Pierce County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Pierce County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Pierce County spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 197 hours, about 8.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 26% more time on the road than the Wisconsin average of 18.8 minutes each way, a difference of 4.9 minutes.

Pierce County holds about 0.7% of Wisconsin's population but accounts for roughly 0.9% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Pierce County would save about 79 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,449 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)
Pierce County	23.7 min	47.4 min	197 hrs/yr	$6,122	461
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

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 23.7 minutes to get to work in Pierce County. That's 6% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the 5 slowest counties in Wisconsin

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 12.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Pierce County

• Car: 81.6%
• Worked at Home: 12.8%
• Walked: 4.5%
• Other: 1.1%
• Bicycle: 0.1% unusually low
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Pierce County: 7.9 times less than the Wisconsin average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Public transit is unusually rare in Pierce County: 40.7 times less than the Wisconsin average (0.0% vs 1.1%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Pierce County, versus 0.2% in Wisconsin.

Biking is unusually rare in Pierce County: 4.2 times less than the Wisconsin average (0.1% vs 0.5%).

Commute Mode Trends in Pierce County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Pierce 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
• Walked
• Other
• Bicycle
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Motorcycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Other	Bicycle	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	87.6%	5.4%	5.1%	0.4%	0.7%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2010	87.2%	5.9%	5.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2011	87.5%	5.7%	5.5%	0.3%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
2012	86.6%	5.6%	6.2%	0.4%	0.8%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%
2013	86.9%	5.1%	6.3%	0.4%	0.9%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
2014	86.9%	5.1%	6.5%	0.4%	0.8%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2015	87.9%	5.1%	5.5%	0.4%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
2016	88.2%	5.0%	5.2%	0.4%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
2017	89.3%	4.8%	4.7%	0.3%	0.6%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2018	89.3%	4.6%	5.0%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2019	89.3%	4.9%	4.8%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
2020	88.6%	5.8%	4.7%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	85.4%	9.1%	4.5%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	84.3%	10.3%	4.5%	0.8%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	82.5%	11.7%	4.8%	0.8%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	81.6%	12.8%	4.5%	1.1%	0.1%	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 2017 at 89.3%. Overall it fell from 87.6% in 2009 to 81.6% in 2024, down 6.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Pierce County: its share of workers rose from 5.4% in 2009 to 12.8% in 2024, up 7.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Biking lost the most ground, falling from 0.7% to 0.1% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).

Walking peaked at 6.5% in 2014 and has since fallen back to 4.5%.

Commute Start Times in Pierce County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Pierce County?

The bars show when commuters in Pierce 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 AM Pierce County8.3% Wisconsin6.9%	8.3%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Pierce County6.0% Wisconsin4.7%	6.0%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Pierce County6.3% Wisconsin6.1%	6.3%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Pierce County10.8% Wisconsin8.5%	10.8%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Pierce County12.2% Wisconsin10.4%	12.2%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Pierce County13.4% Wisconsin14.7%	13.4%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Pierce County11.9% Wisconsin12.7%	11.9%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Pierce County6.4% Wisconsin9.0%	6.4%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Pierce County4.1% Wisconsin4.0%	4.1%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Pierce County3.5% Wisconsin4.7%	3.5%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Pierce County1.5% Wisconsin2.4%	1.5%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Pierce County1.3% Wisconsin1.3%	1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Pierce County8.2% Wisconsin8.1%	8.2%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Pierce County6.2% Wisconsin6.4%	6.2%

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

The busiest time to head out in Pierce County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.7% across Wisconsin. Early starts are more common than in Wisconsin: 20.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.7% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Wisconsin: 43.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.8% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (20.6%) 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 Pierce 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 Pierce 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 Pierce 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.

• Pierce County
• Wisconsin
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Pierce County	Wisconsin	United States
2009	7:28 AM	7:30 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:24 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:25 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:22 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:20 AM	7:31 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:23 AM	7:30 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:24 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:22 AM	7:29 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:20 AM	7:29 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:19 AM	7:28 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:15 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:12 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:13 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:11 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:14 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:14 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Pierce County were on the road by 7:14 AM, 13 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:28 AM). The shift is sharper than across Wisconsin, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Pierce County now leave 23 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Pierce County's commute time compare?

Metric	Pierce County	Wisconsin	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	23.7 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	12.8%	13.1%	15.0%
Walked	4.5%	2.6%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	1.1%	3.2%

The average commute time in Pierce County is 23.7 minutes, longer than the 18.8 minutes in Wisconsin.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.1% in Wisconsin. 4.5% commute by walking, higher than the 2.6% in Wisconsin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau