Commuting in Lancaster 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, 8:38 PM
Is the commute in Lancaster County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:38 PM
Commute Time Burden in Lancaster County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Lancaster County spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 175 hours, about 7.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% less time on the road than the Pennsylvania average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 1.3 minutes.
Lancaster County holds about 4.3% of Pennsylvania's population but accounts for roughly 4.0% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Lancaster County would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,174 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)
Lancaster County
21.0 min
42.1 min
175 hrs/yr
$5,434
1,330
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
21.0
minutes to get to work in
Lancaster County.
That's 6% shorter 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 11.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Lancaster County
Car:
81.8%
Worked at Home:
11.6%
Walked:
3.5%
Other:
1.2%
Bicycle:
0.7%
Public Transportation:
0.7%unusually low
Taxi:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Public transit is unusually rare in Lancaster County: 5.0 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.7% vs 3.6%).
Commute Mode Trends in Lancaster County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Lancaster 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
88.3%
4.9%
3.6%
0.8%
1.2%
0.7%
0.1%
0.3%
2010
88.2%
5.0%
3.6%
0.9%
1.2%
0.7%
0.2%
0.3%
2011
88.3%
4.9%
3.6%
1.0%
1.2%
0.6%
0.2%
0.3%
2012
88.3%
4.8%
3.6%
0.9%
1.2%
0.7%
0.2%
0.3%
2013
88.3%
4.9%
3.7%
0.9%
1.1%
0.6%
0.2%
0.3%
2014
88.5%
4.8%
3.5%
0.9%
1.3%
0.7%
0.1%
0.3%
2015
88.4%
4.9%
3.6%
0.8%
1.3%
0.7%
0.1%
0.3%
2016
88.2%
5.0%
3.7%
0.8%
1.2%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
2017
88.1%
5.0%
3.8%
0.8%
1.3%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
2018
88.1%
5.1%
3.8%
0.9%
1.2%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
2019
88.0%
5.1%
3.9%
0.9%
1.2%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
87.2%
6.2%
3.7%
1.0%
1.1%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
85.7%
8.0%
3.4%
1.0%
1.0%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
84.7%
9.1%
3.5%
0.9%
0.8%
0.8%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
83.3%
10.3%
3.5%
1.1%
0.8%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
81.8%
11.6%
3.5%
1.2%
0.7%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2014 at 88.5%. Overall it fell from 88.3% in 2009 to 81.8% in 2024, down 6.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Lancaster County: its share of workers rose from 4.9% in 2009 to 11.6% in 2024, up 6.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.2% to 0.7% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Lancaster County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lancaster County?
The bars show when commuters in Lancaster 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.
Lancaster CountyPennsylvaniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Lancaster County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are more common than in Pennsylvania: 16.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush looks much like Pennsylvania's: 46.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (22.1%) 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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
Lancaster County
Pennsylvania
United States
2009
7:27 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:26 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:26 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:28 AM
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:28 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:22 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:23 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Lancaster County were on the road by 7:23 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:27 AM). Pennsylvania followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Lancaster County now leave 15 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Lancaster County's commute time compare?
Metric
Lancaster County
Pennsylvania
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.0 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
11.6%
15.6%
15.0%
Walked
3.5%
3.2%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.7%
3.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Lancaster County is 21.0 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Pennsylvania.
0.7% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 3.5% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.
Lancaster County, PA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Lancaster County, PA is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 557,898 residents against a local median of 432,828. Lancaster County, PA sits close to the middle of its own neighbourhood. No measure below is more than 15% off the local median, so the choice between these counties turns on things this data does not capture.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 6% below the local median at 21.0 min against 22.4 min. Lancaster County, PA has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania?
Commuters here spend an estimated 175 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,434 at a typical national wage. That's 6% less than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Lancaster 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.
Do people use public transit in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.7% 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).