Wilkes-Barre Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Wilkes-Barre: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Wilkes-Barre spend about 34 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 140 hours, about 5.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 25% less time on the road than the Pennsylvania average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 5.5 minutes.
Wilkes-Barre 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 Wilkes-Barre would save about 56 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,739 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilkes-Barre | 16.8 min | 33.7 min | 140 hrs/yr | $4,347 | 2,253 |
| 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.
Wilkes-Barre Commute Map
On average, it takes 16.8 minutes to get to work in Wilkes-Barre. That's 25% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 8.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Wilkes-Barre
- Car: 81.5%
- Worked at Home: 8.2%
- Walked: 5.9%
- Public Transportation: 2.2%
- Taxi: 1.1% unusually high
- Other: 0.8%
- Bicycle: 0.3%
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Wilkes-Barre, versus 0.1% in Pennsylvania.
Taking a taxi is unusually common in Wilkes-Barre: 4.5 times more than the Pennsylvania average (1.1% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Wilkes-Barre, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Wilkes-Barre 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Worked at Home | Walked | Public Transportation | Taxi | Other | Bicycle | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 86.6% | 2.3% | 7.0% | 2.9% | 0.1% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| 2010 | 85.7% | 2.1% | 7.9% | 3.3% | 0.2% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2011 | 85.7% | 2.3% | 8.1% | 2.9% | 0.1% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| 2012 | 84.5% | 2.2% | 8.7% | 3.3% | 0.2% | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| 2013 | 85.4% | 2.2% | 8.2% | 2.9% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| 2014 | 83.5% | 2.7% | 9.4% | 2.8% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2015 | 83.4% | 3.1% | 8.8% | 3.1% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| 2016 | 83.5% | 3.4% | 8.5% | 3.2% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| 2017 | 84.4% | 4.0% | 7.5% | 2.9% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2018 | 84.6% | 4.7% | 6.9% | 2.8% | 0.1% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2019 | 83.8% | 4.9% | 7.3% | 2.9% | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2020 | 82.5% | 5.5% | 7.5% | 3.0% | 0.3% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2021 | 83.0% | 6.2% | 7.0% | 2.7% | 0.2% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2022 | 83.8% | 6.2% | 6.2% | 2.2% | 0.2% | 1.1% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| 2023 | 81.6% | 7.4% | 6.4% | 2.3% | 0.8% | 1.1% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2024 | 81.5% | 8.2% | 5.9% | 2.2% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 86.6% in 2009 to 81.5% in 2024, down 5.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Wilkes-Barre: its share of workers rose from 2.3% in 2009 to 8.2% in 2024, up 5.9 percentage points.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 7.0% to 5.9% of workers (down 1.1 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Wilkes-Barre
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Wilkes-Barre?
The bars show when commuters in Wilkes-Barre 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 |
12:00-4:59 AM
Wilkes-Barre3.9%
Pennsylvania5.3%
|
3.9% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Wilkes-Barre4.3%
Pennsylvania3.9%
|
4.3% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Wilkes-Barre4.3%
Pennsylvania5.3%
|
4.3% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Wilkes-Barre10.0%
Pennsylvania8.9%
|
10.0% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Wilkes-Barre9.9%
Pennsylvania10.1%
|
9.9% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Wilkes-Barre8.9%
Pennsylvania13.8%
|
8.9% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Wilkes-Barre8.9%
Pennsylvania11.4%
|
8.9% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Wilkes-Barre10.5%
Pennsylvania10.9%
|
10.5% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Wilkes-Barre5.4%
Pennsylvania5.8%
|
5.4% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Wilkes-Barre4.4%
Pennsylvania6.1%
|
4.4% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Wilkes-Barre2.4%
Pennsylvania2.7%
|
2.4% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Wilkes-Barre1.6%
Pennsylvania1.4%
|
1.6% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Wilkes-Barre15.9%
Pennsylvania7.6%
|
15.9% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Wilkes-Barre9.6%
Pennsylvania6.9%
|
9.6% |
Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Wilkes-Barre is 12:00-3:59 PM, when 15.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 7.6% across Pennsylvania. Early starts are less common than in Pennsylvania: 12.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Pennsylvania: 38.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.2% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (33.9%) 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 Wilkes-Barre, 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 Wilkes-Barre 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 Wilkes-Barre 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | Wilkes-Barre | Pennsylvania | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:59 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 8:04 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 8:04 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 8:03 AM | 7:38 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:56 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:54 AM | 7:38 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:52 AM | 7:38 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:53 AM | 7:38 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:55 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 8:05 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 8:03 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 8:03 AM | 7:36 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 8:04 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 8:05 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 8:01 AM | 7:38 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:59 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Wilkes-Barre were on the road by 7:59 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Pennsylvania, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Wilkes-Barre 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 Wilkes-Barre has moved 4 minutes earlier.
How does Wilkes-Barre's commute time compare?
| Metric | Wilkes-Barre | Pennsylvania | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 16.8 min | 22.4 min | 22.4 min |
| Departure Window | 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM | 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 | 8.2% | 15.6% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 5.9% | 3.2% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 2.2% | 3.6% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Wilkes-Barre is 16.8 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Pennsylvania.
2.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.6% in Pennsylvania. 5.9% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in Pennsylvania.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Is living in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 140 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,347 at a typical national wage. That's 25% less than the typical Pennsylvania commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania?
Traffic peaks between 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM in Wilkes-Barre, 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.