Delaware County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 6:26 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in Delaware County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 6:26 PM

Commute Time Burden in Delaware County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Delaware County spend about 52 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 218 hours, about 9.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 17% more time on the road than the Pennsylvania average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 3.8 minutes.

Delaware County holds about 4.4% of Pennsylvania's population but accounts for roughly 5.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Delaware County would save about 87 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,702 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)
Delaware County	26.1 min	52.3 min	218 hrs/yr	$6,754	2,146
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.

Commute Time Map: Pennsylvania Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Pennsylvania

Cameron County (11.4 min)
Elk County (15.4 min)
McKean County (15.9 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Pennsylvania

Pike County (32.5 min)
Perry County (32.0 min)
Carbon County (30.5 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Delaware County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 26.1 minutes to get to work in Delaware County. That's 17% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 88% of counties in Pennsylvania

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 18.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Delaware County

Commute Mode Trends in Delaware County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Delaware 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	Public Transportation	Walked	Other	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	83.2%	3.2%	8.7%	3.9%	0.5%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2010	83.4%	3.3%	8.6%	3.7%	0.6%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2011	82.6%	3.5%	9.0%	4.0%	0.5%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2012	82.5%	3.6%	9.2%	3.8%	0.6%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%
2013	82.0%	3.6%	9.5%	3.9%	0.5%	0.1%	0.3%	0.0%
2014	81.8%	3.8%	9.7%	3.8%	0.6%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
2015	80.8%	4.0%	10.4%	3.8%	0.6%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
2016	80.5%	4.3%	10.5%	3.8%	0.6%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%
2017	80.2%	4.5%	10.5%	3.8%	0.5%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%
2018	80.5%	4.8%	10.5%	3.4%	0.5%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%
2019	80.4%	4.9%	10.4%	3.4%	0.6%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2020	79.1%	7.7%	9.1%	3.2%	0.6%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%
2021	77.1%	10.9%	8.0%	2.9%	0.8%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%
2022	75.0%	13.1%	7.5%	3.0%	1.0%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
2023	72.8%	15.4%	6.7%	3.3%	1.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%
2024	71.0%	18.0%	5.9%	3.3%	1.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2010 at 83.4%. Overall it fell from 83.2% in 2009 to 71.0% in 2024, down 12.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Delaware County: its share of workers rose from 3.2% in 2009 to 18.0% in 2024, up 14.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 13.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 8.7% to 5.9% of workers (down 2.8 percentage points).

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

Commute Start Times in Delaware County

Night OwlThe 3rd-latest start among Pennsylvania's 67 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:50 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Delaware County?

The bars show when commuters in Delaware 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		3.1%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.8%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.8%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.0%
6:30-6:59 AM		9.5%
7:00-7:29 AM		15.4%
7:30-7:59 AM		10.8%
8:00-8:29 AM		12.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		7.3%
9:00-9:59 AM		8.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.8%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.9%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.7%

Delaware County Pennsylvania Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Delaware County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are less common than in Pennsylvania: 9.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Pennsylvania: 48.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.4%) 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 Delaware 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 Delaware 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 Delaware 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	Delaware County	Pennsylvania	United States
2009	7:47 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:47 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:47 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:47 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:46 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:47 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:46 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:45 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:45 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:45 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:44 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:45 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:47 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:49 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:50 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:50 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Delaware County were on the road by 7:50 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:47 AM). That goes against the trend across Pennsylvania, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Delaware County now leave 13 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Delaware County has moved 6 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Delaware County in the whole series.

How does Delaware County's commute time compare?

Metric	Delaware County	Pennsylvania	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	26.1 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	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	18.0%	15.6%	15.0%
Walked	3.3%	3.2%	2.4%
Public Transit	5.9%	3.6%	3.2%

The average commute time in Delaware County is 26.1 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Pennsylvania.

5.9% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 3.3% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Delaware County, PA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Delaware County, PA is typical in size for this group, 578,234 residents against a local median of 543,223, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest counties, which makes Delaware County, PA an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.

The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 2% above the local median at 26.1 min against 25.5 min. Delaware County, PA has the 5th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Delaware County, PA	578,234	26.1 min #5/6	18.0% #4/6	7:50 AM #5/6
Philadelphia County, PA	1,579,069	30.5 min	18.4%	7:59 AM
Montgomery County, PA	867,535	25.5 min	23.3%	7:47 AM
Gloucester County, NJ	306,962	25.7 min	14.9%	7:39 AM
Salem County, NJ	65,196	23.3 min	9.5%	7:36 AM
Chester County, PA	543,223	23.3 min	24.1%	7:48 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Is commuting expensive in Delaware County, Pennsylvania?

Commuters here spend an estimated 218 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,754 at a typical national wage. That's 17% more than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Delaware County, Pennsylvania?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.

How do commute times compare across 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).