Covington city Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Covington city: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Covington city spend about 24 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 101 hours, about 4.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 48% less time on the road than the Virginia average of 23.2 minutes each way, a difference of 11.0 minutes.

Covington city holds about 0.1% of Virginia's population but accounts for roughly 0.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Covington city would save about 41 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,257 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)
Covington city	12.2 min	24.3 min	101 hrs/yr	$3,142	971
Virginia	23.2 min	46.3 min	193 hrs/yr	$5,986	1,531
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: Virginia Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 12.2 minutes to get to work in Covington city. That's 46% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the top 3 fastest counties in Virginia

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 08:30 AM – 08:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 7.3% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Covington city

• Car: 91.0% unusually high
• Worked at Home: 7.3%
• Walked: 1.3%
• Motorcycle: 0.3% unusually high
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
• Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Other: < 0.1%

Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Covington city: 3.0 times more than the Virginia average (0.3% vs 0.1%).

Driving is 20% more common in Covington city than the Virginia average (91.0% vs 75.6%).

Public transit is essentially absent in Covington city, versus 2.3% in Virginia.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Covington city, versus 0.2% in Virginia.

Biking is essentially absent in Covington city, versus 0.3% in Virginia.

Commute Mode Trends in Covington city, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Covington 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.

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

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Motorcycle	Public Transportation	Taxi	Bicycle	Other
2009	91.3%	1.5%	7.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2010	90.8%	5.3%	3.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2011	91.0%	3.8%	4.6%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2012	94.1%	3.1%	2.1%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2013	93.5%	2.6%	2.6%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%
2014	93.4%	2.3%	3.3%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.7%
2015	97.4%	0.6%	1.1%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2016	94.4%	2.7%	1.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	1.4%
2017	94.0%	2.5%	1.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	1.7%
2018	94.1%	3.0%	2.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2019	94.9%	2.4%	2.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.7%
2020	97.1%	0.5%	1.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%
2021	98.0%	0.9%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	94.7%	3.7%	1.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	90.1%	8.6%	1.1%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	91.0%	7.3%	1.3%	0.3%	0.0%	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 98.0% and lowest in 2023 at 90.1%. Overall it held roughly steady, at 91.3% in 2009 and 91.0% in 2024. It has risen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Covington city: its share of workers rose from 1.5% in 2009 to 7.3% in 2024, up 5.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 7.2% to 1.3% of workers (down 5.9 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2022 release and has stayed ahead since.

Working from home peaked at 8.6% in 2023 and has since fallen back to 7.3%.

Commute Start Times in Covington city

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Covington city?

The bars show when commuters in Covington 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 Virginia for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM	12:00-4:59 AM Covington city6.3% Virginia5.0%	6.3%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Covington city3.1% Virginia4.0%	3.1%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Covington city3.7% Virginia5.0%	3.7%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Covington city6.7% Virginia8.7%	6.7%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Covington city10.2% Virginia9.2%	10.2%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Covington city5.4% Virginia14.2%	5.4%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Covington city18.8% Virginia12.1%	18.8%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Covington city10.7% Virginia12.1%	10.7%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Covington city11.8% Virginia6.4%	11.8%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Covington city5.3% Virginia7.2%	5.3%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Covington city1.4% Virginia3.0%	1.4%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Covington city0.2% Virginia1.4%	0.2%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Covington city6.7% Virginia6.0%	6.7%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Covington city9.9% Virginia5.7%	9.9%

Covington city Virginia Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Covington city is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 18.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.1% across Virginia. Early starts are less common than in Virginia: 13.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Virginia: 45.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.5% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.5%) 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 Covington 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 Covington 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 Covington city next to Virginia 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.

• Covington city
• Virginia
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Covington city	Virginia	United States
2009	7:45 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:43 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:46 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:41 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:40 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:39 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:36 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:41 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:41 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:43 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:55 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:57 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:54 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:56 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:56 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:54 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Covington city were on the road by 7:54 AM, 9 minutes later than in 2009 (7:45 AM). The shift is sharper than across Virginia, where the typical start moved 3 minutes later. Commuters in Covington city now leave 16 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 Covington city has moved 2 minutes earlier.

How does Covington city's commute time compare?

Metric	Covington city	Virginia	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	12.2 min	23.2 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	08:30 AM – 08:59 AM	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	7.3%	18.3%	15.0%
Walked	1.3%	2.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	2.3%	3.2%

The average commute time in Covington city is 12.2 minutes, shorter than the 23.2 minutes in Virginia.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.3% in Virginia. 1.3% commute by walking, lower than the 2.1% in Virginia.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau