South Burlington Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 4:26 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in South Burlington?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:26 PM

Commute Time Burden in South Burlington: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in South Burlington spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 132 hours, about 5.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 23% less time on the road than the Vermont average of 20.5 minutes each way, a difference of 4.7 minutes.

South Burlington holds about 3.2% of Vermont's population but accounts for roughly 2.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in South Burlington would save about 53 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,635 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)
South Burlington	15.8 min	31.6 min	132 hrs/yr	$4,087	2,473
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.

South Burlington Commute Map

On average, it takes 15.8 minutes to get to work in South Burlington. That's 29% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 19.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in South Burlington

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in South Burlington, versus 0.1% in Vermont.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in South Burlington, versus 0.0% in Vermont.

Commute Mode Trends in South Burlington, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in South Burlington 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	Bicycle	Walked	Public Transportation	Other	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	81.8%	5.5%	2.4%	6.9%	2.4%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%
2010	84.4%	5.4%	1.5%	4.7%	3.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.3%
2011	84.4%	6.2%	1.4%	4.0%	3.2%	0.7%	0.0%	0.1%
2012	86.2%	7.0%	1.4%	2.6%	2.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2013	86.6%	6.7%	1.4%	3.2%	2.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2014	87.2%	5.9%	1.5%	3.4%	1.9%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2015	89.3%	4.9%	1.8%	2.7%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2016	89.2%	4.9%	1.8%	2.8%	0.6%	0.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2017	88.1%	4.8%	1.8%	3.6%	1.0%	0.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2018	87.3%	5.6%	1.5%	3.8%	1.1%	0.3%	0.4%	0.1%
2019	85.6%	6.1%	1.6%	3.4%	2.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.1%
2020	83.9%	7.2%	2.2%	3.5%	2.3%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%
2021	79.0%	13.3%	2.0%	2.7%	2.5%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	77.5%	15.5%	2.2%	2.7%	1.4%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	77.9%	16.3%	2.0%	1.4%	1.6%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	74.6%	19.6%	2.1%	1.6%	1.1%	1.0%	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 2015 at 89.3%. Overall it fell from 81.8% in 2009 to 74.6% in 2024, down 7.2 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in South Burlington: its share of workers rose from 5.5% in 2009 to 19.6% in 2024, up 14.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 13.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 6.9% to 1.6% of workers (down 5.3 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2010 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in South Burlington

What Time Do People Leave for Work in South Burlington?

The bars show when commuters in South Burlington 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		3.1%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.2%
5:30-5:59 AM		1.6%
6:00-6:29 AM		4.8%
6:30-6:59 AM		6.0%
7:00-7:29 AM		10.1%
7:30-7:59 AM		16.9%
8:00-8:29 AM		24.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		7.9%
9:00-9:59 AM		8.1%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.0%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.8%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.2%

South Burlington Vermont Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in South Burlington is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 24.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.8% across Vermont. Early starts are less common than in Vermont: 6.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.8% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Vermont: 58.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 54.7% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.4%) 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 South Burlington, 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 South Burlington 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 South Burlington 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	South Burlington	Vermont	United States
2009	7:56 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:52 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:50 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:50 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:53 AM	7:37 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:51 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:45 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:44 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:44 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:53 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:54 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:01 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:03 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:05 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:04 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:06 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in South Burlington were on the road by 8:06 AM, 11 minutes later than in 2009 (7:56 AM). The shift is sharper than across Vermont, where the typical start moved 2 minutes later. Commuters in South Burlington now leave 28 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 South Burlington has moved 13 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for South Burlington in the whole series.

How does South Burlington's commute time compare?

Metric	South Burlington	Vermont	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	15.8 min	20.5 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	08:00 AM – 08:29 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	19.6%	16.9%	15.0%
Walked	1.6%	4.4%	2.4%
Public Transit	1.1%	0.8%	3.2%

The average commute time in South Burlington is 15.8 minutes, shorter than the 20.5 minutes in Vermont.

1.1% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.8% in Vermont. 1.6% commute by walking, lower than the 4.4% in Vermont.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

South Burlington, VT Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How South Burlington, VT compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
South Burlington, VT	20,756	15.8 min #1/2	19.6% #1/2	8:06 AM #1/2
Burlington, VT	44,615	16.1 min	19.0%	8:24 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in South Burlington, Vermont.

Is living in South Burlington, Vermont good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 132 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,087 at a typical national wage. That's 23% less than the typical Vermont commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in South Burlington, Vermont?

Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in South Burlington, Vermont. 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.