Commuting in Queens County, New York: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:26 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Queens County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:26 PM
Commute Time Burden in Queens County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Queens County spend about 84 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 348 hours, about 14.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 46% more time on the road than the New York average of 28.7 minutes each way, a difference of 13.1 minutes.
Queens County holds about 11.7% of New York's population but accounts for roughly 17.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Queens County would save about 139 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $4,318 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)
Queens County
41.8 min
83.6 min
348 hrs/yr
$10,795
4,075
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.
On average, it takes
41.8
minutes to get to work in
Queens County.
That's 86% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the 3 slowest counties in New York
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Public transit is the most common commute choice, followed by driving. About 12.9% work from home. This differs from the national pattern, where driving is the most common commute choice.
How People Get to Work in Queens County
Public Transportation:
41.4%
Car:
37.4%unusually low
Worked at Home:
12.9%
Walked:
5.4%
Other:
1.1%
Bicycle:
0.9%
Taxi:
0.8%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Driving is 32% less common in Queens County than the New York average (37.4% vs 55.0%).
Commute Mode Trends in Queens County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Queens 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
Public Transportation
Car
Worked at Home
Walked
Other
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
50.7%
39.9%
2.6%
5.7%
0.5%
0.3%
0.4%
0.0%
2010
51.0%
39.5%
2.6%
5.6%
0.5%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2011
51.3%
39.1%
2.4%
5.8%
0.5%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2012
51.7%
38.8%
2.4%
5.7%
0.6%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2013
51.7%
38.6%
2.5%
5.7%
0.5%
0.5%
0.4%
0.1%
2014
51.9%
38.4%
2.5%
5.7%
0.5%
0.5%
0.4%
0.1%
2015
52.3%
38.0%
2.4%
5.8%
0.5%
0.5%
0.4%
0.1%
2016
52.0%
38.3%
2.5%
5.7%
0.5%
0.5%
0.4%
0.1%
2017
51.7%
38.5%
2.6%
5.8%
0.4%
0.5%
0.4%
0.1%
2018
51.3%
38.9%
2.6%
5.7%
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
0.1%
2019
51.1%
38.7%
2.7%
5.8%
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
0.1%
2020
48.3%
38.8%
5.4%
5.8%
0.6%
0.6%
0.6%
0.1%
2021
45.5%
38.9%
7.8%
5.8%
0.7%
0.6%
0.7%
0.1%
2022
43.7%
38.6%
9.6%
5.5%
0.9%
0.7%
0.8%
0.1%
2023
42.4%
38.2%
11.3%
5.5%
1.0%
0.8%
0.8%
0.1%
2024
41.4%
37.4%
12.9%
5.4%
1.1%
0.9%
0.8%
0.1%
Driving's share fell from 39.9% in 2009 to 37.4% in 2024, down 2.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Queens County: its share of workers rose from 2.6% in 2009 to 12.9% in 2024, up 10.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 10.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 50.7% to 41.4% of workers (down 9.3 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.
Public transit was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024, with its share ranging from 41.4% to 52.3%.
Commute Start Times in Queens County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Queens County?
The bars show when commuters in Queens 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 AMQueens County4.4%New York3.9%
4.4%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMQueens County3.3%New York2.9%
3.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMQueens County3.4%New York3.7%
3.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMQueens County8.4%New York7.5%
8.4%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMQueens County6.4%New York8.1%
6.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMQueens County15.9%New York13.9%
15.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMQueens County8.2%New York11.1%
8.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMQueens County15.1%New York14.0%
15.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMQueens County6.0%New York7.7%
6.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMQueens County9.9%New York9.5%
9.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMQueens County4.4%New York3.7%
4.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMQueens County2.1%New York1.7%
2.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMQueens County7.4%New York6.9%
7.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMQueens County5.2%New York5.3%
5.2%
Queens CountyNew YorkSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Queens County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.9% across New York. Early starts are about as common as in New York: 11.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.6% there. The morning rush looks much like New York's: 45.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (29.0%) 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 Queens 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 Queens 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 Queens 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.
Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show typical departure times by year
Year
Queens County
New York
United States
2009
7:56 AM
7:54 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:58 AM
7:54 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:59 AM
7:54 AM
7:38 AM
2012
8:00 AM
7:55 AM
7:38 AM
2013
8:00 AM
7:56 AM
7:39 AM
2014
8:01 AM
7:56 AM
7:39 AM
2015
8:00 AM
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
2016
8:00 AM
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:58 AM
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:57 AM
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:55 AM
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:55 AM
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:54 AM
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:56 AM
7:56 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:58 AM
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
2024
8:00 AM
7:57 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Queens County were on the road by 8:00 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:56 AM). New York followed the same path, with the typical start moving 3 minutes later. Commuters in Queens County now leave 22 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 Queens County has moved 5 minutes later.
How does Queens County's commute time compare?
Metric
Queens County
New York
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
41.8 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
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
12.9%
15.0%
15.0%
Walked
5.4%
5.6%
2.4%
Public Transit
41.4%
21.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in Queens County is 41.8 minutes, longer than the 28.7 minutes in New York.
41.4% commute by public transit, higher than the 21.7% in New York. 5.4% commute by walking, lower than the 5.6% in New York.
Queens County, NY Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Queens County, NY is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 2,320,290 residents against a local median of 1,403,126. The measure that sets Queens County, NY apart most is work from home: 12.9%, 33% below the local median of 19.1%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 41.8 min against a local median of 32.7 min, 28% above it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 28% above the local median it puts Queens County, NY at the weaker end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 16.7% on work from home, so Queens County, NY sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Queens County, NY has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Queens County, New York.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Queens County, New York?
Commuters here spend an estimated 348 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $10,795 at a typical national wage. That's 46% more than the typical New York commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Queens County, New York?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Queens County, New York. 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 York have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in New York, the shortest average commutes are in Hamilton County (13.6 min), Chautauqua County (15.4 min), Franklin County (16.4 min). The longest are in Bronx County (43.2 min), Queens County (41.8 min), Kings County (41.6 min).