
• Walked: 2.8%
• Other: 0.7%
• Taxi: 0.4%
• Bicycle: 0.2% unusually low
• Public Transportation: 0.1% unusually low
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in North Tonawanda, versus 0.1% in New York.

Driving is 48% more common in North Tonawanda than the New York average (81.3% vs 55.0%).

Public transit is unusually rare in North Tonawanda: 144.7 times less than the New York average (0.1% vs 21.7%).

Biking is unusually rare in North Tonawanda: 3.4 times less than the New York average (0.2% vs 0.8%).

Commute Mode Trends in North Tonawanda, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in North Tonawanda 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.

• Car
• Worked at Home
• Walked
• Other
• Taxi
• Bicycle
• Public Transportation
• Motorcycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Other	Taxi	Bicycle	Public Transportation	Motorcycle
2009	94.8%	2.1%	1.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.5%	1.0%	0.1%
2010	94.7%	1.8%	1.6%	0.4%	0.0%	0.3%	1.1%	0.2%
2011	94.6%	1.8%	2.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%	0.8%	0.2%
2012	94.2%	1.9%	2.2%	0.5%	0.0%	0.2%	0.5%	0.5%
2013	94.1%	1.6%	2.2%	1.0%	0.0%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%
2014	93.9%	1.7%	2.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.3%	0.7%	0.4%
2015	94.6%	1.7%	1.5%	0.8%	0.0%	0.6%	0.6%	0.2%
2016	94.7%	2.2%	1.1%	0.7%	0.0%	0.6%	0.6%	0.2%
2017	94.7%	2.4%	0.9%	1.0%	0.0%	0.4%	0.5%	0.1%
2018	94.2%	2.6%	1.3%	0.6%	0.0%	0.5%	0.6%	0.2%
2019	93.7%	2.7%	2.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.5%	0.5%	0.2%
2020	91.6%	5.1%	2.1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.3%	0.5%	0.2%
2021	89.0%	6.6%	3.1%	0.8%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
2022	85.6%	9.9%	3.6%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
2023	82.0%	14.0%	3.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%
2024	81.3%	14.5%	2.8%	0.7%	0.4%	0.2%	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 94.8% in 2009 to 81.3% in 2024, down 13.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 7 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in North Tonawanda: its share of workers rose from 2.1% in 2009 to 14.5% in 2024, up 12.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.0% to 0.1% of workers (down 0.9 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in North Tonawanda

What Time Do People Leave for Work in North Tonawanda?

The bars show when commuters in North Tonawanda 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 York for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM	12:00-4:59 AM North Tonawanda3.7% New York3.9%	3.7%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM North Tonawanda2.1% New York2.9%	2.1%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM North Tonawanda4.1% New York3.7%	4.1%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM North Tonawanda8.4% New York7.5%	8.4%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM North Tonawanda11.1% New York8.1%	11.1%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM North Tonawanda12.4% New York13.9%	12.4%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM North Tonawanda15.9% New York11.1%	15.9%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM North Tonawanda12.0% New York14.0%	12.0%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM North Tonawanda5.6% New York7.7%	5.6%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM North Tonawanda6.5% New York9.5%	6.5%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM North Tonawanda1.9% New York3.7%	1.9%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM North Tonawanda0.9% New York1.7%	0.9%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM North Tonawanda8.9% New York6.9%	8.9%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM North Tonawanda6.6% New York5.3%	6.6%

North Tonawanda New York Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in North Tonawanda is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.1% across New York. Early starts are about as common as in New York: 9.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in New York: 51.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.8%) 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 North Tonawanda, 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 North Tonawanda 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 North Tonawanda next to New York 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.

• North Tonawanda
• New York
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	North Tonawanda	New York	United States
2009	7:45 AM	7:54 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:44 AM	7:54 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:41 AM	7:54 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:40 AM	7:55 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:44 AM	7:56 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:48 AM	7:56 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:50 AM	7:56 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:53 AM	7:56 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:51 AM	7:56 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:46 AM	7:55 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:44 AM	7:55 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:41 AM	7:55 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:43 AM	7:55 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:43 AM	7:56 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:46 AM	7:56 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:46 AM	7:57 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in North Tonawanda were on the road by 7:46 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across New York, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in North Tonawanda now leave 8 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 North Tonawanda has moved 2 minutes later.

How does North Tonawanda's commute time compare?

Metric	North Tonawanda	New York	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	20.2 min	28.7 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	14.5%	15.0%	15.0%
Walked	2.8%	5.6%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.1%	21.7%	3.2%

The average commute time in North Tonawanda is 20.2 minutes, shorter than the 28.7 minutes in New York.

0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 21.7% in New York. 2.8% commute by walking, lower than the 5.6% in New York.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau