Commuting in Kenosha County, Wisconsin: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:02 PM
Is the commute in Kenosha County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:02 PM
Commute Time Burden in Kenosha County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Kenosha County spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 175 hours, about 7.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 12% more time on the road than the Wisconsin average of 18.8 minutes each way, a difference of 2.2 minutes.
Kenosha County holds about 2.8% of Wisconsin's population but accounts for roughly 3.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Kenosha County would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,165 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)
Kenosha County
21.0 min
41.9 min
175 hrs/yr
$5,413
1,551
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.
On average, it takes
21.0
minutes to get to work in
Kenosha County.
That's 7% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 10.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Kenosha County
Car:
85.6%
Worked at Home:
10.7%
Walked:
1.5%
Other:
1.1%
Public Transportation:
0.7%
Taxi:
0.3%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Kenosha County: 3.5 times less than the Wisconsin average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Biking is unusually rare in Kenosha County: 5.0 times less than the Wisconsin average (0.1% vs 0.5%).
Commute Mode Trends in Kenosha County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Kenosha 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
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
92.9%
2.8%
1.6%
0.7%
1.4%
0.0%
0.2%
0.4%
2010
92.8%
2.9%
1.8%
0.6%
1.4%
0.0%
0.2%
0.4%
2011
92.4%
2.9%
2.0%
0.8%
1.4%
0.0%
0.2%
0.3%
2012
93.2%
2.7%
1.7%
0.7%
1.1%
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
2013
93.3%
2.4%
1.7%
0.7%
1.2%
0.1%
0.3%
0.3%
2014
93.0%
2.6%
2.0%
0.7%
1.1%
0.1%
0.3%
0.3%
2015
93.1%
2.6%
1.8%
0.8%
1.0%
0.1%
0.3%
0.2%
2016
93.3%
2.6%
1.8%
0.7%
0.9%
0.2%
0.3%
0.2%
2017
93.0%
2.9%
1.6%
0.8%
1.0%
0.2%
0.3%
0.2%
2018
93.1%
3.0%
1.5%
0.8%
1.1%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2019
93.0%
3.1%
1.5%
0.6%
1.2%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2020
92.2%
4.3%
1.3%
0.6%
1.1%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2021
90.0%
6.1%
1.4%
0.9%
1.2%
0.1%
0.3%
0.0%
2022
88.4%
7.6%
1.5%
1.0%
1.0%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
2023
86.8%
9.3%
1.6%
1.0%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
85.6%
10.7%
1.5%
1.1%
0.7%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2013 at 93.3%. Overall it fell from 92.9% in 2009 to 85.6% in 2024, down 7.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Kenosha County: its share of workers rose from 2.8% in 2009 to 10.7% in 2024, up 7.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.4% to 0.7% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Kenosha County
🛌Hitting SnoozeThe 2nd-biggest shift to later mornings among Wisconsin's 72 counties: the typical start is 8 minutes later than in 2009.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Kenosha County?
The bars show when commuters in Kenosha 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
12:00-4:59 AMKenosha County6.6%Wisconsin6.9%
6.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMKenosha County4.2%Wisconsin4.7%
4.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMKenosha County6.3%Wisconsin6.1%
6.3%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMKenosha County8.3%Wisconsin8.5%
8.3%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMKenosha County11.1%Wisconsin10.4%
11.1%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMKenosha County13.0%Wisconsin14.7%
13.0%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMKenosha County10.6%Wisconsin12.7%
10.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMKenosha County9.7%Wisconsin9.0%
9.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMKenosha County4.2%Wisconsin4.0%
4.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMKenosha County5.0%Wisconsin4.7%
5.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMKenosha County2.3%Wisconsin2.4%
2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMKenosha County1.0%Wisconsin1.3%
1.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMKenosha County9.8%Wisconsin8.1%
9.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMKenosha County7.9%Wisconsin6.4%
7.9%
Kenosha CountyWisconsinSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Kenosha County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.7% across Wisconsin. Early starts are about as common as in Wisconsin: 17.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.7% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Wisconsin: 44.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.8% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.0%) 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 Kenosha 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 Kenosha 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 Kenosha 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
Kenosha County
Wisconsin
United States
2009
7:23 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:24 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:26 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:27 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:25 AM
7:31 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:24 AM
7:30 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:24 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:25 AM
7:29 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:25 AM
7:29 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:24 AM
7:28 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:27 AM
7:27 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:26 AM
7:27 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:26 AM
7:27 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:27 AM
7:27 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:29 AM
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:31 AM
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Kenosha County were on the road by 7:31 AM, 8 minutes later than in 2009 (7:23 AM). That goes against the trend across Wisconsin, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Kenosha County now leave 7 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 Kenosha County has moved 5 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Kenosha County in the whole series.
How does Kenosha County's commute time compare?
Metric
Kenosha County
Wisconsin
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.0 min
18.8 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
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
10.7%
13.1%
15.0%
Walked
1.5%
2.6%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.7%
1.1%
3.2%
The average commute time in Kenosha County is 21.0 minutes, longer than the 18.8 minutes in Wisconsin.
0.7% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.1% in Wisconsin. 1.5% commute by walking, lower than the 2.6% in Wisconsin.
Kenosha County, WI Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Kenosha County, WI is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 168,436 residents against a local median of 714,026. The measure that sets Kenosha County, WI apart most is work from home: 10.7%, 36% below the local median of 16.8%.
The counties themselves spread 9.6% on work from home, so Kenosha County, WI sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Kenosha County, WI has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Kenosha County, Wisconsin.
Is living in Kenosha County, Wisconsin good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 175 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,413 at a typical national wage. That's 12% more than the typical Wisconsin commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Kenosha County, Wisconsin?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).