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Elyria Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 4:15 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Elyria?
Map AI 9/24/26, 4:15 PM

Commute Time Burden in Elyria: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Elyria spend about 43 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 179 hours, about 7.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% more time on the road than the Ohio average of 21.1 minutes each way, a difference of 0.4 minutes.

Elyria holds about 0.4% of Ohio's population and accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Elyria would save about 72 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,223 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)
Elyria 21.5 min 43.0 min 179 hrs/yr $5,557 2,155
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.

Elyria Commute Map

On average, it takes 21.5 minutes to get to work in Elyria. That's 4% 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 6.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Elyria

  • Car: 91.0%
  • Worked at Home: 6.8%
  • Walked: 1.6%
  • Other: 0.6%
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Elyria, versus 0.1% in Ohio.

Public transit is unusually rare in Elyria: 57.9 times less than the Ohio average (0.0% vs 1.0%).

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Elyria: 22.3 times less than the Ohio average (0.0% vs 0.2%).

Biking is unusually rare in Elyria: 546080323.9 times less than the Ohio average (0.0% vs 0.3%).

Commute Mode Trends in Elyria, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Elyria 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 Public Transportation Taxi Motorcycle Bicycle
2009 94.1% 1.8% 1.3% 1.6% 0.6% 0.1% 0.3% 0.1%
2010 94.1% 2.2% 1.0% 1.5% 0.7% 0.1% 0.3% 0.1%
2011 93.8% 2.6% 1.3% 1.0% 0.8% 0.1% 0.2% 0.1%
2012 94.7% 2.3% 1.0% 0.5% 0.8% 0.1% 0.3% 0.4%
2013 94.4% 2.3% 1.0% 0.6% 0.7% 0.1% 0.2% 0.7%
2014 94.5% 1.8% 1.0% 1.0% 0.6% 0.1% 0.4% 0.7%
2015 93.5% 1.9% 1.2% 1.6% 0.6% 0.0% 0.2% 0.9%
2016 93.0% 1.8% 1.2% 2.2% 0.6% 0.0% 0.2% 0.9%
2017 93.4% 1.8% 1.3% 2.0% 0.5% 0.1% 0.3% 0.6%
2018 94.0% 1.7% 1.3% 1.8% 0.6% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3%
2019 93.9% 1.9% 1.6% 1.4% 0.8% 0.1% 0.1% 0.3%
2020 94.9% 1.5% 1.6% 1.0% 0.7% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%
2021 94.7% 2.6% 1.6% 0.4% 0.4% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%
2022 93.2% 3.8% 1.5% 0.9% 0.3% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1%
2023 91.3% 5.7% 1.9% 0.7% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1%
2024 91.0% 6.8% 1.6% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2020 at 94.9%. Overall it fell from 94.1% in 2009 to 91.0% in 2024, down 3.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Elyria: its share of workers rose from 1.8% in 2009 to 6.8% in 2024, up 5.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 0.6% to 0.0% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Elyria

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Elyria?

The bars show when commuters in Elyria 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
6.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
4.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
8.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
9.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
12.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
11.5%
8:00-8:29 AM
9.3%
8:30-8:59 AM
4.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
5.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
3.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM
8.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
9.1%

Elyria Ohio Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Elyria is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 12.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.4% across Ohio. Early starts are more common than in Ohio: 16.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.3% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Ohio: 42.9% 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 Elyria, 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 Elyria 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 Elyria 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 Elyria Ohio United States
2009 7:43 AM 7:42 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:42 AM 7:42 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:45 AM 7:42 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:44 AM 7:42 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:44 AM 7:42 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:42 AM 7:42 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:45 AM 7:42 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:46 AM 7:41 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:44 AM 7:41 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:38 AM 7:40 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:39 AM 7:40 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:35 AM 7:39 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:28 AM 7:39 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:25 AM 7:39 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:32 AM 7:39 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:37 AM 7:39 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Elyria were on the road by 7:37 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:43 AM). The shift is sharper than across Ohio, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Elyria now leave 1 minute 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 Elyria has moved 2 minutes earlier.

How does Elyria's commute time compare?

Metric Elyria Ohio US Average
Avg. Commute Time 21.5 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 6.8% 13.0% 15.0%
Walked 1.6% 2.0% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 1.0% 3.2%

The average commute time in Elyria is 21.5 minutes, longer than the 21.1 minutes in Ohio.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.0% in Ohio. 1.6% commute by walking, lower than the 2.0% in Ohio.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Elyria, OH Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

Elyria, OH is the 2nd largest of the 4 cities compared here, 46,162 residents against a local median of 36,625. The measure that sets Elyria, OH apart most is work from home: 6.8%, 55% below the local median of 15.2%.

The cities themselves spread 16.5% on work from home, so Elyria, OH sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Elyria, OH has the 3rd highest work from home of the 4 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Elyria, OH 46,162 21.5 min #1/4 6.8% #3/4 7:37 AM #3/4
North Ridgeville, OH 36,625 26.0 min 15.2% 7:29 AM
Lorain, OH 59,888 21.6 min 6.7% 7:28 AM
Avon, OH 25,317 22.5 min 23.2% 7:46 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Elyria, Ohio.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Elyria, Ohio?

Commuters here spend an estimated 179 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,557 at a typical national wage. That's 2% more than the typical Ohio commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Elyria, Ohio?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Elyria, 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.

Do people use public transit in Elyria, Ohio?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 1.0% in Ohio, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.