Commuting in Adams County, Pennsylvania: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:28 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Adams County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:28 PM
Commute Time Burden in Adams County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Adams County spend about 45 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 189 hours, about 7.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% more time on the road than the Pennsylvania average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 0.3 minutes.
Adams County holds about 0.8% of Pennsylvania's population and accounts for roughly 0.8% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Adams County would save about 76 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,343 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)
Adams County
22.7 min
45.4 min
189 hrs/yr
$5,858
895
Pennsylvania
22.4 min
44.7 min
186 hrs/yr
$5,779
1,152
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
22.7
minutes to get to work in
Adams County.
That's 1% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 11.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Adams County
Car:
83.5%
Worked at Home:
11.7%
Walked:
3.4%
Other:
0.5%
Bicycle:
0.4%
Motorcycle:
0.3%unusually high
Public Transportation:
0.2%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Adams County: 3.3 times more than the Pennsylvania average (0.3% vs 0.1%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Adams County: 22.9 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.2% vs 3.6%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Adams County, versus 0.2% in Pennsylvania.
Commute Mode Trends in Adams County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Adams 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
Motorcycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
2009
91.1%
3.5%
4.1%
0.6%
0.3%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2010
91.4%
3.4%
3.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2011
90.4%
3.7%
4.3%
0.8%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2012
90.4%
3.8%
4.3%
0.8%
0.2%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2013
90.5%
3.6%
4.2%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2014
90.8%
3.7%
3.9%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
0.5%
0.0%
2015
90.7%
3.7%
4.0%
0.6%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2016
91.3%
3.7%
3.7%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2017
91.4%
3.8%
3.7%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2018
91.5%
3.9%
3.5%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2019
91.1%
4.0%
3.6%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2020
89.5%
6.1%
3.2%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2021
88.2%
7.5%
3.3%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2022
86.8%
8.5%
3.5%
0.4%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
84.8%
9.8%
4.0%
0.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
83.5%
11.7%
3.4%
0.5%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2018 at 91.5%. Overall it fell from 91.1% in 2009 to 83.5% in 2024, down 7.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Adams County: its share of workers rose from 3.5% in 2009 to 11.7% in 2024, up 8.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 4.1% to 3.4% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2017 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Adams County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Adams County?
The bars show when commuters in Adams 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 Pennsylvania for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMAdams County8.6%Pennsylvania5.3%
8.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMAdams County4.9%Pennsylvania3.9%
4.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMAdams County7.1%Pennsylvania5.3%
7.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMAdams County10.5%Pennsylvania8.9%
10.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMAdams County12.2%Pennsylvania10.1%
12.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMAdams County13.5%Pennsylvania13.8%
13.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMAdams County9.3%Pennsylvania11.4%
9.3%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMAdams County6.9%Pennsylvania10.9%
6.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMAdams County3.7%Pennsylvania5.8%
3.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMAdams County3.7%Pennsylvania6.1%
3.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMAdams County2.2%Pennsylvania2.7%
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMAdams County1.5%Pennsylvania1.4%
1.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMAdams County8.0%Pennsylvania7.6%
8.0%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMAdams County8.0%Pennsylvania6.9%
8.0%
Adams CountyPennsylvaniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Adams County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are more common than in Pennsylvania: 20.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Pennsylvania: 41.9% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.3%) 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 Adams 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 Adams 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 Adams County next to Pennsylvania 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
Adams County
Pennsylvania
United States
2009
7:18 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:16 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:15 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:15 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:17 AM
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:16 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:17 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:15 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:13 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:13 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:12 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:13 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:16 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:16 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:15 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:15 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Adams County were on the road by 7:15 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:18 AM). Pennsylvania followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Adams County now leave 23 minutes 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 Adams County has moved 3 minutes later.
How does Adams County's commute time compare?
Metric
Adams County
Pennsylvania
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
22.7 min
22.4 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
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
11.7%
15.6%
15.0%
Walked
3.4%
3.2%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
3.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Adams County is 22.7 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Pennsylvania.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 3.4% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.
Adams County, PA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Adams County, PA is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 106,097 residents against a local median of 267,961. The measure that sets Adams County, PA apart most is work from home: 11.7%, 32% below the local median of 17.3%.
The counties themselves spread 11.2% on work from home, so Adams County, PA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Adams County, PA has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Adams County, Pennsylvania.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Adams County, Pennsylvania?
Commuters here spend an estimated 189 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,858 at a typical national wage. That's 1% more than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Adams County, Pennsylvania?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Adams County, Pennsylvania. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Adams County, Pennsylvania?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.2% of commuters use it versus 3.6% in Pennsylvania, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Pennsylvania?
Among counties in Pennsylvania, the shortest average commutes are in Cameron County (11.4 min), Elk County (15.4 min), McKean County (15.9 min). The longest are in Pike County (32.5 min), Perry County (32.0 min), Carbon County (30.5 min).