Morgantown Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 4:29 PM

What does a typical morning commute look like in Morgantown?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:29 PM

Commute Time Burden in Morgantown: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Morgantown spend about 27 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 114 hours, about 4.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 37% less time on the road than the West Virginia average of 21.6 minutes each way, a difference of 7.9 minutes.

Morgantown holds about 1.8% of West Virginia's population but accounts for roughly 1.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Morgantown would save about 46 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,414 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)
Morgantown	13.7 min	27.4 min	114 hrs/yr	$3,534	3,724
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.

Morgantown Commute Map

On average, it takes 13.7 minutes to get to work in Morgantown. That's 39% 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 13.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Morgantown

Walking is unusually common in Morgantown: 4.6 times more than the West Virginia average (11.5% vs 2.5%).

Public transit is unusually common in Morgantown: 3.8 times more than the West Virginia average (2.0% vs 0.5%).

Morgantown stands out for active commuting: 11.9% of workers walk or bike to work, 4.5 times the West Virginia average of 2.6%.

Commute Mode Trends in Morgantown, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Morgantown 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	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	78.7%	3.9%	12.9%	3.3%	0.8%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%
2010	78.7%	3.8%	13.8%	2.4%	0.9%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2011	78.4%	4.5%	13.4%	2.4%	0.8%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2012	76.5%	5.0%	15.5%	1.9%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%
2013	75.5%	6.1%	14.8%	2.3%	0.6%	0.3%	0.1%	0.2%
2014	74.9%	6.1%	14.6%	2.6%	0.8%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%
2015	72.4%	7.3%	15.6%	3.0%	0.6%	0.8%	0.1%	0.2%
2016	71.3%	7.8%	15.3%	3.7%	0.6%	1.1%	0.1%	0.2%
2017	72.6%	7.1%	14.6%	3.8%	0.6%	1.1%	0.1%	0.0%
2018	74.2%	5.8%	14.1%	4.2%	0.4%	1.1%	0.1%	0.0%
2019	73.7%	5.5%	15.5%	3.9%	0.2%	0.7%	0.3%	0.0%
2020	73.1%	7.2%	14.8%	3.7%	0.3%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%
2021	73.0%	9.4%	13.3%	2.9%	0.6%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%
2022	72.1%	11.6%	12.3%	2.5%	0.7%	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%
2023	72.2%	11.8%	11.8%	2.5%	0.8%	0.5%	0.4%	0.1%
2024	71.1%	13.8%	11.5%	2.0%	1.0%	0.4%	0.1%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 78.7% in 2009 to 71.1% in 2024, down 7.6 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Morgantown: its share of workers rose from 3.9% in 2009 to 13.8% in 2024, up 9.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 8.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 12.9% to 11.5% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2024 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Morgantown

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Morgantown?

The bars show when commuters in Morgantown 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.

12:00-4:59 AM		2.6%
5:00-5:29 AM		1.7%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.9%
6:00-6:29 AM		4.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		6.2%
7:00-7:29 AM		11.0%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.5%
8:00-8:29 AM		13.4%
8:30-8:59 AM		5.5%
9:00-9:59 AM		10.9%
10:00-10:59 AM		7.4%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.3%
12:00-3:59 PM		10.9%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.8%

Morgantown West Virginia Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Morgantown is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 13.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 9.7% across West Virginia. Early starts are less common than in West Virginia: 8.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 16.3% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in West Virginia: 43.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.4% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (38.2%) 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 Morgantown, 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 Morgantown 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 Morgantown 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	Morgantown	West Virginia	United States
2009	8:25 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	8:28 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2011	8:21 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2012	8:26 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2013	8:26 AM	7:33 AM	7:39 AM
2014	8:20 AM	7:32 AM	7:39 AM
2015	8:17 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2016	8:15 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2017	8:16 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2018	8:14 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2019	8:16 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:16 AM	7:29 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:19 AM	7:28 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:16 AM	7:29 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:16 AM	7:28 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:16 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Morgantown were on the road by 8:16 AM, 9 minutes earlier than in 2009 (8:25 AM). West Virginia followed the same path, with the typical start moving 8 minutes earlier. Commuters in Morgantown now leave 38 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Morgantown's commute time compare?

Metric	Morgantown	West Virginia	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	13.7 min	21.6 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	13.8%	9.1%	15.0%
Walked	11.5%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.0%	0.5%	3.2%

The average commute time in Morgantown is 13.7 minutes, shorter than the 21.6 minutes in West Virginia.

2.0% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.5% in West Virginia. 11.5% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in West Virginia.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Morgantown, West Virginia.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Morgantown, West Virginia?

Commuters here spend an estimated 114 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,534 at a typical national wage. That's 37% less than the typical West Virginia commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Morgantown, West Virginia?

Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Morgantown, West Virginia. 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.

How common is public transit use in Morgantown, West Virginia?

Public transit usage is notably higher here than typical: about 2.0% of commuters use it versus 0.5% in West Virginia, making it a realistic option for many workers.

How much time do residents in Morgantown, West Virginia save by working from home?

About 13.8% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Morgantown would save about 46 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,414 at the same national wage assumption used above.