Middlesex County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Middlesex County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Middlesex County spend about 61 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 255 hours, about 10.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 32% more time on the road than the Virginia average of 23.2 minutes each way, a difference of 7.4 minutes.

Middlesex County holds about 0.1% of Virginia's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Middlesex County would save about 102 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,162 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)
Middlesex County	30.6 min	61.2 min	255 hrs/yr	$7,904	822
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 30.6 minutes to get to work in Middlesex County. That's 37% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 79% of counties in Virginia

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 22.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Middlesex County

• Car: 75.1%
• Worked at Home: 22.7%
• Other: 1.0%
• Walked: 0.7% unusually low
• Public Transportation: 0.6% unusually low
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
• Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Middlesex County, versus 0.1% in Virginia.

Walking is unusually rare in Middlesex County: 3.1 times less than the Virginia average (0.7% vs 2.1%).

Public transit is unusually rare in Middlesex County: 4.0 times less than the Virginia average (0.6% vs 2.3%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Middlesex County, versus 0.2% in Virginia.

Biking is essentially absent in Middlesex County, versus 0.3% in Virginia.

Few people walk or bike to work in Middlesex County: just 0.7%, 3.6 times below the Virginia average of 2.3%.

Commute Mode Trends in Middlesex County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Middlesex 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.

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

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Other	Walked	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	86.1%	8.1%	0.5%	4.5%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2010	87.5%	6.5%	0.8%	4.1%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2011	87.4%	5.7%	1.1%	5.1%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2012	84.6%	7.9%	1.3%	5.4%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2013	86.4%	7.6%	1.2%	4.1%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2014	86.2%	8.4%	1.8%	2.5%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2015	88.2%	7.7%	0.9%	2.4%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2016	85.1%	9.8%	1.7%	2.1%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.7%
2017	86.4%	9.4%	1.6%	1.7%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.6%
2018	88.3%	6.2%	2.0%	2.5%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2019	87.7%	7.2%	1.9%	2.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2020	84.9%	11.0%	1.3%	2.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%
2021	83.2%	13.8%	0.6%	2.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	80.0%	16.8%	1.6%	1.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	77.2%	20.3%	1.1%	0.7%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	75.1%	22.7%	1.0%	0.7%	0.6%	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 peaked in 2018 at 88.3%. Overall it fell from 86.1% in 2009 to 75.1% in 2024, down 11.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Middlesex County: its share of workers rose from 8.1% in 2009 to 22.7% in 2024, up 14.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 15.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 4.5% to 0.7% of workers (down 3.8 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Middlesex County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Middlesex County?

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

12:00-4:59 AM	12:00-4:59 AM Middlesex County6.9% Virginia5.0%	6.9%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Middlesex County4.4% Virginia4.0%	4.4%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Middlesex County4.7% Virginia5.0%	4.7%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Middlesex County12.2% Virginia8.7%	12.2%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Middlesex County8.6% Virginia9.2%	8.6%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Middlesex County22.3% Virginia14.2%	22.3%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Middlesex County8.0% Virginia12.1%	8.0%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Middlesex County11.5% Virginia12.1%	11.5%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Middlesex County4.0% Virginia6.4%	4.0%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Middlesex County6.3% Virginia7.2%	6.3%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Middlesex County4.7% Virginia3.0%	4.7%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Middlesex County0.8% Virginia1.4%	0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Middlesex County4.3% Virginia6.0%	4.3%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Middlesex County1.3% Virginia5.7%	1.3%

Middlesex County Virginia Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Middlesex County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 22.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.2% across Virginia. Early starts are more common than in Virginia: 16.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Virginia: 50.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.5% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (17.4%) 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 Middlesex 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 Middlesex 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 Middlesex County 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.

• Middlesex County
• Virginia
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Middlesex County	Virginia	United States
2009	7:40 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:40 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:41 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:36 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:29 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:26 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:31 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:37 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:28 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:29 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:27 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:22 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:18 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:20 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:20 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:18 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Middlesex County were on the road by 7:18 AM, 22 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:40 AM). That goes against the trend across Virginia, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Middlesex County now leave 20 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 Middlesex County has moved 9 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Middlesex County in the whole series.

How does Middlesex County's commute time compare?

Metric	Middlesex County	Virginia	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	30.6 min	23.2 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	06:00 AM – 06:29 AM	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	22.7%	18.3%	15.0%
Walked	0.7%	2.1%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.6%	2.3%	3.2%

The average commute time in Middlesex County is 30.6 minutes, longer than the 23.2 minutes in Virginia.

0.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.3% in Virginia. 0.7% commute by walking, lower than the 2.1% in Virginia.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau