Commuting in Jefferson 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, 12:49 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Jefferson County?
Map AI9/24/26, 12:49 PM
Commute Time Burden in Jefferson County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Jefferson County spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 155 hours, about 6.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 17% less time on the road than the Pennsylvania average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 3.7 minutes.
Jefferson County holds about 0.3% of Pennsylvania's population and accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Jefferson County would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,924 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)
Jefferson County
18.6 min
37.2 min
155 hrs/yr
$4,810
453
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
18.6
minutes to get to work in
Jefferson County.
That's 17% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 70% of counties in Pennsylvania
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 5.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Jefferson County
Car:
89.0%
Worked at Home:
5.7%
Walked:
3.0%
Other:
1.9%
Public Transportation:
0.2%unusually low
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Jefferson County: 16.5 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.2% vs 3.6%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Jefferson County: 8.1 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Biking is unusually rare in Jefferson County: 7.8 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.1% vs 0.4%).
Commute Mode Trends in Jefferson County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Jefferson 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
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
92.2%
3.0%
3.6%
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2010
92.4%
3.1%
3.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
91.8%
3.3%
3.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2012
92.1%
3.3%
3.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2013
92.4%
2.8%
3.8%
0.5%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2014
92.2%
2.9%
3.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2015
91.8%
2.8%
4.1%
0.7%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2016
91.9%
2.6%
3.8%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2017
91.7%
2.7%
4.0%
0.9%
0.5%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
91.3%
2.8%
4.2%
0.9%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
91.3%
2.8%
3.8%
1.0%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
90.9%
3.2%
3.6%
1.1%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
2021
89.2%
4.2%
4.1%
1.6%
0.8%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
89.2%
4.7%
3.7%
1.6%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
89.0%
5.1%
3.4%
1.7%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
89.0%
5.7%
3.0%
1.9%
0.2%
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 2010 at 92.4%. Overall it fell from 92.2% in 2009 to 89.0% in 2024, down 3.2 percentage points.
Working from home gained the most ground in Jefferson County: its share of workers rose from 3.0% in 2009 to 5.7% in 2024, up 2.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 2.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.6% to 3.0% of workers (down 0.6 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 Jefferson County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Jefferson County?
The bars show when commuters in Jefferson 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.
Jefferson CountyPennsylvaniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Jefferson County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are more common than in Pennsylvania: 22.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Pennsylvania: 44.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (20.1%) 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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
Jefferson County
Pennsylvania
United States
2009
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:31 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:29 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:25 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:23 AM
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:22 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:22 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:23 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:23 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:23 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:23 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:18 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:17 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Jefferson County were on the road by 7:17 AM, 16 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:33 AM). The shift is sharper than across Pennsylvania, where the typical start moved 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Jefferson County now leave 21 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 Jefferson County has moved 6 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Jefferson County in the whole series.
How does Jefferson County's commute time compare?
Metric
Jefferson County
Pennsylvania
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.6 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
5.7%
15.6%
15.0%
Walked
3.0%
3.2%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
3.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Jefferson County is 18.6 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Pennsylvania.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 3.0% commute by walking, lower than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.
Jefferson County, PA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Jefferson County, PA is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 43,864 residents against a local median of 37,179. The measure that sets Jefferson County, PA apart most is work from home: 5.7%, 33% below the local median of 8.6%.
The counties themselves spread 10.3% on work from home, so Jefferson County, PA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Jefferson County, PA has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.
Is living in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 155 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,810 at a typical national wage. That's 17% less than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Jefferson 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.
How common is public transit use in Jefferson 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.
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).