Dewey County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Dewey 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, 3:17 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in Dewey County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 3:17 PM

Commute Time Burden in Dewey County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Dewey County spend about 24 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 101 hours, about 4.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 21% less time on the road than the South Dakota average of 15.3 minutes each way, a difference of 3.2 minutes.

Dewey County holds about 0.6% of South Dakota's population but accounts for roughly 0.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Dewey County would save about 40 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,253 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)
Dewey County	12.1 min	24.3 min	101 hrs/yr	$3,133	110
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

Jones County (6.7 min)
Bennett County (7.5 min)
Jackson County (7.8 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in South Dakota

Custer County (25.5 min)
McCook County (25.4 min)
Turner County (23.1 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Dewey County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 12.1 minutes to get to work in Dewey County. That's 46% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 13.5% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Dewey County

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Dewey County, versus 0.2% in South Dakota.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Dewey County, versus 0.1% in South Dakota.

Biking is unusually rare in Dewey County: 42217487.5 times less than the South Dakota average (0.0% vs 0.3%).

Commute Mode Trends in Dewey County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Dewey 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	Other	Walked	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	75.6%	6.4%	4.2%	12.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%	0.8%
2010	78.3%	6.2%	2.7%	11.5%	0.3%	0.0%	0.3%	0.8%
2011	76.5%	7.8%	2.6%	11.5%	0.9%	0.0%	0.5%	0.2%
2012	76.5%	8.7%	3.0%	10.5%	0.6%	0.0%	0.6%	0.1%
2013	75.6%	11.7%	2.6%	8.3%	1.0%	0.0%	0.5%	0.2%
2014	77.2%	14.2%	0.9%	5.8%	1.1%	0.0%	0.7%	0.2%
2015	76.1%	15.2%	1.0%	5.2%	1.9%	0.0%	0.4%	0.2%
2016	78.1%	15.5%	0.9%	4.9%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2017	80.5%	15.6%	0.6%	2.9%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2018	81.3%	14.8%	0.5%	2.8%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2019	82.6%	12.7%	0.8%	3.4%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	81.8%	12.7%	0.5%	3.2%	1.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	83.4%	12.3%	1.0%	2.3%	0.6%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	83.6%	11.5%	1.5%	2.7%	0.5%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	79.0%	14.5%	2.9%	2.8%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	80.7%	13.5%	2.7%	2.4%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2022 at 83.6%. Overall it rose from 75.6% in 2009 to 80.7% in 2024, up 5.1 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Dewey County: its share of workers rose from 6.4% in 2009 to 13.5% in 2024, up 7.1 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 12.7% to 2.4% of workers (down 10.3 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2013 release and has stayed ahead since.

Working from home peaked at 15.6% in 2017 and has since fallen back to 13.5%.

Commute Start Times in Dewey County

Rush-Hour RegularsThe 2nd-highest share of rush-hour departures among South Dakota's 66 counties: 80.3% of commuters leave between 6:30 and 8:29 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Dewey County?

The bars show when commuters in Dewey 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		1.1%
5:00-5:29 AM		0.0%
5:30-5:59 AM		1.8%
6:00-6:29 AM		4.0%
6:30-6:59 AM		12.2%
7:00-7:29 AM		22.3%
7:30-7:59 AM		36.5%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.2%
8:30-8:59 AM		1.8%
9:00-9:59 AM		1.3%
10:00-10:59 AM		0.8%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.9%
12:00-3:59 PM		4.4%
4:00-11:59 PM		3.8%

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

The busiest time to head out in Dewey County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 36.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 19.9% across South Dakota. Early starts are less common than in South Dakota: 2.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.2% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in South Dakota: 80.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.7% there. About 1 in 9 commuters (11.2%) 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 Dewey 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 Dewey 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 Dewey 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	Dewey County	South Dakota	United States
2009	7:40 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:37 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:35 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:34 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:37 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:36 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:39 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:40 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:40 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:39 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:38 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:39 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:37 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:35 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:36 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:37 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Dewey County were on the road by 7:37 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:40 AM). Across South Dakota the shift was bigger still, with the typical start moving 5 minutes earlier. Commuters in Dewey County now leave at about the same time as the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Dewey County's commute time compare?

Metric	Dewey County	South Dakota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	12.1 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	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	13.5%	9.7%	15.0%
Walked	2.4%	3.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.6%	0.5%	3.2%

The average commute time in Dewey County is 12.1 minutes, shorter than the 15.3 minutes in South Dakota.

0.6% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.5% in South Dakota. 2.4% commute by walking, lower than the 3.1% in South Dakota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Dewey County, SD Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Dewey County, SD is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 5,205 residents against a local median of 3,015. The measure that sets Dewey County, SD apart most is one-way commute: 12.1 min, 19% below the local median of 15.0 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.

The counties themselves spread 13.9 min on one-way commute, so Dewey County, SD sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Dewey County, SD has the 3rd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Dewey County, SD	5,205	12.1 min #3/6	13.5% #3/6	7:37 AM #4/6
Corson County, SD	3,806	18.7 min	24.2%	7:35 AM
Stanley County, SD	3,015	15.0 min	6.6%	7:49 AM
Ziebach County, SD	2,377	22.9 min	24.4%	7:24 AM
Sully County, SD	1,526	11.3 min	13.4%	7:35 AM
Walworth County, SD	5,271	8.9 min	6.0%	7:43 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Dewey County, South Dakota.

Is commuting expensive in Dewey County, South Dakota?

Commuters here spend an estimated 101 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,133 at a typical national wage. That's 21% less than the typical South Dakota commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Dewey County, South Dakota?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Dewey County, South Dakota. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.

How much money can remote workers save in Dewey County, South Dakota?

About 13.5% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Dewey County would save about 40 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,253 at the same national wage assumption used above.

How do commute times compare across 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).