Putnam County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Putnam County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Putnam County spend about 68 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 282 hours, about 11.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 18% more time on the road than the New York average of 28.7 minutes each way, a difference of 5.2 minutes.

Putnam County holds about 0.5% of New York's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Putnam County would save about 113 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,500 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)
Putnam County	33.9 min	67.7 min	282 hrs/yr	$8,749	1,865
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.

Commute Time Map: New York Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 33.9 minutes to get to work in Putnam County. That's 51% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the 5 slowest counties in New York

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 14.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Putnam County

• Car: 76.6% unusually high
• Worked at Home: 14.4%
• Public Transportation: 5.8% unusually low
• Walked: 1.8% unusually low
• Other: 1.0%
• Taxi: 0.2% unusually low
• Bicycle: 0.1% unusually low
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Putnam County, versus 0.1% in New York.

Driving is 39% more common in Putnam County than the New York average (76.6% vs 55.0%).

Walking is unusually rare in Putnam County: 3.1 times less than the New York average (1.8% vs 5.6%).

Public transit is unusually rare in Putnam County: 3.7 times less than the New York average (5.8% vs 21.7%).

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Putnam County: 4.1 times less than the New York average (0.2% vs 0.7%).

Biking is unusually rare in Putnam County: 7.7 times less than the New York average (0.1% vs 0.8%).

Few people walk or bike to work in Putnam County: just 1.9%, 3.4 times below the New York average of 6.4%.

Commute Mode Trends in Putnam County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Putnam 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.

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

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Public Transportation	Walked	Other	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	86.2%	4.0%	7.2%	1.4%	0.9%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%
2010	85.9%	4.6%	7.1%	1.4%	0.8%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
2011	85.1%	4.8%	7.6%	1.5%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2012	85.3%	4.5%	7.7%	1.4%	0.9%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
2013	85.0%	4.7%	8.1%	1.4%	0.8%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
2014	84.8%	4.6%	8.6%	1.1%	0.6%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2015	85.1%	4.5%	8.3%	1.2%	0.4%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
2016	84.3%	5.2%	8.5%	1.3%	0.3%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
2017	84.4%	5.3%	8.5%	1.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2018	84.8%	5.1%	8.2%	1.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%
2019	86.1%	4.5%	7.4%	1.3%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2020	82.7%	7.6%	7.8%	1.2%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
2021	81.3%	9.4%	7.0%	1.5%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	79.4%	11.6%	6.6%	1.6%	0.8%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
2023	78.1%	13.7%	5.7%	1.6%	0.8%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	76.6%	14.4%	5.8%	1.8%	1.0%	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 86.2% in 2009 to 76.6% in 2024, down 9.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Putnam County: its share of workers rose from 4.0% in 2009 to 14.4% in 2024, up 10.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 7.2% to 5.8% of workers (down 1.4 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 Putnam County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Putnam County?

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

12:00-4:59 AM	12:00-4:59 AM Putnam County4.1% New York3.9%	4.1%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Putnam County3.9% New York2.9%	3.9%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Putnam County5.4% New York3.7%	5.4%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Putnam County7.9% New York7.5%	7.9%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Putnam County13.6% New York8.1%	13.6%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Putnam County14.1% New York13.9%	14.1%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Putnam County11.2% New York11.1%	11.2%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Putnam County11.4% New York14.0%	11.4%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Putnam County7.0% New York7.7%	7.0%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Putnam County7.5% New York9.5%	7.5%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Putnam County3.8% New York3.7%	3.8%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Putnam County1.6% New York1.7%	1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Putnam County5.2% New York6.9%	5.2%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Putnam County3.3% New York5.3%	3.3%

Putnam County New York Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Putnam County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.9% across New York. Early starts are more common than in New York: 13.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in New York: 50.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.5%) 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 Putnam 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 Putnam 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 Putnam County 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.

• Putnam County
• New York
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Putnam County	New York	United States
2009	7:36 AM	7:54 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:35 AM	7:54 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:32 AM	7:54 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:31 AM	7:55 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:34 AM	7:56 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:32 AM	7:56 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:34 AM	7:56 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:35 AM	7:56 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:41 AM	7:56 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:41 AM	7:55 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:40 AM	7:55 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:37 AM	7:55 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:37 AM	7:55 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:32 AM	7:56 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:31 AM	7:56 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:33 AM	7:57 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Putnam County were on the road by 7:33 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:36 AM). That goes against the trend across New York, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Putnam County now leave 5 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 Putnam County has moved 7 minutes earlier.

How does Putnam County's commute time compare?

Metric	Putnam County	New York	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	33.9 min	28.7 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	06:30 AM – 06:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	14.4%	15.0%	15.0%
Walked	1.8%	5.6%	2.4%
Public Transit	5.8%	21.7%	3.2%

The average commute time in Putnam County is 33.9 minutes, longer than the 28.7 minutes in New York.

5.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 21.7% in New York. 1.8% commute by walking, lower than the 5.6% in New York.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau