Philadelphia Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Philadelphia, 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, 4:18 PM

What does a typical morning commute look like in Philadelphia?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:18 PM

Commute Time Burden in Philadelphia: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Philadelphia spend about 61 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 254 hours, about 10.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 36% more time on the road than the Pennsylvania average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 8.1 minutes.

Philadelphia holds about 12.1% of Pennsylvania's population but accounts for roughly 16.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Philadelphia would save about 102 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,151 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)
Philadelphia	30.5 min	61.0 min	254 hrs/yr	$7,879	2,909
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.

Philadelphia Commute Map

On average, it takes 30.5 minutes to get to work in Philadelphia. That's 36% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

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 18.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Philadelphia

Driving is 29% less common in Philadelphia than the Pennsylvania average (53.7% vs 75.7%).

Public transit is unusually common in Philadelphia: 4.7 times more than the Pennsylvania average (16.7% vs 3.6%).

Biking is unusually common in Philadelphia: 4.1 times more than the Pennsylvania average (1.8% vs 0.4%).

Commute Mode Trends in Philadelphia, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Philadelphia 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	Bicycle	Other	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	60.6%	2.7%	25.9%	8.4%	1.5%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2010	60.1%	2.6%	26.2%	8.4%	1.6%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2011	60.0%	2.7%	25.9%	8.6%	1.7%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%
2012	59.2%	2.8%	26.3%	8.6%	2.0%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%
2013	59.2%	3.0%	26.1%	8.6%	2.0%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2014	58.9%	3.0%	26.5%	8.5%	2.0%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%
2015	59.0%	3.1%	26.2%	8.5%	2.1%	0.9%	0.2%	0.1%
2016	59.4%	3.3%	25.7%	8.2%	2.1%	0.9%	0.2%	0.1%
2017	59.4%	3.5%	25.3%	8.3%	2.1%	1.0%	0.3%	0.1%
2018	59.1%	3.8%	25.0%	8.4%	2.1%	1.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2019	58.5%	4.2%	24.9%	8.5%	2.1%	1.2%	0.5%	0.1%
2020	57.6%	7.0%	23.2%	7.9%	2.1%	1.4%	0.6%	0.1%
2021	56.1%	10.7%	21.4%	7.6%	2.0%	1.5%	0.5%	0.1%
2022	55.0%	13.8%	19.8%	7.3%	1.9%	1.6%	0.5%	0.1%
2023	54.2%	16.4%	17.9%	7.5%	1.9%	1.5%	0.5%	0.1%
2024	53.7%	18.4%	16.7%	7.1%	1.8%	1.6%	0.6%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 60.6% in 2009 to 53.7% in 2024, down 6.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 7 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Philadelphia: its share of workers rose from 2.7% in 2009 to 18.4% in 2024, up 15.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 25.9% to 16.7% of workers (down 9.2 percentage points).

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2024 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Philadelphia

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Philadelphia?

The bars show when commuters in Philadelphia 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		4.0%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.1%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.5%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.3%
6:30-6:59 AM		8.0%
7:00-7:29 AM		13.8%
7:30-7:59 AM		9.5%
8:00-8:29 AM		12.7%
8:30-8:59 AM		7.7%
9:00-9:59 AM		8.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.7%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.1%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.8%
4:00-11:59 PM		7.6%

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

The busiest time to head out in Philadelphia is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.8% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are less common than in Pennsylvania: 10.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Pennsylvania: 44.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (29.4%) 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 Philadelphia, 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 Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia 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	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	United States
2009	7:52 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:52 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:51 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:52 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:53 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:53 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:54 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:53 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:52 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:51 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:52 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:51 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:53 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:56 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:00 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:59 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Philadelphia were on the road by 7:59 AM, 7 minutes later than in 2009 (7:52 AM). That goes against the trend across Pennsylvania, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Philadelphia now leave 21 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 Philadelphia has moved 7 minutes later.

How does Philadelphia's commute time compare?

Metric	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	30.5 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	18.4%	15.6%	15.0%
Walked	7.1%	3.2%	2.4%
Public Transit	16.7%	3.6%	3.2%

The average commute time in Philadelphia is 30.5 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Pennsylvania.

16.7% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 7.1% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Philadelphia, PA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Philadelphia, PA compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Philadelphia, PA	1,578,137	30.5 min #2/2	18.4% #1/2	7:59 AM #2/2
Camden, NJ	71,513	20.8 min	5.6%	7:44 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?

Commuters here spend an estimated 254 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,879 at a typical national wage. That's 36% more than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Philadelphia, 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.

Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?

Public transit usage is notably higher here than typical: about 16.7% of commuters use it versus 3.6% in Pennsylvania, making it a realistic option for many workers.