Commuting in Northumberland 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, 8:10 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Northumberland County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:10 PM
Commute Time Burden in Northumberland County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Northumberland 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 1.4 minutes.
Northumberland County holds about 0.7% of Pennsylvania's population and accounts for roughly 0.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Northumberland County would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,168 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)
Northumberland County
21.0 min
42.0 min
175 hrs/yr
$5,419
1,018
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
Northumberland 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 9.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Northumberland County
Car:
85.3%
Worked at Home:
9.9%
Walked:
3.4%
Other:
0.9%
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 Northumberland County: 20.5 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.2% vs 3.6%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Northumberland County: 5.3 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Biking is unusually rare in Northumberland County: 4.2 times less than the Pennsylvania average (0.1% vs 0.4%).
Commute Mode Trends in Northumberland County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Northumberland 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
Motorcycle
Bicycle
Taxi
2009
91.9%
2.7%
3.5%
1.0%
0.2%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2010
91.7%
2.8%
3.6%
1.3%
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2011
92.0%
2.9%
3.3%
1.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2012
92.1%
2.8%
3.1%
1.2%
0.3%
0.2%
0.4%
0.1%
2013
92.3%
2.9%
2.8%
1.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2014
92.1%
3.1%
2.9%
1.2%
0.3%
0.0%
0.3%
0.1%
2015
92.6%
3.3%
2.6%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2016
92.5%
3.6%
2.6%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
2017
92.0%
3.8%
2.8%
0.9%
0.1%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2018
92.2%
3.8%
2.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
0.2%
2019
92.4%
3.7%
2.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
91.2%
4.8%
2.8%
0.7%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
89.8%
6.0%
2.8%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
88.5%
7.4%
2.7%
0.7%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
87.4%
8.1%
3.2%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2024
85.3%
9.9%
3.4%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2015 at 92.6%. Overall it fell from 91.9% in 2009 to 85.3% in 2024, down 6.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Northumberland County: its share of workers rose from 2.7% in 2009 to 9.9% in 2024, up 7.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2013 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Northumberland County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Northumberland County?
The bars show when commuters in Northumberland 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.
Northumberland CountyPennsylvaniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Northumberland County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are more common than in Pennsylvania: 18.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush looks much like Pennsylvania's: 44.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.9%) 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 Northumberland 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 Northumberland 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 Northumberland 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
Northumberland 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
7:29 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
7:25 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:17 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:17 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
7:22 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:21 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Northumberland County were on the road by 7:20 AM, 10 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 Northumberland County now leave 18 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 Northumberland County has moved 3 minutes later.
How does Northumberland County's commute time compare?
Metric
Northumberland 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
9.9%
15.6%
15.0%
Walked
3.4%
3.2%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
3.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Northumberland County is 21.0 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Pennsylvania.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 3.4% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.
Northumberland County, PA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Northumberland County, PA is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 90,556 residents against a local median of 42,451. The measure that sets Northumberland County, PA apart most is work from home: 9.9%, 23% below the local median of 12.9%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 21.0 min against a local median of 18.0 min, 16% above it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 16% above the local median it puts Northumberland County, PA at the weaker end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 7.9% on work from home, so Northumberland County, PA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Northumberland County, PA has the 4th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania?
Commuters here spend an estimated 175 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,419 at a typical national wage. That's 6% less than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Northumberland 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 Northumberland 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.
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).