How long is the commute in Chicago?
Average travel time to work in Chicago, IL, how people get to work — driving, transit, walking or from home — and how that compares nationally.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates.
This story was assembled using AI and public data sources.
How Chicago gets to work.
Average commute, one way: 27.4 min — U.S. average: 23.0 min
How workers get to work
- Drove alone: 46
- Carpooled: 7.4
- Transit: 19.3
- Walked: 5.7
- From home: 18.3
Average commute (minutes)
- Chicago: 27.4
- Cook County: 26.6
- IL: 24.2
- U.S.: 23
Work from home: 18.3% — U.S.: 13.5%
What it means
The typical one-way commute here runs about 4.4 minutes longer than the national average.
Working from home went from 4.4% of workers in 2015 to 18.3% in the latest estimates.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates — Population, income, housing, education, commuting and poverty figures
- Census Bureau API — ACS Detailed Tables — The endpoint these pages are generated from
- data.census.gov — Look up the same tables for any place yourself
- ACS accuracy statement — Estimates carry margins of error; small places vary the most
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