Hughes County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Hughes 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, 8:28 PM

How much time do drivers in Hughes County spend on the road daily?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:28 PM

Commute Time Burden in Hughes County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Hughes County spend about 21 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 89 hours, about 3.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 31% less time on the road than the South Dakota average of 15.3 minutes each way, a difference of 4.7 minutes.

Hughes County holds about 1.9% of South Dakota's population but accounts for roughly 1.4% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Hughes County would save about 35 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,099 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)
Hughes County	10.6 min	21.3 min	89 hrs/yr	$2,748	255
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

Hughes County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 10.6 minutes to get to work in Hughes County. That's 53% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 78% of counties in South Dakota

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 4.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Hughes County

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

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

Commute Mode Trends in Hughes County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Hughes 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	Walked	Public Transportation	Other	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	91.7%	3.3%	3.6%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.7%
2010	90.9%	3.1%	4.1%	0.6%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.8%
2011	92.0%	2.6%	3.6%	0.7%	0.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2012	91.4%	2.9%	3.5%	0.7%	0.5%	0.5%	0.0%	0.5%
2013	92.3%	2.7%	3.5%	0.5%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.4%
2014	93.1%	2.1%	3.7%	0.4%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2015	93.5%	1.9%	3.4%	0.4%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2016	92.6%	2.9%	3.4%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%	0.2%
2017	93.3%	2.1%	3.4%	0.8%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
2018	92.3%	2.9%	3.5%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
2019	90.9%	3.5%	4.2%	0.9%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	91.5%	4.3%	3.0%	1.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	89.8%	5.3%	4.0%	0.5%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	89.9%	6.3%	2.9%	0.5%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	90.2%	5.1%	3.1%	1.0%	0.5%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	90.5%	4.7%	3.2%	1.0%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2015 at 93.5% and lowest in 2021 at 89.8%. Overall it fell from 91.7% in 2009 to 90.5% in 2024, down 1.2 percentage points. It has risen in each of the last 3 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Hughes County: its share of workers rose from 3.3% in 2009 to 4.7% in 2024, up 1.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Riding a motorcycle lost the most ground, falling from 0.7% to 0.0% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Working from home peaked at 6.3% in 2022 and has since fallen back to 4.7%.

Commute Start Times in Hughes County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Hughes County?

The bars show when commuters in Hughes 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		1.7%
5:00-5:29 AM		0.6%
5:30-5:59 AM		4.0%
6:00-6:29 AM		2.6%
6:30-6:59 AM		4.9%
7:00-7:29 AM		15.6%
7:30-7:59 AM		41.7%
8:00-8:29 AM		11.6%
8:30-8:59 AM		1.6%
9:00-9:59 AM		3.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		0.6%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.6%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.8%

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

The busiest time to head out in Hughes County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 41.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 19.9% across South Dakota. Early starts are less common than in South Dakota: 6.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.2% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in South Dakota: 73.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.7% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (15.7%) 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 Hughes 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 Hughes 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 Hughes 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	Hughes County	South Dakota	United States
2009	7:44 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:43 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:42 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:42 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:43 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:43 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:43 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:44 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:44 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:44 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:44 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:44 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:45 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:44 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:45 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:45 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Hughes County were on the road by 7:45 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across South Dakota, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 5 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Hughes County now leave 7 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Hughes County in the whole series.

How does Hughes County's commute time compare?

Metric	Hughes County	South Dakota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	10.6 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	4.7%	9.7%	15.0%
Walked	3.2%	3.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	1.0%	0.5%	3.2%

The average commute time in Hughes County is 10.6 minutes, shorter than the 15.3 minutes in South Dakota.

1.0% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.5% in South Dakota. 3.2% commute by walking, higher than the 3.1% in South Dakota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Hughes County, SD Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Hughes County, SD is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 17,664 residents against a local median of 2,388. Hughes County, SD's work from home, at 4.7%, runs 58% below the 11.2% typical of the counties around it.

The counties themselves spread 14.8% on work from home, so Hughes County, SD sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Hughes County, SD has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Hughes County, SD	17,664	10.6 min #3/6	4.7% #6/6	7:45 AM #4/6
Sully County, SD	1,526	11.3 min	13.4%	7:35 AM
Lyman County, SD	3,724	12.4 min	11.2%	7:45 AM
Hyde County, SD	1,191	8.2 min	20.8%	7:33 AM
Potter County, SD	2,388	10.4 min	6.0%	7:41 AM
Stanley County, SD	3,015	15.0 min	6.6%	7:49 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Hughes County, South Dakota.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Hughes County, South Dakota?

Commuters here spend an estimated 89 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $2,748 at a typical national wage. That's 31% less than the typical South Dakota commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Hughes County, South Dakota?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Hughes 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.

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).