Johnson City Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Johnson City, Tennessee: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Johnson City: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Johnson City spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 129 hours, about 5.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 31% less time on the road than the Tennessee average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 7.0 minutes.
Johnson City holds about 0.9% of Tennessee's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Johnson City would save about 51 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,595 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson City | 15.4 min | 30.9 min | 129 hrs/yr | $3,989 | 2,267 |
| Tennessee | 22.4 min | 44.8 min | 187 hrs/yr | $5,785 | 1,225 |
| 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.
Johnson City Commute Map
On average, it takes 15.4 minutes to get to work in Johnson City. That's 31% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 13.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Johnson City
- Car: 82.4%
- Worked at Home: 13.1%
- Walked: 2.2%
- Other: 1.4%
- Public Transportation: 0.5%
- Taxi: 0.3%
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
- Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Johnson City: 124.0 times less than the Tennessee average (0.0% vs 0.0%).
Biking is essentially absent in Johnson City, versus 0.1% in Tennessee.
Commute Mode Trends in Johnson City, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Johnson City 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Worked at Home | Walked | Other | Public Transportation | Taxi | Motorcycle | Bicycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 92.9% | 3.5% | 2.1% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2010 | 93.1% | 3.3% | 2.2% | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2011 | 92.6% | 3.6% | 2.0% | 1.2% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2012 | 92.0% | 3.6% | 2.3% | 1.3% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| 2013 | 92.3% | 3.1% | 2.2% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| 2014 | 91.7% | 3.3% | 2.2% | 1.6% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| 2015 | 91.5% | 3.3% | 1.9% | 2.0% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| 2016 | 91.4% | 3.1% | 1.9% | 2.2% | 0.9% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| 2017 | 91.5% | 2.9% | 1.8% | 2.3% | 1.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| 2018 | 90.9% | 3.5% | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2019 | 91.6% | 3.8% | 1.4% | 2.0% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2020 | 89.4% | 5.6% | 2.2% | 1.6% | 1.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2021 | 88.2% | 7.2% | 2.5% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2022 | 87.2% | 8.8% | 2.2% | 1.1% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2023 | 84.9% | 11.1% | 2.3% | 1.0% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2024 | 82.4% | 13.1% | 2.2% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 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 2010 at 93.1%. Overall it fell from 92.9% in 2009 to 82.4% in 2024, down 10.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Johnson City: its share of workers rose from 3.5% in 2009 to 13.1% in 2024, up 9.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Johnson City
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Johnson City?
The bars show when commuters in Johnson City 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 Tennessee for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
| 12:00-4:59 AM |
12:00-4:59 AM
Johnson City2.7%
Tennessee5.8%
|
2.7% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Johnson City2.4%
Tennessee4.4%
|
2.4% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Johnson City4.7%
Tennessee5.5%
|
4.7% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Johnson City5.8%
Tennessee9.9%
|
5.8% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Johnson City8.6%
Tennessee10.1%
|
8.6% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Johnson City14.1%
Tennessee14.7%
|
14.1% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Johnson City13.1%
Tennessee11.5%
|
13.1% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Johnson City12.2%
Tennessee10.1%
|
12.2% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Johnson City3.9%
Tennessee4.5%
|
3.9% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Johnson City6.5%
Tennessee5.7%
|
6.5% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Johnson City4.4%
Tennessee2.5%
|
4.4% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Johnson City1.5%
Tennessee1.2%
|
1.5% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Johnson City11.4%
Tennessee6.8%
|
11.4% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Johnson City8.6%
Tennessee7.4%
|
8.6% |
Johnson City Tennessee Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Johnson City is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.7% across Tennessee. Early starts are less common than in Tennessee: 9.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.7% there. The morning rush looks much like Tennessee's: 48.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.4% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (32.5%) 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 Johnson City, 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 Johnson City 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 Johnson City next to Tennessee 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | Johnson City | Tennessee | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:59 AM | 7:30 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 8:03 AM | 7:30 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 8:07 AM | 7:30 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 8:05 AM | 7:30 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 8:04 AM | 7:30 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 8:05 AM | 7:30 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 8:04 AM | 7:30 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 8:02 AM | 7:30 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 8:01 AM | 7:29 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:59 AM | 7:29 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:57 AM | 7:28 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:55 AM | 7:29 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:53 AM | 7:29 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:55 AM | 7:29 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:56 AM | 7:29 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:57 AM | 7:29 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Johnson City were on the road by 7:57 AM, 2 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:59 AM). Across Tennessee, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Johnson City now leave 19 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Johnson City's commute time compare?
| Metric | Johnson City | Tennessee | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 15.4 min | 22.4 min | 22.4 min |
| Departure Window | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM |
| Secondary Departure Window | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 13.1% | 12.9% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 2.2% | 1.2% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 0.5% | 0.4% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Johnson City is 15.4 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Tennessee.
0.5% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.4% in Tennessee. 2.2% commute by walking, higher than the 1.2% in Tennessee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Johnson City, Tennessee.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Johnson City, Tennessee?
Commuters here spend an estimated 129 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,989 at a typical national wage. That's 31% less than the typical Tennessee commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Johnson City, Tennessee?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Johnson City, Tennessee. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.