Eau Claire County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 5:00 PM

How long is the round-trip commute in Eau Claire County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 5:00 PM

Commute Time Burden in Eau Claire County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Eau Claire County spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 127 hours, about 5.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 18% less time on the road than the Wisconsin average of 18.8 minutes each way, a difference of 3.5 minutes.

Eau Claire County holds about 1.8% of Wisconsin's population but accounts for roughly 1.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Eau Claire County would save about 51 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,580 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)
Eau Claire County	15.3 min	30.6 min	127 hrs/yr	$3,951	646
Wisconsin	18.8 min	37.5 min	156 hrs/yr	$4,846	811
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: Wisconsin Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Wisconsin

Ashland County (12.8 min)
Door County (13.6 min)
Eau Claire County (15.3 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Wisconsin

Oconto County (26.4 min)
St. Croix County (25.3 min)
Waushara County (23.9 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Eau Claire County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 15.3 minutes to get to work in Eau Claire County. That's 32% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the top 3 fastest counties in Wisconsin

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 12.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Eau Claire County

Commute Mode Trends in Eau Claire County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Eau Claire 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	Other	Bicycle	Motorcycle	Taxi
2009	87.9%	3.9%	5.1%	1.2%	0.9%	0.8%	0.3%	0.0%
2010	88.0%	3.5%	5.3%	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%	0.4%	0.0%
2011	88.2%	4.2%	4.8%	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%	0.2%	0.1%
2012	88.2%	4.1%	4.7%	0.9%	0.8%	0.8%	0.4%	0.1%
2013	88.5%	4.4%	4.2%	1.0%	0.6%	0.9%	0.3%	0.1%
2014	87.8%	5.0%	4.4%	1.0%	0.5%	0.8%	0.4%	0.1%
2015	87.5%	5.7%	4.0%	1.1%	0.5%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%
2016	87.8%	5.6%	4.0%	1.0%	0.5%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2017	88.1%	6.0%	3.8%	0.9%	0.5%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%
2018	88.2%	6.2%	3.7%	0.7%	0.5%	0.7%	0.1%	0.0%
2019	88.3%	6.2%	3.4%	0.6%	0.6%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	87.4%	7.5%	2.9%	0.8%	0.6%	0.7%	0.1%	0.0%
2021	86.0%	9.4%	2.7%	0.7%	0.5%	0.7%	0.1%	0.0%
2022	84.9%	10.1%	2.7%	1.0%	0.4%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2023	83.4%	11.6%	2.8%	0.8%	0.5%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%
2024	82.3%	12.7%	2.6%	1.1%	0.6%	0.4%	0.3%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2013 at 88.5%. Overall it fell from 87.9% in 2009 to 82.3% in 2024, down 5.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Eau Claire County: its share of workers rose from 3.9% in 2009 to 12.7% in 2024, up 8.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.1% to 2.6% of workers (down 2.5 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2013 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Eau Claire County

Night OwlThe 2nd-latest start among Wisconsin's 72 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:43 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Eau Claire County?

The bars show when commuters in Eau Claire 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 Wisconsin for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		6.5%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.4%
5:30-5:59 AM		5.1%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.5%
6:30-6:59 AM		9.5%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.9%
7:30-7:59 AM		13.8%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.2%
8:30-8:59 AM		6.2%
9:00-9:59 AM		5.0%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.2%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.9%
12:00-3:59 PM		9.5%
4:00-11:59 PM		7.3%

Eau Claire County Wisconsin Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Eau Claire County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 13.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.7% across Wisconsin. Early starts are less common than in Wisconsin: 15.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.7% there. The morning rush looks much like Wisconsin's: 45.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.8% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.9%) 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 Eau Claire 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 Eau Claire 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 Eau Claire County next to Wisconsin 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	Eau Claire County	Wisconsin	United States
2009	7:47 AM	7:30 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:45 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:45 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:45 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:47 AM	7:31 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:47 AM	7:30 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:47 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:46 AM	7:29 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:47 AM	7:29 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:45 AM	7:28 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:45 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:45 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:48 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:46 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:43 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:43 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Eau Claire County were on the road by 7:43 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:47 AM). Wisconsin followed the same path, with the typical start moving 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Eau Claire County now leave 5 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Eau Claire County's commute time compare?

Metric	Eau Claire County	Wisconsin	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	15.3 min	18.8 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	12.7%	13.1%	15.0%
Walked	2.6%	2.6%	2.4%
Public Transit	1.1%	1.1%	3.2%

The average commute time in Eau Claire County is 15.3 minutes, shorter than the 18.8 minutes in Wisconsin.

The share of commuters using public transit is about the same as Wisconsin. The share of commuters using walking is about the same as Wisconsin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Eau Claire County, WI Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Eau Claire County, WI is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 107,100 residents against a local median of 28,321. The measure that sets Eau Claire County, WI apart most is one-way commute: 15.3 min, 28% below the local median of 21.3 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.

Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 12.7% against a local median of 10.1%, 27% above it. The counties themselves spread 4.2 min on one-way commute, so Eau Claire County, WI sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Eau Claire County, WI has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Eau Claire County, WI	107,100	15.3 min #1/6	12.7% #1/6	7:43 AM #6/6
Chippewa County, WI	66,799	20.2 min	11.7%	7:16 AM
Trempealeau County, WI	28,321	21.9 min	10.2%	7:07 AM
Buffalo County, WI	13,393	22.6 min	10.0%	7:08 AM
Jackson County, WI	20,977	21.3 min	7.5%	7:09 AM
Dunn County, WI	45,527	18.4 min	10.1%	7:24 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin?

Commuters here spend an estimated 127 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,951 at a typical national wage. That's 18% less than the typical Wisconsin commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. 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 Wisconsin?

Among counties in Wisconsin, the shortest average commutes are in Ashland County (12.8 min), Door County (13.6 min), Eau Claire County (15.3 min). The longest are in Oconto County (26.4 min), St. Croix County (25.3 min), Waushara County (23.9 min).