Commuting in Northampton 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, 4:13 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Northampton County?
Map AI9/24/26, 4:13 PM
Commute Time Burden in Northampton County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Northampton County spend about 44 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 182 hours, about 7.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% less time on the road than the Pennsylvania average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 0.5 minutes.
Northampton County holds about 2.4% of Pennsylvania's population and accounts for roughly 2.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Northampton County would save about 73 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,258 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)
Northampton County
21.9 min
43.7 min
182 hrs/yr
$5,646
1,446
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
21.9
minutes to get to work in
Northampton County.
That's 2% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 14.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Northampton County
Car:
80.9%
Worked at Home:
14.4%
Walked:
2.0%
Other:
1.1%
Public Transportation:
1.0%unusually low
Taxi:
0.3%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Public transit is unusually rare in Northampton County: 3.5 times less than the Pennsylvania average (1.0% vs 3.6%).
Commute Mode Trends in Northampton County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Northampton 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
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
91.5%
4.0%
2.4%
0.4%
1.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2010
91.5%
3.9%
2.4%
0.5%
1.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2011
91.3%
4.1%
2.4%
0.4%
1.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2012
91.8%
4.0%
2.3%
0.3%
1.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2013
91.8%
3.7%
2.3%
0.4%
1.6%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2014
91.3%
3.6%
2.4%
0.6%
1.7%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2015
91.1%
3.4%
2.5%
0.9%
1.7%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2016
90.5%
3.4%
2.6%
1.3%
1.9%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2017
90.2%
3.7%
2.5%
1.3%
1.9%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2018
89.6%
4.4%
2.5%
1.4%
1.9%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2019
89.7%
4.5%
2.5%
1.4%
1.6%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
87.6%
6.5%
2.5%
1.4%
1.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2021
85.6%
9.0%
2.3%
1.4%
1.4%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2022
83.5%
11.2%
2.2%
1.5%
1.3%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
82.4%
12.6%
2.0%
1.4%
1.1%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
80.9%
14.4%
2.0%
1.1%
1.0%
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 2012 at 91.8%. Overall it fell from 91.5% in 2009 to 80.9% in 2024, down 10.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Northampton County: its share of workers rose from 4.0% in 2009 to 14.4% in 2024, up 10.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Northampton County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Northampton County?
The bars show when commuters in Northampton 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.
Northampton CountyPennsylvaniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Northampton County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are about as common as in Pennsylvania: 15.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush looks much like Pennsylvania's: 48.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.6%) 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 Northampton 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 Northampton 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 Northampton 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
Northampton County
Pennsylvania
United States
2009
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:35 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:37 AM
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:32 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Northampton County were on the road by 7:33 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Pennsylvania, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Northampton County now leave 5 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Northampton County's commute time compare?
Metric
Northampton County
Pennsylvania
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.9 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
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
14.4%
15.6%
15.0%
Walked
2.0%
3.2%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.0%
3.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Northampton County is about the same as in Pennsylvania.
1.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 2.0% commute by walking, lower than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.
Northampton County, PA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Northampton County, PA is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 318,250 residents against a local median of 130,145. Northampton County, PA's one-way commute, at 21.9 min, runs 28% below the 30.5 min typical of the counties around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 14.4% against a local median of 12.5%, 15% above it. The counties themselves spread 9.5 min on one-way commute, so Northampton County, PA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Northampton County, PA has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Northampton County, Pennsylvania?
Commuters here spend an estimated 182 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,646 at a typical national wage. That's 2% less than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Northampton County, Pennsylvania?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Northampton County, Pennsylvania?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 1.0% 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).