Commuting in Wharton County, Texas: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:04 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Wharton County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:04 PM
Commute Time Burden in Wharton County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Wharton County spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 155 hours, about 6.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 18% less time on the road than the Texas average of 22.8 minutes each way, a difference of 4.1 minutes.
Wharton County holds about 0.1% of Texas's population and accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Wharton County would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,928 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)
Wharton County
18.7 min
37.3 min
155 hrs/yr
$4,819
545
Texas
22.8 min
45.6 min
190 hrs/yr
$5,888
1,441
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
18.7
minutes to get to work in
Wharton County.
That's 17% 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 5.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Wharton County
Car:
91.5%
Worked at Home:
5.2%
Walked:
1.8%
Bicycle:
1.0%unusually high
Other:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Wharton County: 12.6 times less than the Texas average (0.1% vs 0.9%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Wharton County, versus 0.2% in Texas.
Biking is unusually common in Wharton County: 4.9 times more than the Texas average (1.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Wharton County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Wharton 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
Bicycle
Other
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
95.2%
2.5%
0.8%
0.2%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2010
95.5%
2.2%
0.9%
0.0%
1.0%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2011
93.2%
4.0%
0.9%
0.1%
1.2%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
2012
93.2%
3.4%
1.5%
0.2%
0.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
2013
93.3%
4.5%
0.9%
0.2%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2014
92.8%
4.9%
1.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2015
93.7%
3.9%
1.3%
0.2%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2016
95.6%
2.5%
1.1%
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2017
96.1%
2.7%
0.5%
0.1%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
96.8%
1.9%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
96.5%
2.0%
0.8%
0.0%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
96.3%
1.6%
1.2%
0.0%
0.8%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
94.5%
2.5%
1.9%
0.1%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
92.5%
3.6%
2.2%
0.2%
1.5%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
90.1%
5.6%
2.0%
0.3%
1.8%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
91.5%
5.2%
1.8%
1.0%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2018 at 96.8% and lowest in 2023 at 90.1%. Overall it fell from 95.2% in 2009 to 91.5% in 2024, down 3.7 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.
Working from home gained the most ground in Wharton County: its share of workers rose from 2.5% in 2009 to 5.2% in 2024, up 2.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Biking overtook public transit to become the 4th most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Wharton County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Wharton County?
The bars show when commuters in Wharton 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 Texas for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMWharton County7.0%Texas5.5%
7.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMWharton County7.5%Texas4.4%
7.5%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMWharton County3.6%Texas5.1%
3.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMWharton County11.4%Texas9.3%
11.4%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMWharton County11.4%Texas9.3%
11.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMWharton County16.2%Texas15.3%
16.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMWharton County12.4%Texas11.8%
12.4%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMWharton County9.3%Texas11.5%
9.3%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMWharton County2.9%Texas4.8%
2.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMWharton County6.1%Texas6.7%
6.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMWharton County3.4%Texas3.1%
3.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMWharton County0.4%Texas1.3%
0.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMWharton County3.1%Texas5.8%
3.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMWharton County5.4%Texas6.2%
5.4%
Wharton CountyTexasSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Wharton County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 16.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Texas. Early starts are more common than in Texas: 18.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Texas's: 49.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.9% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (18.4%) 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 Wharton 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 Wharton 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 Wharton County next to Texas 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
Wharton County
Texas
United States
2009
7:20 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:19 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:20 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:18 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:19 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:21 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:18 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:17 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:18 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:18 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:19 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:18 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:21 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:21 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:18 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:17 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Wharton County were on the road by 7:17 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:20 AM). That goes against the trend across Texas, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Wharton County now leave 21 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 Wharton County has moved 2 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Wharton County in the whole series.
How does Wharton County's commute time compare?
Metric
Wharton County
Texas
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.7 min
22.8 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
5.2%
14.4%
15.0%
Walked
1.8%
1.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Wharton County is 18.7 minutes, shorter than the 22.8 minutes in Texas.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Texas. 1.8% commute by walking, higher than the 1.5% in Texas.
Wharton County, TX Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Wharton County, TX is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 41,794 residents against a local median of 31,170. Where Wharton County, TX breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 33% below the local median of 7.8% at 5.2%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 18.7 min against a local median of 23.3 min, 20% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 20% below the local median it puts Wharton County, TX at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 12.7% on work from home, so Wharton County, TX sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Wharton County, TX has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Wharton County, Texas.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Wharton County, Texas?
Commuters here spend an estimated 155 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,819 at a typical national wage. That's 18% less than the typical Texas commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Wharton County, Texas?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Wharton County, Texas. 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.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Wharton County, Texas?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 0.9% in Texas, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Texas?
Among counties in Texas, the shortest average commutes are in Loving County (3.3 min), King County (5.8 min), Terrell County (6.5 min). The longest are in Bandera County (38.6 min), San Jacinto County (35.9 min), Liberty County (33.6 min).