Mount Pleasant Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Mount Pleasant: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Mount Pleasant spend about 45 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 187 hours, about 7.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% more time on the road than the South Carolina average of 22.3 minutes each way, a difference of 0.2 minutes.
Mount Pleasant holds about 1.5% of South Carolina's population and accounts for roughly 1.5% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Mount Pleasant would save about 75 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,322 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Pleasant | 22.5 min | 44.9 min | 187 hrs/yr | $5,805 | 3,096 |
| South Carolina | 22.3 min | 44.5 min | 186 hrs/yr | $5,753 | 1,499 |
| 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.
Mount Pleasant Commute Map
On average, it takes 22.5 minutes to get to work in Mount Pleasant. That's about the same as the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 26.5% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Mount Pleasant
- Car: 71.9%
- Worked at Home: 26.5%
- Other: 0.6%
- Walked: 0.6%
- Bicycle: 0.3%
- Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
- Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Mount Pleasant, versus 0.1% in South Carolina.
Public transit is unusually rare in Mount Pleasant: 7.0 times less than the South Carolina average (0.1% vs 0.4%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Mount Pleasant: 10.8 times less than the South Carolina average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Mount Pleasant, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Mount Pleasant 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 | Other | Bicycle | Public Transportation | Taxi | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 90.8% | 6.3% | 0.9% | 1.5% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2010 | 89.7% | 6.6% | 1.6% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2011 | 88.2% | 8.4% | 1.3% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2012 | 88.6% | 8.1% | 1.4% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2013 | 89.4% | 7.6% | 1.2% | 0.5% | 1.0% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2014 | 88.1% | 8.6% | 1.5% | 0.5% | 1.1% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2015 | 87.3% | 9.7% | 1.2% | 0.3% | 1.1% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2016 | 87.8% | 8.9% | 1.5% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2017 | 87.2% | 9.7% | 1.3% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2018 | 85.7% | 10.8% | 2.0% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2019 | 85.6% | 10.4% | 1.7% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 1.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2020 | 83.8% | 12.6% | 1.6% | 0.8% | 0.1% | 0.9% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2021 | 81.8% | 15.7% | 1.0% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2022 | 78.0% | 19.4% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2023 | 75.4% | 22.9% | 0.3% | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2024 | 71.9% | 26.5% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 90.8% in 2009 to 71.9% in 2024, down 18.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 8 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Mount Pleasant: its share of workers rose from 6.3% in 2009 to 26.5% in 2024, up 20.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 16.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking peaked at 2.0% in 2018 and has since fallen back to 0.6%.
Commute Start Times in Mount Pleasant
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Mount Pleasant?
The bars show when commuters in Mount Pleasant 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 South Carolina for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
| 12:00-4:59 AM |
12:00-4:59 AM
Mount Pleasant3.1%
South Carolina5.0%
|
3.1% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Mount Pleasant2.1%
South Carolina3.7%
|
2.1% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Mount Pleasant1.6%
South Carolina4.6%
|
1.6% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Mount Pleasant7.0%
South Carolina9.1%
|
7.0% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Mount Pleasant9.2%
South Carolina10.5%
|
9.2% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Mount Pleasant12.7%
South Carolina15.3%
|
12.7% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Mount Pleasant15.2%
South Carolina12.6%
|
15.2% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Mount Pleasant18.2%
South Carolina11.1%
|
18.2% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Mount Pleasant9.6%
South Carolina5.2%
|
9.6% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Mount Pleasant8.8%
South Carolina6.1%
|
8.8% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Mount Pleasant4.1%
South Carolina2.7%
|
4.1% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Mount Pleasant1.2%
South Carolina1.2%
|
1.2% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Mount Pleasant4.5%
South Carolina6.3%
|
4.5% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Mount Pleasant2.5%
South Carolina6.6%
|
2.5% |
Mount Pleasant South Carolina Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Mount Pleasant is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 18.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.1% across South Carolina. Early starts are less common than in South Carolina: 6.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.2% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in South Carolina: 55.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.6% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.2%) 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 Mount Pleasant, 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 Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant next to South Carolina 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 | Mount Pleasant | South Carolina | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:56 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 7:56 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:53 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 7:50 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:52 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:53 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:59 AM | 7:36 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:56 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:52 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:50 AM | 7:33 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:45 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:47 AM | 7:33 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:52 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:55 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:58 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Mount Pleasant were on the road by 7:58 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:56 AM). That goes against the trend across South Carolina, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Mount Pleasant now leave 20 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 Mount Pleasant has moved 8 minutes later.
How does Mount Pleasant's commute time compare?
| Metric | Mount Pleasant | South Carolina | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 22.5 min | 22.3 min | 22.4 min |
| Departure Window | 08:00 AM – 08:29 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 | 26.5% | 11.5% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 0.6% | 1.6% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | < 0.1% | 0.4% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Mount Pleasant is about the same as in South Carolina.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.4% in South Carolina. 0.6% commute by walking, lower than the 1.6% in South Carolina.
Mount Pleasant, SC Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
How Mount Pleasant, SC compares with the 2 cities closest to it.
| Area | Population | One-way commute | Work from home | Typical departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Pleasant, SC | 77,795 | 22.5 min #2/3 | 26.5% #1/3 | 7:58 AM #2/3 |
| Charleston, SC | 138,300 | 20.9 min | 18.7% | 8:01 AM |
| Hanahan, SC | 21,136 | 23.0 min | 12.0% | 7:42 AM |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
Is commuting expensive in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina?
Commuters here spend an estimated 187 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,805 at a typical national wage. That's 1% more than the typical South Carolina commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina?
Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. 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.
How common is public transit use in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 0.4% in South Carolina, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Is Mount Pleasant, South Carolina a good location for remote and hybrid workers?
About 26.5% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Mount Pleasant would save about 75 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,322 at the same national wage assumption used above.