Medford Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Medford, Oregon: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Medford: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Medford spend about 30 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 127 hours, about 5.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 24% less time on the road than the Oregon average of 20.1 minutes each way, a difference of 4.9 minutes.
Medford holds about 1.7% of Oregon's population but accounts for roughly 1.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Medford would save about 51 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,574 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medford | 15.2 min | 30.5 min | 127 hrs/yr | $3,936 | 2,612 |
| Oregon | 20.1 min | 40.3 min | 168 hrs/yr | $5,203 | 967 |
| 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.
Medford Commute Map
On average, it takes 15.2 minutes to get to work in Medford. That's 32% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 11.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Medford
- Car: 83.2%
- Worked at Home: 11.3%
- Walked: 2.8%
- Other: 0.7%
- Bicycle: 0.7%
- Public Transportation: 0.6% unusually low
- Motorcycle: 0.4%
- Taxi: 0.2%
Public transit is unusually rare in Medford: 3.5 times less than the Oregon average (0.6% vs 2.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Medford, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Medford 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Worked at Home | Walked | Bicycle | Other | Public Transportation | Motorcycle | Taxi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 88.5% | 4.1% | 3.5% | 1.3% | 0.9% | 1.2% | 0.5% | 0.0% |
| 2010 | 87.8% | 4.6% | 3.9% | 1.2% | 0.6% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 0.0% |
| 2011 | 87.6% | 5.1% | 3.7% | 1.3% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 0.5% | 0.0% |
| 2012 | 87.7% | 4.6% | 3.8% | 1.1% | 1.0% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2013 | 87.2% | 4.2% | 4.5% | 1.5% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 0.4% | 0.0% |
| 2014 | 88.0% | 3.9% | 3.7% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2015 | 87.7% | 4.2% | 3.6% | 1.4% | 1.2% | 1.6% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2016 | 87.7% | 4.5% | 3.2% | 2.2% | 0.8% | 1.1% | 0.4% | 0.0% |
| 2017 | 87.3% | 5.2% | 3.3% | 1.9% | 0.6% | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.0% |
| 2018 | 87.1% | 5.8% | 3.0% | 1.7% | 0.7% | 1.3% | 0.4% | 0.0% |
| 2019 | 87.3% | 6.5% | 2.7% | 1.5% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2020 | 87.1% | 7.8% | 2.1% | 1.1% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.5% | 0.1% |
| 2021 | 85.4% | 9.0% | 2.5% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 1.3% | 0.5% | 0.0% |
| 2022 | 84.5% | 9.9% | 2.4% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 1.2% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2023 | 84.1% | 10.6% | 2.4% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2024 | 83.2% | 11.3% | 2.8% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.2% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 88.5% in 2009 to 83.2% in 2024, down 5.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Medford: its share of workers rose from 4.1% in 2009 to 11.3% in 2024, up 7.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.5% to 2.8% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Medford
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Medford?
The bars show when commuters in Medford 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 Oregon for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
| 12:00-4:59 AM |
12:00-4:59 AM
Medford7.0%
Oregon5.9%
|
7.0% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Medford3.1%
Oregon3.8%
|
3.1% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Medford4.1%
Oregon5.0%
|
4.1% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Medford5.3%
Oregon7.6%
|
5.3% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Medford9.7%
Oregon9.7%
|
9.7% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Medford14.4%
Oregon13.0%
|
14.4% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Medford15.1%
Oregon13.0%
|
15.1% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Medford9.8%
Oregon10.6%
|
9.8% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Medford7.6%
Oregon5.8%
|
7.6% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Medford7.6%
Oregon7.2%
|
7.6% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Medford3.0%
Oregon3.7%
|
3.0% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Medford1.6%
Oregon1.8%
|
1.6% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Medford6.3%
Oregon7.1%
|
6.3% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Medford5.4%
Oregon5.7%
|
5.4% |
Medford Oregon Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Medford is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.0% across Oregon. Early starts are about as common as in Oregon: 14.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Oregon: 49.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.3% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.0%) 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 Medford, 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 Medford 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 Medford next to Oregon 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | Medford | Oregon | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:48 AM | 7:40 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 7:48 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:49 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 7:49 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:49 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:49 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:50 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:50 AM | 7:40 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:47 AM | 7:40 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:45 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:44 AM | 7:38 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:44 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:42 AM | 7:40 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:41 AM | 7:40 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:43 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:43 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Medford were on the road by 7:43 AM, 5 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:48 AM). That goes against the trend across Oregon, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Medford now leave 5 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Medford's commute time compare?
| Metric | Medford | Oregon | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 15.2 min | 20.1 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 | 11.3% | 19.0% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 2.8% | 3.3% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 0.6% | 2.2% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Medford is 15.2 minutes, shorter than the 20.1 minutes in Oregon.
0.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.2% in Oregon. 2.8% commute by walking, lower than the 3.3% in Oregon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Medford, Oregon.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Medford, Oregon?
Commuters here spend an estimated 127 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,936 at a typical national wage. That's 24% less than the typical Oregon commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Medford, Oregon?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Medford, Oregon. 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 common is public transit use in Medford, Oregon?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.6% of commuters use it versus 2.2% in Oregon, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.