Commuting in Alaska: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You10/21/26, 3:53 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Alaska?
Map AI10/21/26, 3:53 PM
Commute Time Burden in Alaska: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Alaska spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 134 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 28% less time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 6.3 minutes.
Alaska holds about 0.2% of US's population and accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Alaska would save about 54 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,663 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)
Alaska
16.1 min
32.2 min
134 hrs/yr
$4,157
583
US
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
16.1
minutes to get to work in
Alaska.
That's 28% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the top 5 fastest states in US
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 9.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Alaska
Car:
76.9%
Worked at Home:
9.7%
Walked:
7.2%unusually high
Other:
3.8%
Public Transportation:
1.0%unusually low
Bicycle:
0.7%
Taxi:
0.5%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Walking is unusually common in Alaska: 3.1 times more than the US average (7.2% vs 2.4%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Alaska: 3.3 times less than the US average (1.0% vs 3.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Alaska, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Alaska 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
81.1%
5.3%
7.8%
2.9%
1.4%
0.9%
0.3%
0.3%
2010
80.3%
5.5%
8.2%
3.1%
1.3%
1.0%
0.4%
0.3%
2011
80.6%
5.2%
7.7%
3.4%
1.5%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
2012
80.5%
5.3%
7.5%
3.6%
1.5%
1.0%
0.4%
0.2%
2013
80.3%
5.0%
7.9%
3.7%
1.6%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
2014
80.4%
4.7%
7.9%
3.9%
1.6%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
2015
80.5%
4.6%
7.8%
4.1%
1.6%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
2016
80.6%
4.6%
7.9%
4.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
2017
80.9%
4.4%
7.9%
3.9%
1.5%
0.9%
0.3%
0.2%
2018
81.0%
4.7%
7.7%
3.8%
1.4%
1.0%
0.3%
0.1%
2019
80.9%
4.8%
7.6%
3.9%
1.3%
0.9%
0.4%
0.1%
2020
80.2%
6.0%
7.6%
3.6%
1.2%
0.8%
0.4%
0.1%
2021
79.4%
7.1%
7.4%
3.7%
1.2%
0.7%
0.4%
0.1%
2022
78.1%
8.1%
7.7%
3.7%
1.1%
0.7%
0.5%
0.1%
2023
77.5%
8.8%
7.5%
4.0%
1.0%
0.6%
0.5%
0.1%
2024
76.9%
9.7%
7.2%
3.8%
1.0%
0.7%
0.5%
0.2%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 81.1% in 2009 to 76.9% in 2024, down 4.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Alaska: its share of workers rose from 5.3% in 2009 to 9.7% in 2024, up 4.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 7.8% to 7.2% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2022 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Alaska
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Alaska?
The bars show when commuters in Alaska 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 the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMAlaska4.8%The U.S.5.5%
4.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMAlaska3.6%The U.S.4.0%
3.6%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMAlaska5.6%The U.S.4.9%
5.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMAlaska7.2%The U.S.8.7%
7.2%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMAlaska8.6%The U.S.9.4%
8.6%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMAlaska12.9%The U.S.14.4%
12.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMAlaska17.1%The U.S.11.9%
17.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMAlaska10.7%The U.S.11.5%
10.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMAlaska6.3%The U.S.5.5%
6.3%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMAlaska7.1%The U.S.6.8%
7.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMAlaska3.4%The U.S.3.1%
3.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMAlaska1.7%The U.S.1.5%
1.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMAlaska5.6%The U.S.6.8%
5.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMAlaska5.3%The U.S.6.1%
5.3%
AlaskaThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Alaska is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 17.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.9% across the U.S.. Early starts are about as common as in the U.S.: 14.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in the U.S.: 49.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.2%) 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 Alaska, 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 Alaska 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 Alaska next to 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
Alaska
United States
2009
7:47 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:47 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:46 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:45 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Alaska were on the road by 7:43 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:47 AM). Commuters in Alaska now leave 5 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Alaska has moved 2 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Alaska in the whole series.
How does Alaska's commute time compare?
Metric
Alaska
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.1 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
9.7%
15.0%
Walked
7.2%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.0%
3.2%
The average commute time in Alaska is 16.1 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in US.
1.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.2% in US. 7.2% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in US.
Alaska is the smallest of the 6 states compared here, 735,577 residents against a local median of 4,252,306. The measure that sets Alaska apart most is work from home: 9.7%, 43% below the local median of 17.2%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 16.1 min against a local median of 22.4 min, 28% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 28% below the local median it puts Alaska at the better end of the local range. The states themselves spread 7.8% on work from home, so Alaska sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Alaska has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Alaska?
Commuters here spend an estimated 134 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,157 at a typical national wage. That's 28% less than the typical US commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Alaska?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Alaska. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How common is public transit use in Alaska?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 1.0% of commuters use it versus 3.2% in the U.S., meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Which counties in Alaska have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in Alaska, the shortest average commutes are in Skagway Municipality (4.7 min), Northwest Arctic Borough (5.5 min), Nome Census Area (5.8 min). The longest are in Matanuska-Susitna Borough (25.3 min), Fairbanks North Star Borough (17.2 min), Anchorage Municipality (17.1 min).