Commuting in Jefferson County, West Virginia: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:13 PM
Is the commute in Jefferson County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:13 PM
Commute Time Burden in Jefferson County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Jefferson County spend about 64 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 267 hours, about 11.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 48% more time on the road than the West Virginia average of 21.6 minutes each way, a difference of 10.4 minutes.
Jefferson County holds about 3.3% of West Virginia's population but accounts for roughly 4.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Jefferson County would save about 107 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,312 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)
Jefferson County
32.1 min
64.1 min
267 hrs/yr
$8,280
2,024
West Virginia
21.6 min
43.2 min
180 hrs/yr
$5,581
1,052
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
32.1
minutes to get to work in
Jefferson County.
That's 43% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 91% of counties in West Virginia
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 17.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Jefferson County
Car:
78.7%
Worked at Home:
17.3%
Walked:
2.0%
Other:
1.3%
Public Transportation:
0.4%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Taxi:
< 0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Jefferson County, versus 0.0% in West Virginia.
Commute Mode Trends in Jefferson County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Jefferson 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
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
87.7%
3.4%
3.5%
1.3%
3.4%
0.1%
0.4%
0.2%
2010
86.4%
4.9%
3.3%
1.2%
3.7%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2011
88.0%
4.9%
2.7%
0.8%
3.1%
0.1%
0.4%
0.1%
2012
86.7%
5.5%
3.2%
0.8%
3.3%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2013
88.3%
5.9%
3.2%
0.2%
2.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2014
88.1%
5.9%
3.2%
0.4%
2.4%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2015
88.9%
5.0%
2.9%
0.4%
2.5%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2016
89.1%
4.9%
2.9%
0.4%
2.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2017
89.6%
4.8%
2.9%
0.3%
2.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2018
89.1%
5.3%
2.5%
0.5%
2.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2019
89.2%
5.8%
2.3%
0.5%
1.8%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
87.4%
7.6%
2.2%
1.0%
1.5%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2021
85.3%
9.5%
2.7%
1.2%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
82.3%
13.1%
2.0%
1.5%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
2023
79.5%
15.7%
2.3%
1.6%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
78.7%
17.3%
2.0%
1.3%
0.4%
0.2%
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 89.6%. Overall it fell from 87.7% in 2009 to 78.7% in 2024, down 9.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Jefferson County: its share of workers rose from 3.4% in 2009 to 17.3% in 2024, up 13.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 3.4% to 0.4% of workers (down 3.0 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 Jefferson County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Jefferson County?
The bars show when commuters in Jefferson 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 West Virginia for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
Jefferson CountyWest VirginiaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Jefferson County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.4% across West Virginia. Early starts are more common than in West Virginia: 22.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.3% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in West Virginia: 39.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.4% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.7%) 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson County next to West Virginia 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
Jefferson County
West Virginia
United States
2009
7:16 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:19 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:26 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:23 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:22 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:17 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:15 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:17 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:17 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:20 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:18 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:20 AM
7:29 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:17 AM
7:28 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:17 AM
7:29 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:15 AM
7:28 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:15 AM
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Jefferson County were on the road by 7:15 AM, 1 minute earlier than in 2009 (7:16 AM). Across West Virginia the shift was bigger still, with the typical start moving 8 minutes earlier. Commuters in Jefferson County now leave 23 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 Jefferson County has moved 3 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Jefferson County in the whole series.
How does Jefferson County's commute time compare?
Metric
Jefferson County
West Virginia
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
32.1 min
21.6 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
06:00 AM – 06:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
17.3%
9.1%
15.0%
Walked
2.0%
2.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.4%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Jefferson County is 32.1 minutes, longer than the 21.6 minutes in West Virginia.
0.4% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in West Virginia. 2.0% commute by walking, lower than the 2.5% in West Virginia.
Jefferson County, WV Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Jefferson County, WV is the 4th largest of the 5 counties compared here, 59,260 residents against a local median of 142,610. Where Jefferson County, WV breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 29% above the local median of 24.9 min at 32.1 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 6.5 min on one-way commute, so Jefferson County, WV sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Jefferson County, WV has the 5th lowest one-way commute of the 5 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Jefferson County, West Virginia.
Is living in Jefferson County, West Virginia good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 267 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $8,280 at a typical national wage. That's 48% more than the typical West Virginia commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Jefferson County, West Virginia?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How much time do residents in Jefferson County, West Virginia save by working from home?
About 17.3% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Jefferson County would save about 107 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,312 at the same national wage assumption used above.
How do commute times compare across counties in West Virginia?
Among counties in West Virginia, the shortest average commutes are in Randolph County (16.4 min), Ohio County (17.0 min), Pocahontas County (17.2 min). The longest are in Hampshire County (40.3 min), Morgan County (35.8 min), Monroe County (33.7 min).