Commuting in Chittenden County, Vermont: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:33 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Chittenden County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:33 PM
Commute Time Burden in Chittenden County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Chittenden County spend about 38 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 158 hours, about 6.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 8% less time on the road than the Vermont average of 20.5 minutes each way, a difference of 1.5 minutes.
Chittenden County holds about 26.2% of Vermont's population but accounts for roughly 24.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Chittenden County would save about 63 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,959 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)
Chittenden County
19.0 min
37.9 min
158 hrs/yr
$4,897
1,422
Vermont
20.5 min
41.0 min
171 hrs/yr
$5,295
718
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
19.0
minutes to get to work in
Chittenden County.
That's 15% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the top 5 fastest counties in Vermont
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 19.8% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Chittenden County
Car:
69.7%
Worked at Home:
19.8%
Walked:
6.3%
Public Transportation:
1.8%
Bicycle:
1.7%
Other:
0.6%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Chittenden County, versus 0.0% in Vermont.
Commute Mode Trends in Chittenden County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Chittenden 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
Public Transportation
Bicycle
Other
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
82.6%
4.8%
8.3%
2.0%
1.5%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2010
81.6%
5.2%
8.5%
2.3%
1.5%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2011
81.6%
5.7%
7.7%
2.5%
1.8%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2012
81.1%
6.4%
7.8%
2.4%
1.9%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2013
80.9%
6.7%
7.4%
2.5%
2.0%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2014
80.9%
6.5%
7.5%
2.5%
2.1%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2015
81.5%
5.9%
7.5%
2.4%
2.0%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2016
81.2%
5.8%
7.7%
2.5%
2.1%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2017
81.3%
5.4%
7.8%
2.6%
1.9%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2018
81.4%
5.3%
7.8%
2.6%
2.0%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
80.9%
5.5%
7.8%
2.8%
2.0%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
77.8%
9.2%
7.2%
2.7%
2.2%
0.7%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
74.8%
13.0%
7.1%
2.2%
2.1%
0.6%
0.0%
0.1%
2022
73.8%
15.1%
6.5%
1.9%
2.1%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
71.9%
17.7%
5.9%
2.0%
1.8%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
69.7%
19.8%
6.3%
1.8%
1.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 82.6% in 2009 to 69.7% in 2024, down 12.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Chittenden County: its share of workers rose from 4.8% in 2009 to 19.8% in 2024, up 15.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 8.3% to 6.3% of workers (down 2.0 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Chittenden County
🦉Night OwlThe latest start among Vermont's 14 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:54 AM.
😴Sleeping InThe highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among Vermont's 14 counties: 25.7% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Chittenden County?
The bars show when commuters in Chittenden 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 Vermont for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMChittenden County2.0%Vermont3.9%
2.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMChittenden County1.7%Vermont2.7%
1.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMChittenden County3.4%Vermont4.3%
3.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMChittenden County5.8%Vermont8.0%
5.8%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMChittenden County9.2%Vermont10.9%
9.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMChittenden County14.3%Vermont16.4%
14.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMChittenden County17.0%Vermont15.5%
17.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMChittenden County13.8%Vermont11.8%
13.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMChittenden County7.2%Vermont5.6%
7.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMChittenden County7.2%Vermont5.7%
7.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMChittenden County3.5%Vermont2.7%
3.5%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMChittenden County1.7%Vermont1.4%
1.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMChittenden County7.4%Vermont6.3%
7.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMChittenden County5.9%Vermont4.8%
5.9%
Chittenden CountyVermontSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Chittenden County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 17.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.5% across Vermont. Early starts are less common than in Vermont: 7.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.8% there. The morning rush looks much like Vermont's: 54.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 54.7% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.7%) 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 Chittenden 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 Chittenden 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 Chittenden County next to Vermont 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
Chittenden County
Vermont
United States
2009
7:49 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:49 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:49 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:51 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:51 AM
7:37 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:50 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:50 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:51 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:51 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:51 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:50 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:50 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:51 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:51 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:52 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:54 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Chittenden County were on the road by 7:54 AM, 5 minutes later than in 2009 (7:49 AM). The shift is sharper than across Vermont, where the typical start moved 2 minutes later. Commuters in Chittenden County 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 Chittenden County has moved 4 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Chittenden County in the whole series.
How does Chittenden County's commute time compare?
Metric
Chittenden County
Vermont
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
19.0 min
20.5 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
19.8%
16.9%
15.0%
Walked
6.3%
4.4%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.8%
0.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Chittenden County is 19.0 minutes, shorter than the 20.5 minutes in Vermont.
1.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.8% in Vermont. 6.3% commute by walking, higher than the 4.4% in Vermont.
Chittenden County, VT Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Chittenden County, VT is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 169,680 residents against a local median of 37,599. Nothing separates Chittenden County, VT sharply from the counties around it. Each measure below lands within 15% of the local median, close enough that the differences are within what survey sampling alone would produce.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 14% above the local median at 19.8% against 17.4%. Chittenden County, VT has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Chittenden County, Vermont.
Is commuting expensive in Chittenden County, Vermont?
Commuters here spend an estimated 158 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,897 at a typical national wage. That's 8% less than the typical Vermont commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Chittenden County, Vermont?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Chittenden County, Vermont. 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 do commute times compare across counties in Vermont?
Among counties in Vermont, the shortest average commutes are in Bennington County (16.5 min), Windham County (18.1 min), Rutland County (18.4 min). The longest are in Grand Isle County (32.0 min), Franklin County (26.5 min), Essex County (23.5 min).