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Payne County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 8:39 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Payne County?
Map AI 9/24/26, 8:39 PM

Commute Time Burden in Payne County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Payne County spend about 27 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 112 hours, about 4.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 29% less time on the road than the Oklahoma average of 19.0 minutes each way, a difference of 5.5 minutes.

Payne County holds about 2.1% of Oklahoma's population but accounts for roughly 1.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Payne County would save about 45 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,395 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)
Payne County 13.5 min 27.0 min 112 hrs/yr $3,487 787
Oklahoma 19.0 min 37.9 min 158 hrs/yr $4,901 941
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: Oklahoma Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Oklahoma
  1. Cimarron County (4.8 min)
  2. Woods County (8.5 min)
  3. Harmon County (8.8 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Oklahoma
  1. Cotton County (30.4 min)
  2. Logan County (28.5 min)
  3. Lincoln County (28.0 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Payne County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 13.5 minutes to get to work in Payne County. That's 40% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 86% of counties in Oklahoma

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 8.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Payne County

  • Car: 81.4%
  • Worked at Home: 8.8%
  • Walked: 6.0% unusually high
  • Other: 1.8%
  • Bicycle: 1.1% unusually high
  • Public Transportation: 0.6%
  • Motorcycle: 0.3%
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Walking is unusually common in Payne County: 3.4 times more than the Oklahoma average (6.0% vs 1.8%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Payne County, versus 0.1% in Oklahoma.

Biking is unusually common in Payne County: 5.1 times more than the Oklahoma average (1.1% vs 0.2%).

Payne County stands out for active commuting: 7.1% of workers walk or bike to work, 3.6 times the Oklahoma average of 2.0%.

Commute Mode Trends in Payne County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Payne 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 Bicycle Public Transportation Motorcycle Taxi
2009 87.0% 3.4% 4.8% 0.9% 1.7% 1.8% 0.5% 0.0%
2010 87.3% 3.0% 5.0% 0.8% 1.9% 1.6% 0.5% 0.0%
2011 87.6% 3.1% 5.2% 0.4% 1.5% 1.7% 0.5% 0.0%
2012 87.0% 2.6% 5.9% 0.6% 1.7% 1.7% 0.6% 0.0%
2013 87.2% 2.6% 5.8% 0.7% 1.7% 1.4% 0.6% 0.0%
2014 87.9% 2.3% 5.5% 0.5% 1.9% 1.5% 0.5% 0.0%
2015 88.0% 3.0% 4.8% 0.7% 1.6% 1.3% 0.5% 0.0%
2016 87.7% 3.0% 5.0% 0.8% 1.6% 1.6% 0.4% 0.0%
2017 88.6% 3.2% 4.8% 0.7% 1.3% 1.2% 0.1% 0.0%
2018 88.2% 3.2% 5.5% 0.6% 1.2% 1.2% 0.2% 0.0%
2019 89.1% 3.2% 4.9% 0.5% 1.3% 0.8% 0.2% 0.0%
2020 87.3% 4.9% 5.3% 0.5% 1.0% 0.8% 0.3% 0.0%
2021 86.1% 6.1% 5.2% 0.7% 1.0% 0.7% 0.3% 0.0%
2022 84.1% 7.7% 5.7% 0.8% 0.8% 0.5% 0.4% 0.0%
2023 84.0% 8.2% 4.4% 1.2% 1.1% 0.7% 0.4% 0.0%
2024 81.4% 8.8% 6.0% 1.8% 1.1% 0.6% 0.3% 0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2019 at 89.1%. Overall it fell from 87.0% in 2009 to 81.4% in 2024, down 5.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Payne County: its share of workers rose from 3.4% in 2009 to 8.8% in 2024, up 5.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.8% to 0.6% of workers (down 1.2 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Payne County

  • Night OwlThe latest start among Oklahoma's 77 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:55 AM.
  • Sleeping InThe highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among Oklahoma's 77 counties: 28.3% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Payne County?

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

12:00-4:59 AM
2.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
3.5%
5:30-5:59 AM
4.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
4.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
7.8%
7:00-7:29 AM
14.8%
7:30-7:59 AM
16.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
13.6%
8:30-8:59 AM
5.3%
9:00-9:59 AM
6.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
3.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
2.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
8.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
8.1%

Payne County Oklahoma Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Payne County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 16.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.5% across Oklahoma. Early starts are less common than in Oklahoma: 10.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Oklahoma's: 52.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.4% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (28.3%) 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 Payne 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 Payne 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 Payne County next to Oklahoma 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 Payne County Oklahoma United States
2009 7:57 AM 7:39 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:54 AM 7:38 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:54 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:54 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:52 AM 7:36 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:53 AM 7:35 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:53 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:52 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:53 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:53 AM 7:34 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:53 AM 7:34 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:53 AM 7:34 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:55 AM 7:34 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:54 AM 7:34 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:55 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:55 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Payne County were on the road by 7:55 AM, 2 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:57 AM). Oklahoma followed the same path, with the typical start moving 4 minutes earlier. Commuters in Payne County now leave 17 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Payne County's commute time compare?

Metric Payne County Oklahoma US Average
Avg. Commute Time 13.5 min 19.0 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 8.8% 9.4% 15.0%
Walked 6.0% 1.8% 2.4%
Public Transit 0.6% 0.3% 3.2%

The average commute time in Payne County is 13.5 minutes, shorter than the 19.0 minutes in Oklahoma.

0.6% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.3% in Oklahoma. 6.0% commute by walking, higher than the 1.8% in Oklahoma.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Payne County, OK Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Payne County, OK is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 82,970 residents against a local median of 34,218. Where Payne County, OK breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 50% below the local median of 27.0 min at 13.5 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.

The counties themselves spread 13.0 min on one-way commute, so Payne County, OK sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Payne County, OK has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Payne County, OK 82,970 13.5 min #1/6 8.8% #4/6 7:55 AM #6/6
Pawnee County, OK 15,795 27.0 min 4.3% 7:24 AM
Lincoln County, OK 34,218 28.0 min 10.4% 7:17 AM
Noble County, OK 10,897 15.5 min 5.0% 7:17 AM
Logan County, OK 51,938 28.5 min 10.5% 7:23 AM
Creek County, OK 72,818 24.0 min 10.1% 7:18 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Payne County, Oklahoma.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Payne County, Oklahoma?

Commuters here spend an estimated 112 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,487 at a typical national wage. That's 29% less than the typical Oklahoma commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Payne County, Oklahoma?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Payne County, Oklahoma. 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.

How do commute times compare across counties in Oklahoma?

Among counties in Oklahoma, the shortest average commutes are in Cimarron County (4.8 min), Woods County (8.5 min), Harmon County (8.8 min). The longest are in Cotton County (30.4 min), Logan County (28.5 min), Lincoln County (28.0 min).