Commuting in Cuyahoga County, Ohio: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:35 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Cuyahoga County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:35 PM
Commute Time Burden in Cuyahoga County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Cuyahoga County spend about 43 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 181 hours, about 7.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 3% more time on the road than the Ohio average of 21.1 minutes each way, a difference of 0.6 minutes.
Cuyahoga County holds about 10.5% of Ohio's population but accounts for roughly 10.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Cuyahoga County would save about 72 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,241 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)
Cuyahoga County
21.7 min
43.4 min
181 hrs/yr
$5,604
2,362
Ohio
21.1 min
42.2 min
176 hrs/yr
$5,447
1,212
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
21.7
minutes to get to work in
Cuyahoga County.
That's 3% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 15.5% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Cuyahoga County
Car:
77.0%
Worked at Home:
15.5%
Public Transportation:
3.0%
Walked:
2.7%
Other:
1.1%
Bicycle:
0.3%
Taxi:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Cuyahoga County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Cuyahoga 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
Walked
Other
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
87.2%
3.0%
6.2%
2.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2010
87.4%
3.1%
5.9%
2.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2011
87.6%
3.2%
5.7%
2.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2012
87.7%
3.3%
5.4%
2.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2013
87.7%
3.4%
5.2%
2.5%
0.7%
0.0%
0.4%
0.1%
2014
87.6%
3.6%
5.0%
2.5%
0.7%
0.0%
0.4%
0.1%
2015
87.7%
3.5%
4.9%
2.6%
0.7%
0.0%
0.4%
0.1%
2016
87.3%
3.8%
5.0%
2.7%
0.7%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2017
87.3%
4.0%
4.8%
2.7%
0.7%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2018
87.3%
4.1%
4.6%
2.8%
0.6%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2019
87.2%
4.4%
4.6%
2.7%
0.7%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2020
84.8%
6.9%
4.3%
2.6%
0.8%
0.2%
0.4%
0.1%
2021
83.1%
9.2%
3.7%
2.5%
0.8%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2022
80.9%
11.6%
3.4%
2.7%
0.8%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2023
78.9%
13.6%
3.3%
2.7%
1.0%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2024
77.0%
15.5%
3.0%
2.7%
1.1%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2012 at 87.7%. Overall it fell from 87.2% in 2009 to 77.0% in 2024, down 10.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Cuyahoga County: its share of workers rose from 3.0% in 2009 to 15.5% in 2024, up 12.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 6.2% to 3.0% of workers (down 3.2 percentage points).
Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Cuyahoga County
🦉Night OwlThe 3rd-latest start among Ohio's 88 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:52 AM.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Cuyahoga County?
The bars show when commuters in Cuyahoga 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 Ohio for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMCuyahoga County4.1%Ohio5.2%
4.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMCuyahoga County2.8%Ohio3.9%
2.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMCuyahoga County3.8%Ohio5.3%
3.8%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMCuyahoga County7.8%Ohio8.4%
7.8%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMCuyahoga County8.9%Ohio10.1%
8.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMCuyahoga County13.2%Ohio13.4%
13.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMCuyahoga County12.6%Ohio12.2%
12.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMCuyahoga County12.4%Ohio10.5%
12.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMCuyahoga County6.8%Ohio5.5%
6.8%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMCuyahoga County7.4%Ohio6.0%
7.4%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMCuyahoga County3.4%Ohio2.8%
3.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMCuyahoga County1.5%Ohio1.5%
1.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMCuyahoga County7.7%Ohio7.7%
7.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMCuyahoga County7.6%Ohio7.8%
7.6%
Cuyahoga CountyOhioSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Cuyahoga County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.4% across Ohio. Early starts are less common than in Ohio: 10.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush looks much like Ohio's: 47.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.6%) 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 Cuyahoga 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 Cuyahoga 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 Cuyahoga County next to Ohio 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
Cuyahoga County
Ohio
United States
2009
7:51 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:51 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:50 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:50 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:50 AM
7:42 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:50 AM
7:42 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:50 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:49 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:50 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:50 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:51 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:51 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:52 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:52 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:52 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:53 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Cuyahoga County were on the road by 7:53 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:51 AM). That goes against the trend across Ohio, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Cuyahoga County now leave 15 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 Cuyahoga County has moved 2 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Cuyahoga County in the whole series.
How does Cuyahoga County's commute time compare?
Metric
Cuyahoga County
Ohio
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.7 min
21.1 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
15.5%
13.0%
15.0%
Walked
2.7%
2.0%
2.4%
Public Transit
3.0%
1.0%
3.2%
The average commute time in Cuyahoga County is 21.7 minutes, longer than the 21.1 minutes in Ohio.
3.0% commute by public transit, higher than the 1.0% in Ohio. 2.7% commute by walking, higher than the 2.0% in Ohio.
Cuyahoga County, OH Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Cuyahoga County, OH is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 1,244,625 residents against a local median of 232,216. Nothing separates Cuyahoga County, OH sharply from the counties around it. Each measure below lands within 15% of the local median, close enough that the differences are within what survey sampling alone would produce.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 5% above the local median at 15.5% against 14.8%. Cuyahoga County, OH has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
Is living in Cuyahoga County, Ohio good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 181 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,604 at a typical national wage. That's 3% more than the typical Ohio commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Cuyahoga County, Ohio?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Ohio?
Among counties in Ohio, the shortest average commutes are in Hancock County (15.3 min), Van Wert County (15.5 min), Mercer County (16.0 min). The longest are in Morgan County (32.5 min), Vinton County (32.0 min), Brown County (32.0 min).