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Oak Ridge Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Oak Ridge, Tennessee: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 2:40 PM
Is the commute in Oak Ridge longer than the national average?
Map AI 9/24/26, 2:40 PM

Commute Time Burden in Oak Ridge: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Oak Ridge spend about 40 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 168 hours, about 7.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 10% less time on the road than the Tennessee average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 2.2 minutes.

Oak Ridge holds about 0.4% of Tennessee's population and accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Oak Ridge would save about 67 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,087 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)
Oak Ridge 20.2 min 40.4 min 168 hrs/yr $5,217 1,739
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.

Oak Ridge Commute Map

On average, it takes 20.2 minutes to get to work in Oak Ridge. That's 10% 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 17.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Oak Ridge

  • Car: 80.2%
  • Worked at Home: 17.0%
  • Walked: 1.8%
  • Other: 0.5%
  • Motorcycle: 0.2% unusually high
  • Bicycle: 0.2%
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Oak Ridge: 5.7 times more than the Tennessee average (0.2% vs 0.0%).

Public transit is unusually rare in Oak Ridge: 79.6 times less than the Tennessee average (0.0% vs 0.4%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Oak Ridge, versus 0.1% in Tennessee.

Commute Mode Trends in Oak Ridge, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Oak Ridge 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 Motorcycle Bicycle Public Transportation Taxi
2009 92.9% 3.4% 1.3% 1.4% 0.3% 0.1% 0.1% 0.5%
2010 92.0% 3.2% 1.5% 1.9% 0.2% 0.1% 0.2% 0.8%
2011 92.8% 3.1% 1.3% 1.5% 0.1% 0.1% 0.3% 0.8%
2012 93.4% 3.0% 0.9% 1.8% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.5%
2013 94.1% 2.8% 1.1% 1.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2%
2014 94.5% 2.6% 1.1% 1.0% 0.1% 0.3% 0.1% 0.2%
2015 94.8% 3.4% 0.8% 0.5% 0.1% 0.3% 0.0% 0.1%
2016 94.3% 3.9% 0.9% 0.5% 0.1% 0.2% 0.0% 0.2%
2017 94.0% 3.8% 1.0% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%
2018 93.2% 5.0% 0.9% 0.2% 0.3% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2%
2019 93.6% 4.6% 0.8% 0.2% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3%
2020 90.5% 7.8% 0.8% 0.1% 0.2% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2%
2021 87.7% 10.4% 0.7% 0.3% 0.5% 0.1% 0.3% 0.0%
2022 85.2% 12.5% 1.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0%
2023 83.0% 14.0% 2.2% 0.4% 0.3% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0%
2024 80.2% 17.0% 1.8% 0.5% 0.2% 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 peaked in 2015 at 94.8%. Overall it fell from 92.9% in 2009 to 80.2% in 2024, down 12.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Oak Ridge: its share of workers rose from 3.4% in 2009 to 17.0% in 2024, up 13.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 12.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Taking a taxi lost the most ground, falling from 0.5% to 0.0% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Oak Ridge

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Oak Ridge?

The bars show when commuters in Oak Ridge 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
7.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
4.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
5.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
10.2%
6:30-6:59 AM
8.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
13.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
15.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
8.0%
8:30-8:59 AM
5.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
7.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
2.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
5.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
6.2%

Oak Ridge Tennessee Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Oak Ridge is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.5% across Tennessee. Early starts are more common than in Tennessee: 16.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.7% there. The morning rush looks much like Tennessee's: 44.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.4% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.5%) 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 Oak Ridge, 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 Oak Ridge 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 Oak Ridge 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.

Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
Show typical departure times by year
Year Oak Ridge Tennessee United States
2009 7:44 AM 7:30 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:44 AM 7:30 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:43 AM 7:30 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:42 AM 7:30 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:44 AM 7:30 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:46 AM 7:30 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:46 AM 7:30 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:48 AM 7:30 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:47 AM 7:29 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:45 AM 7:29 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:39 AM 7:28 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:39 AM 7:29 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:39 AM 7:29 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:32 AM 7:29 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:34 AM 7:29 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:33 AM 7:29 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Oak Ridge were on the road by 7:33 AM, 11 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:44 AM). Across Tennessee, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Oak Ridge now leave 5 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Oak Ridge has moved 7 minutes earlier.

How does Oak Ridge's commute time compare?

Metric Oak Ridge Tennessee US Average
Avg. Commute Time 20.2 min 22.4 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 17.0% 12.9% 15.0%
Walked 1.8% 1.2% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.4% 3.2%

The average commute time in Oak Ridge is 20.2 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Tennessee.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.4% in Tennessee. 1.8% commute by walking, higher than the 1.2% in Tennessee.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Oak Ridge, TN Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Oak Ridge, TN compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Oak Ridge, TN 30,080 20.2 min #1/2 17.0% #2/2 7:33 AM #1/2
Farragut, TN 24,078 21.9 min 23.8% 7:56 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Oak Ridge, Tennessee?

Commuters here spend an estimated 168 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,217 at a typical national wage. That's 10% less than the typical Tennessee commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Oak Ridge, Tennessee?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 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 common is public transit use in Oak Ridge, Tennessee?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.4% in Tennessee, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

How much time do residents in Oak Ridge, Tennessee save by working from home?

About 17.0% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Oak Ridge would save about 67 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,087 at the same national wage assumption used above.