Commuting in Carbon 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, 8:17 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Carbon County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:17 PM
Commute Time Burden in Carbon County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Carbon County spend about 61 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 254 hours, about 10.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 37% more time on the road than the Pennsylvania average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 8.2 minutes.
Carbon County holds about 0.5% of Pennsylvania's population but accounts for roughly 0.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Carbon County would save about 102 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,155 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)
Carbon County
30.5 min
61.1 min
254 hrs/yr
$7,888
1,090
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
30.5
minutes to get to work in
Carbon County.
That's 36% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the 3 slowest counties in Pennsylvania
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 10.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Carbon County
Car:
86.9%
Worked at Home:
10.1%
Walked:
2.1%
Other:
0.4%
Public Transportation:
0.3%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Carbon County: 1286.4 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Carbon County: 10.6 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.3% vs 3.6%).
Biking is unusually rare in Carbon County: 43.9 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.0% vs 0.4%).
Commute Mode Trends in Carbon County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Carbon 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
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
91.7%
3.0%
3.6%
0.5%
0.8%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2010
91.9%
3.0%
3.7%
0.4%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2011
91.6%
3.1%
3.9%
0.4%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
90.1%
3.7%
4.1%
0.3%
0.7%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
2013
89.9%
3.4%
4.2%
0.4%
0.3%
1.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2014
89.8%
3.8%
3.3%
0.4%
0.3%
2.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2015
90.3%
3.6%
3.0%
0.4%
0.4%
1.9%
0.0%
0.3%
2016
91.1%
3.5%
2.5%
0.4%
0.5%
1.7%
0.0%
0.3%
2017
91.4%
3.9%
2.4%
0.5%
0.5%
1.1%
0.0%
0.2%
2018
91.7%
4.3%
2.4%
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
2019
92.3%
4.6%
1.9%
0.7%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2020
92.2%
5.2%
1.6%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2021
90.9%
6.3%
1.8%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
90.8%
6.8%
1.5%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
90.1%
7.7%
1.5%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
86.9%
10.1%
2.1%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
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 2019 at 92.3%. Overall it fell from 91.7% in 2009 to 86.9% in 2024, down 4.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Carbon County: its share of workers rose from 3.0% in 2009 to 10.1% in 2024, up 7.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.6% to 2.1% of workers (down 1.5 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2014 release and has stayed ahead since.
Taking a taxi peaked at 2.0% in 2014 and has since fallen back to 0.1%.
Commute Start Times in Carbon County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Carbon County?
The bars show when commuters in Carbon 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 AMCarbon County9.4%Pennsylvania5.3%
9.4%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMCarbon County5.0%Pennsylvania3.9%
5.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMCarbon County7.1%Pennsylvania5.3%
7.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMCarbon County11.8%Pennsylvania8.9%
11.8%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMCarbon County9.1%Pennsylvania10.1%
9.1%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMCarbon County14.5%Pennsylvania13.8%
14.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMCarbon County8.2%Pennsylvania11.4%
8.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMCarbon County9.2%Pennsylvania10.9%
9.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMCarbon County4.2%Pennsylvania5.8%
4.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMCarbon County4.0%Pennsylvania6.1%
4.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMCarbon County2.6%Pennsylvania2.7%
2.6%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMCarbon County0.7%Pennsylvania1.4%
0.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMCarbon County7.0%Pennsylvania7.6%
7.0%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMCarbon County7.1%Pennsylvania6.9%
7.1%
Carbon CountyPennsylvaniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Carbon County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are more common than in Pennsylvania: 21.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Pennsylvania: 41.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.4%) 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 Carbon 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 Carbon 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 Carbon 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
Carbon County
Pennsylvania
United States
2009
7:30 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:30 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:30 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:29 AM
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:22 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:22 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:17 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:20 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:19 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:17 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:18 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:16 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Carbon County were on the road by 7:16 AM, 15 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:30 AM). The shift is sharper than across Pennsylvania, where the typical start moved 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Carbon County now leave 22 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Carbon County in the whole series.
How does Carbon County's commute time compare?
Metric
Carbon County
Pennsylvania
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
30.5 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
06:00 AM – 06:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
10.1%
15.6%
15.0%
Walked
2.1%
3.2%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.3%
3.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Carbon County is 30.5 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Pennsylvania.
0.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 2.1% commute by walking, lower than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.
Carbon County, PA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Carbon County, PA is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 65,382 residents against a local median of 318,250. Where Carbon County, PA breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 42% above the local median of 21.5 min at 30.5 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 10.8 min on one-way commute, so Carbon County, PA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Carbon County, PA has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Carbon County, Pennsylvania.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Carbon County, Pennsylvania?
Commuters here spend an estimated 254 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,888 at a typical national wage. That's 37% more than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Carbon County, Pennsylvania?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Do people use public transit in Carbon County, Pennsylvania?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.3% 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).