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Seneca County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Seneca County, New York: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 8:26 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Seneca County?
Map AI 9/24/26, 8:26 PM

Commute Time Burden in Seneca County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Seneca County spend about 34 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 143 hours, about 6.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 40% less time on the road than the New York average of 28.7 minutes each way, a difference of 11.5 minutes.

Seneca County 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 Seneca County would save about 57 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,773 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)
Seneca County 17.2 min 34.3 min 143 hrs/yr $4,433 767
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

Fastest commutes among counties in New York
  1. Hamilton County (13.6 min)
  2. Chautauqua County (15.4 min)
  3. Franklin County (16.4 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in New York
  1. Bronx County (43.2 min)
  2. Queens County (41.8 min)
  3. Kings County (41.6 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Seneca County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 17.2 minutes to get to work in Seneca County. That's 23% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 84% of counties in New York

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 8.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Seneca County

  • Car: 85.0% unusually high
  • Worked at Home: 8.6%
  • Walked: 3.4%
  • Other: 1.4%
  • Motorcycle: 0.7% unusually high
  • Taxi: 0.4%
  • Bicycle: 0.3% unusually low
  • Public Transportation: 0.2% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Seneca County: 9.1 times more than the New York average (0.7% vs 0.1%).

Driving is 55% more common in Seneca County than the New York average (85.0% vs 55.0%).

Public transit is unusually rare in Seneca County: 133.0 times less than the New York average (0.2% vs 21.7%).

Biking is unusually rare in Seneca County: 3.1 times less than the New York average (0.3% vs 0.8%).

Commute Mode Trends in Seneca County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Seneca 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 Walked Other Motorcycle Taxi Bicycle Public Transportation
2009 91.6% 3.6% 3.1% 0.6% 0.2% 0.0% 0.1% 0.9%
2010 91.4% 3.5% 3.4% 0.7% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.6%
2011 91.9% 3.2% 3.2% 0.7% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.5%
2012 91.6% 3.3% 3.4% 0.7% 0.3% 0.0% 0.3% 0.4%
2013 91.8% 3.3% 3.2% 0.7% 0.2% 0.0% 0.3% 0.4%
2014 90.8% 3.6% 3.4% 1.1% 0.3% 0.0% 0.3% 0.5%
2015 90.8% 3.9% 3.3% 1.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.4% 0.5%
2016 90.4% 4.0% 3.4% 1.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.6% 0.5%
2017 89.9% 4.0% 3.3% 1.6% 0.1% 0.0% 0.4% 0.7%
2018 89.3% 4.3% 3.7% 1.5% 0.1% 0.0% 0.4% 0.7%
2019 89.8% 4.3% 3.4% 1.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.4% 0.6%
2020 88.5% 5.2% 2.8% 1.9% 0.6% 0.0% 0.3% 0.6%
2021 87.1% 6.8% 2.8% 1.7% 0.8% 0.0% 0.3% 0.5%
2022 87.2% 7.3% 3.0% 1.0% 0.7% 0.0% 0.4% 0.4%
2023 86.4% 7.9% 3.0% 1.4% 0.7% 0.0% 0.1% 0.4%
2024 85.0% 8.6% 3.4% 1.4% 0.7% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2011 at 91.9%. Overall it fell from 91.6% in 2009 to 85.0% in 2024, down 6.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Seneca County: its share of workers rose from 3.6% in 2009 to 8.6% in 2024, up 5.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 0.9% to 0.2% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Seneca County

  • Hitting SnoozeThe 3rd-biggest shift to later mornings among New York's 62 counties: the typical start is 12 minutes later than in 2009.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Seneca County?

The bars show when commuters in Seneca 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
5.3%
5:00-5:29 AM
4.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
6.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
11.7%
7:00-7:29 AM
13.0%
7:30-7:59 AM
15.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
9.3%
8:30-8:59 AM
4.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
4.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
3.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
7.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
6.4%

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

The busiest time to head out in Seneca County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.1% across New York. Early starts are more common than in New York: 15.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in New York: 49.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.1%) 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 Seneca 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 Seneca 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 Seneca 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 Seneca County New York United States
2009 7:24 AM 7:54 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:23 AM 7:54 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:22 AM 7:54 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:21 AM 7:55 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:23 AM 7:56 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:28 AM 7:56 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:29 AM 7:56 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:33 AM 7:56 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:37 AM 7:56 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:37 AM 7:55 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:36 AM 7:55 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:36 AM 7:55 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:35 AM 7:55 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:34 AM 7:56 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:36 AM 7:56 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:36 AM 7:57 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Seneca County were on the road by 7:36 AM, 12 minutes later than in 2009 (7:24 AM). The shift is sharper than across New York, where the typical start moved 3 minutes later. Commuters in Seneca County now leave 2 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Seneca County's commute time compare?

Metric Seneca County New York US Average
Avg. Commute Time 17.2 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 8.6% 15.0% 15.0%
Walked 3.4% 5.6% 2.4%
Public Transit 0.2% 21.7% 3.2%

The average commute time in Seneca County is 17.2 minutes, shorter than the 28.7 minutes in New York.

0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 21.7% in New York. 3.4% commute by walking, lower than the 5.6% in New York.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Seneca County, NY Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Seneca County, NY is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 32,919 residents against a local median of 75,102. The measure that sets Seneca County, NY apart most is work from home: 8.6%, 36% below the local median of 13.4%.

The counties themselves spread 12.3% on work from home, so Seneca County, NY sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Seneca County, NY has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Seneca County, NY 32,919 17.2 min #1/6 8.6% #5/6 7:36 AM #5/6
Yates County, NY 24,526 17.3 min 13.4% 7:27 AM
Cayuga County, NY 75,102 18.6 min 7.7% 7:29 AM
Schuyler County, NY 17,562 21.7 min 9.4% 7:35 AM
Tompkins County, NY 103,844 17.5 min 20.0% 8:19 AM
Ontario County, NY 112,625 20.9 min 13.5% 7:33 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Seneca County, New York.

Is living in Seneca County, New York good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 143 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,433 at a typical national wage. That's 40% less than the typical New York commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Seneca County, New York?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Seneca County, New York. 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.

Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Seneca County, New York?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.2% of commuters use it versus 21.7% in New York, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

How do commute times compare across counties in New York?

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).