McPherson County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in McPherson County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in McPherson 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 90 hours, about 3.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 29% less time on the road than the South Dakota average of 15.3 minutes each way, a difference of 4.5 minutes.

McPherson County holds about 0.2% of South Dakota's population and accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in McPherson County would save about 36 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,120 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)
McPherson County	10.8 min	21.7 min	90 hrs/yr	$2,800	96
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

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 10.8 minutes to get to work in McPherson County. That's 52% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 75% 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 11.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in McPherson County

• Car: 77.1%
• Worked at Home: 11.6%
• Walked: 9.8% unusually high
• Other: 1.4%
• Motorcycle: < 0.1%
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
• Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Walking is unusually common in McPherson County: 3.2 times more than the South Dakota average (9.8% vs 3.1%).

Public transit is essentially absent in McPherson County, versus 0.5% in South Dakota.

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

Biking is essentially absent in McPherson County, versus 0.3% in South Dakota.

Commute Mode Trends in McPherson County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in McPherson 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.

• Car
• Worked at Home
• Walked
• Other
• Motorcycle
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Bicycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Other	Motorcycle	Public Transportation	Taxi	Bicycle
2009	70.0%	10.9%	17.3%	0.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%	1.1%
2010	68.4%	12.4%	17.5%	0.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	1.1%
2011	71.7%	12.3%	14.8%	0.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.6%
2012	69.9%	13.7%	11.7%	0.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%	4.1%
2013	70.9%	14.8%	10.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	4.1%
2014	72.5%	12.7%	10.4%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	4.1%
2015	73.0%	13.3%	9.6%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	3.8%
2016	73.1%	13.4%	7.1%	0.0%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	5.9%
2017	75.1%	15.6%	8.2%	0.0%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.6%
2018	76.3%	17.4%	4.9%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.3%
2019	75.2%	16.6%	5.6%	0.9%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%	1.3%
2020	76.4%	14.6%	5.1%	2.0%	0.0%	0.5%	0.0%	1.5%
2021	79.4%	12.3%	6.4%	1.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2022	78.5%	10.9%	8.5%	1.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.4%
2023	79.4%	8.5%	10.4%	1.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.4%
2024	77.1%	11.6%	9.8%	1.4%	0.1%	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 was highest in 2021 at 79.4% and lowest in 2010 at 68.4%. Overall it rose from 70.0% in 2009 to 77.1% in 2024, up 7.1 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in McPherson County: its share of workers rose from 10.9% in 2009 to 11.6% in 2024, up 0.7 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 17.3% to 9.8% of workers (down 7.5 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2024 release and has stayed ahead since.

Biking peaked at 5.9% in 2016 and has since fallen back to 0.0%.

Commute Start Times in McPherson County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in McPherson County?

The bars show when commuters in McPherson 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	12:00-4:59 AM McPherson County4.3% South Dakota4.1%	4.3%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM McPherson County0.0% South Dakota3.1%	0.0%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM McPherson County2.1% South Dakota5.1%	2.1%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM McPherson County6.8% South Dakota6.9%	6.8%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM McPherson County7.5% South Dakota11.3%	7.5%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM McPherson County21.8% South Dakota16.2%	21.8%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM McPherson County23.3% South Dakota19.9%	23.3%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM McPherson County14.6% South Dakota10.2%	14.6%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM McPherson County5.4% South Dakota3.7%	5.4%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM McPherson County3.8% South Dakota4.3%	3.8%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM McPherson County2.0% South Dakota2.0%	2.0%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM McPherson County1.0% South Dakota1.4%	1.0%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM McPherson County0.7% South Dakota6.1%	0.7%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM McPherson County6.6% South Dakota5.8%	6.6%

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

The busiest time to head out in McPherson County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 23.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 19.9% across South Dakota. Early starts are less common than in South Dakota: 6.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.2% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in South Dakota: 67.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.7% there. About 1 in 7 commuters (14.1%) 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 McPherson 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 McPherson 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 McPherson 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.

• McPherson County
• South Dakota
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	McPherson County	South Dakota	United States
2009	7:43 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:41 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:44 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:41 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:46 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:42 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:48 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:44 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:42 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:48 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:37 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:39 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:38 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:33 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:32 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:40 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in McPherson County were on the road by 7:40 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:43 AM). South Dakota followed the same path, with the typical start moving 5 minutes earlier. Commuters in McPherson County now leave 2 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 McPherson County has moved 3 minutes later.

How does McPherson County's commute time compare?

Metric	McPherson County	South Dakota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	10.8 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	11.6%	9.7%	15.0%
Walked	9.8%	3.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	0.5%	3.2%

The average commute time in McPherson County is 10.8 minutes, shorter than the 15.3 minutes in South Dakota.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in South Dakota. 9.8% commute by walking, higher than the 3.1% in South Dakota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau