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Clay County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Clay County, South Dakota: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 8:10 PM
Is the commute in Clay County longer than the national average?
Map AI 9/24/26, 8:10 PM

Commute Time Burden in Clay County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Clay County spend about 22 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 92 hours, about 3.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 28% less time on the road than the South Dakota average of 15.3 minutes each way, a difference of 4.2 minutes.

Clay County holds about 1.7% of South Dakota's population but accounts for roughly 1.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Clay County would save about 37 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,146 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)
Clay County 11.1 min 22.2 min 92 hrs/yr $2,865 297
South Dakota 15.3 min 30.7 min 128 hrs/yr $3,961 353
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.

Commute Time Map: South Dakota Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in South Dakota
  1. Jones County (6.7 min)
  2. Bennett County (7.5 min)
  3. Jackson County (7.8 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in South Dakota
  1. Custer County (25.5 min)
  2. McCook County (25.4 min)
  3. Turner County (23.1 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Clay County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 11.1 minutes to get to work in Clay County. That's 51% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 71% of counties in South Dakota

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 6.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Clay County

  • Car: 81.2%
  • Walked: 8.9%
  • Worked at Home: 6.6%
  • Public Transportation: 1.5%
  • Bicycle: 1.2% unusually high
  • Other: 0.5%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1%
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Clay County: 8.7 times less than the South Dakota average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Biking is unusually common in Clay County: 4.0 times more than the South Dakota average (1.2% vs 0.3%).

Commute Mode Trends in Clay County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Clay 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 Walked Worked at Home Public Transportation Bicycle Other Motorcycle Taxi
2009 77.7% 14.7% 4.0% 0.0% 2.8% 0.2% 0.4% 0.0%
2010 81.2% 10.9% 4.4% 0.0% 2.4% 0.6% 0.6% 0.0%
2011 80.1% 10.7% 4.9% 0.0% 3.3% 0.4% 0.6% 0.0%
2012 79.7% 11.3% 4.9% 0.0% 3.1% 0.4% 0.6% 0.0%
2013 80.2% 11.1% 4.8% 0.0% 3.2% 0.4% 0.3% 0.0%
2014 79.0% 11.7% 5.5% 0.0% 3.3% 0.4% 0.1% 0.0%
2015 77.2% 12.5% 5.9% 0.4% 3.8% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0%
2016 76.2% 13.9% 6.1% 0.5% 2.9% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0%
2017 77.0% 13.2% 6.2% 0.6% 2.6% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0%
2018 78.3% 11.8% 6.4% 0.7% 2.5% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0%
2019 77.5% 12.6% 6.7% 0.9% 1.9% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0%
2020 76.0% 13.1% 7.8% 0.4% 1.8% 0.8% 0.0% 0.0%
2021 78.2% 12.5% 6.9% 0.4% 2.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0%
2022 78.6% 11.3% 7.6% 0.3% 1.7% 0.5% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 78.9% 10.7% 7.7% 0.3% 1.9% 0.4% 0.1% 0.0%
2024 81.2% 8.9% 6.6% 1.5% 1.2% 0.5% 0.1% 0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share bottomed out in 2020 at 76.0%. Overall it rose from 77.7% in 2009 to 81.2% in 2024, up 3.5 percentage points. It has risen in each of the last 4 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Clay County: its share of workers rose from 4.0% in 2009 to 6.6% in 2024, up 2.6 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 14.7% to 8.9% of workers (down 5.8 percentage points).

Public transit overtook riding a motorcycle to become the 4th most common choice in the 2015 release and has stayed ahead since.

Biking peaked at 3.8% in 2015 and has since fallen back to 1.2%.

Commute Start Times in Clay County

  • Earlier AlarmsThe biggest shift to earlier mornings among South Dakota's 66 counties: the typical start is 27 minutes earlier than in 2009.
  • Night OwlThe 2nd-latest start among South Dakota's 66 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:49 AM.
  • Sleeping InThe 3rd-highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among South Dakota's 66 counties: 25.3% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Clay County?

The bars show when commuters in Clay 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 South Dakota for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM
3.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
2.5%
5:30-5:59 AM
4.5%
6:00-6:29 AM
7.4%
6:30-6:59 AM
8.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
11.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
19.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
14.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
3.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
7.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
2.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
1.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
8.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
5.7%

Clay County South Dakota Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Clay County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 19.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 19.9% across South Dakota. Early starts are less common than in South Dakota: 11.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.2% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in South Dakota: 52.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.7% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.3%) 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 Clay 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 Clay 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 Clay County next to South Dakota 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 Clay County South Dakota United States
2009 8:16 AM 7:40 AM 7:37 AM
2010 8:08 AM 7:40 AM 7:38 AM
2011 8:10 AM 7:40 AM 7:38 AM
2012 8:15 AM 7:39 AM 7:38 AM
2013 8:07 AM 7:39 AM 7:39 AM
2014 8:13 AM 7:39 AM 7:39 AM
2015 8:18 AM 7:39 AM 7:38 AM
2016 8:24 AM 7:38 AM 7:38 AM
2017 8:21 AM 7:38 AM 7:38 AM
2018 8:18 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2019 8:17 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2020 8:13 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2021 8:02 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:58 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:58 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:49 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Clay County were on the road by 7:49 AM, 27 minutes earlier than in 2009 (8:16 AM). The shift is sharper than across South Dakota, where the typical start moved 5 minutes earlier. Commuters in Clay County now leave 12 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 Clay County has moved 28 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Clay County in the whole series.

How does Clay County's commute time compare?

Metric Clay County South Dakota US Average
Avg. Commute Time 11.1 min 15.3 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 6.6% 9.7% 15.0%
Walked 8.9% 3.1% 2.4%
Public Transit 1.5% 0.5% 3.2%

The average commute time in Clay County is 11.1 minutes, shorter than the 15.3 minutes in South Dakota.

1.5% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.5% in South Dakota. 8.9% commute by walking, higher than the 3.1% in South Dakota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Clay County, SD Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Clay County, SD is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 15,219 residents against a local median of 8,882. Clay County, SD's one-way commute, at 11.1 min, runs 32% below the 16.4 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: 6.6% against a local median of 7.9%, 17% below it. The counties themselves spread 11.3 min on one-way commute, so Clay County, SD sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Clay County, SD has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Clay County, SD 15,219 11.1 min #1/6 6.6% #5/6 7:49 AM #6/6
Union County, SD 17,081 16.4 min 7.9% 7:31 AM
Cedar County, NE 8,315 14.0 min 10.1% 7:24 AM
Yankton County, SD 23,415 11.8 min 6.2% 7:40 AM
Turner County, SD 8,882 23.1 min 7.0% 7:19 AM
Dixon County, NE 5,545 22.3 min 9.3% 7:14 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Clay County, South Dakota.

Is living in Clay County, South Dakota good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 92 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $2,865 at a typical national wage. That's 28% less than the typical South Dakota commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Clay County, South Dakota?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Clay County, South Dakota. 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.

Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in South Dakota?

Among counties in South Dakota, the shortest average commutes are in Jones County (6.7 min), Bennett County (7.5 min), Jackson County (7.8 min). The longest are in Custer County (25.5 min), McCook County (25.4 min), Turner County (23.1 min).