Commuting in Minnehaha County, South Dakota: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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How long is the round-trip commute in Minnehaha County?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:53 PM
Commute Time Burden in Minnehaha County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Minnehaha County spend about 33 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 139 hours, about 5.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 9% more time on the road than the South Dakota average of 15.3 minutes each way, a difference of 1.4 minutes.
Minnehaha County holds about 22.4% of South Dakota's population but accounts for roughly 24.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Minnehaha County would save about 56 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,728 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)
Minnehaha County
16.7 min
33.5 min
139 hrs/yr
$4,321
1,041
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.
On average, it takes
16.7
minutes to get to work in
Minnehaha County.
That's 25% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 77% 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 11.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Minnehaha County
Car:
85.0%
Worked at Home:
11.1%
Walked:
2.0%
Other:
0.8%
Public Transportation:
0.7%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Minnehaha County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Minnehaha 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
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
92.6%
3.5%
1.9%
0.3%
0.7%
0.1%
0.5%
0.4%
2010
92.1%
3.5%
2.1%
0.5%
0.8%
0.1%
0.5%
0.4%
2011
91.8%
3.5%
2.3%
0.7%
0.7%
0.1%
0.5%
0.5%
2012
91.6%
3.6%
2.3%
0.7%
0.7%
0.0%
0.5%
0.5%
2013
92.0%
3.2%
2.4%
0.9%
0.7%
0.0%
0.4%
0.4%
2014
92.1%
3.0%
2.2%
0.9%
0.9%
0.1%
0.3%
0.4%
2015
92.0%
3.2%
2.2%
0.9%
0.9%
0.0%
0.4%
0.3%
2016
92.3%
3.3%
2.2%
0.7%
0.9%
0.0%
0.3%
0.3%
2017
92.2%
3.4%
2.2%
0.7%
0.9%
0.0%
0.4%
0.2%
2018
92.2%
3.6%
2.1%
0.5%
0.9%
0.1%
0.5%
0.2%
2019
92.3%
3.7%
2.2%
0.4%
0.7%
0.0%
0.5%
0.2%
2020
91.4%
4.9%
2.3%
0.4%
0.6%
0.0%
0.3%
0.1%
2021
89.7%
6.8%
2.0%
0.5%
0.6%
0.0%
0.3%
0.1%
2022
88.0%
8.5%
2.0%
0.6%
0.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2023
86.4%
9.8%
2.0%
0.7%
0.7%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
85.0%
11.1%
2.0%
0.8%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 92.6% in 2009 to 85.0% in 2024, down 7.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Minnehaha County: its share of workers rose from 3.5% in 2009 to 11.1% in 2024, up 7.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Minnehaha County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Minnehaha County?
The bars show when commuters in Minnehaha 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.
Minnehaha CountySouth DakotaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Minnehaha County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 18.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 19.9% across South Dakota. Early starts are about as common as in South Dakota: 11.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.2% there. The morning rush looks much like South Dakota's: 56.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.7% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.4%) 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 Minnehaha 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 Minnehaha 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 Minnehaha 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
Minnehaha County
South Dakota
United States
2009
7:41 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:40 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
7:42 AM
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:42 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:39 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Minnehaha County were on the road by 7:37 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:41 AM). South Dakota followed the same path, with the typical start moving 5 minutes earlier. Commuters in Minnehaha County now leave at about the same time as the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Minnehaha County's commute time compare?
Metric
Minnehaha County
South Dakota
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.7 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
11.1%
9.7%
15.0%
Walked
2.0%
3.1%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.7%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Minnehaha County is 16.7 minutes, longer than the 15.3 minutes in South Dakota.
0.7% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.5% in South Dakota. 2.0% commute by walking, lower than the 3.1% in South Dakota.
Minnehaha County, SD Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Minnehaha County, SD is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 203,266 residents against a local median of 9,621. Minnehaha County, SD sits close to the middle of its own neighbourhood. No measure below is more than 15% off the local median, so the choice between these counties turns on things this data does not capture.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 5% above the local median at 11.1% against 10.5%. Minnehaha County, SD has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Minnehaha County, South Dakota.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Minnehaha County, South Dakota?
Commuters here spend an estimated 139 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,321 at a typical national wage. That's 9% more than the typical South Dakota commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Minnehaha County, South Dakota?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Minnehaha 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).