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Denali Borough Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 4:28 PM
How much time do drivers in Denali Borough spend on the road daily?
Map AI 9/24/26, 4:28 PM

Commute Time Burden in Denali Borough: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Denali Borough spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 128 hours, about 5.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 5% less time on the road than the Alaska average of 16.1 minutes each way, a difference of 0.8 minutes.

Denali Borough holds about 0.3% of Alaska's population and accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Denali Borough would save about 51 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,584 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)
Denali Borough 15.3 min 30.7 min 128 hrs/yr $3,961 12
Alaska 16.1 min 32.2 min 134 hrs/yr $4,157 583
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: Alaska Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Alaska
  1. Skagway Municipality (4.7 min)
  2. Northwest Arctic Borough (5.5 min)
  3. Nome Census Area (5.8 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Alaska
  1. Matanuska-Susitna Borough (25.3 min)
  2. Fairbanks North Star Borough (17.2 min)
  3. Anchorage Municipality (17.1 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Denali Borough
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 15.3 minutes to get to work in Denali Borough. That's 32% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the 5 slowest counties in Alaska

The most common departure window is 05:00 AM – 05:29 AM, followed by 05:30 AM – 05:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 4.2% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Denali Borough

  • Car: 63.5%
  • Walked: 29.9% unusually high
  • Worked at Home: 4.2%
  • Bicycle: 1.3%
  • Motorcycle: 0.6% unusually high
  • Other: 0.5%
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Denali Borough: 3.7 times more than the Alaska average (0.6% vs 0.2%).

Walking is unusually common in Denali Borough: 4.1 times more than the Alaska average (29.9% vs 7.2%).

Public transit is unusually rare in Denali Borough: 85358851.2 times less than the Alaska average (0.0% vs 1.0%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Denali Borough, versus 0.5% in Alaska.

Denali Borough stands out for active commuting: 31.2% of workers walk or bike to work, 3.9 times the Alaska average of 7.9%.

Commute Mode Trends in Denali Borough, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Denali Borough 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 Walked Worked at Home Bicycle Motorcycle Other Public Transportation Taxi
2009 59.6% 25.8% 4.8% 0.0% 0.0% 1.6% 8.2% 0.0%
2010 63.9% 21.7% 5.4% 0.0% 0.0% 1.8% 7.2% 0.0%
2011 67.4% 21.6% 9.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.3% 0.0%
2012 64.1% 12.2% 22.8% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.6% 0.0%
2013 54.7% 21.1% 21.4% 0.2% 0.0% 1.7% 0.9% 0.0%
2014 51.7% 22.8% 23.0% 0.2% 0.5% 1.8% 0.0% 0.0%
2015 52.3% 17.8% 26.6% 0.2% 0.5% 1.7% 0.9% 0.0%
2016 52.7% 22.0% 22.5% 0.2% 0.5% 1.3% 0.8% 0.0%
2017 43.9% 46.4% 8.2% 0.0% 0.3% 0.8% 0.5% 0.0%
2018 42.9% 48.6% 7.2% 0.0% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% 0.0%
2019 40.7% 49.3% 9.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.3% 0.6% 0.0%
2020 42.4% 53.6% 3.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0%
2021 34.9% 59.6% 3.6% 0.0% 0.0% 2.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2022 58.0% 36.7% 4.2% 0.0% 0.0% 1.1% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 54.7% 39.3% 5.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.8% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 63.5% 29.9% 4.2% 1.3% 0.6% 0.5% 0.0% 0.0%

Driving's share was highest in 2011 at 67.4% and lowest in 2021 at 34.9%. Overall it rose from 59.6% in 2009 to 63.5% in 2024, up 3.9 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Walking gained the most ground in Denali Borough: its share of workers rose from 25.8% in 2009 to 29.9% in 2024, up 4.1 percentage points.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 8.2% to 0.0% of workers (down 8.2 percentage points).

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2011 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 59.6% in 2021 and has since fallen back to 29.9%.

Driving is the most common way to get to work in 2024, as it was in 2009, though it did not lead in every release in between.

Commute Start Times in Denali Borough

  • Early BirdThe earliest start among Alaska's 30 counties: half of commuters are on the road by 5:59 AM.
  • Dawn PatrolThe highest share of pre-6 AM departures among Alaska's 30 counties: 50.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM.
  • Rush-Hour DodgersThe lowest share of rush-hour departures among Alaska's 30 counties: only 28.6% of commuters leave between 6:30 and 8:29 AM.
  • Earlier AlarmsThe biggest shift to earlier mornings among Alaska's 30 counties: the typical start is 80 minutes earlier than in 2009.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Denali Borough?

The bars show when commuters in Denali Borough 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 Alaska for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM
1.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
34.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
14.7%
6:00-6:29 AM
5.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
7.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
8.0%
7:30-7:59 AM
7.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
5.6%
8:30-8:59 AM
3.8%
9:00-9:59 AM
2.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
1.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
0.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
4.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
2.3%

Denali Borough Alaska Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Denali Borough is 5:00-5:29 AM, when 34.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 3.6% across Alaska. Early starts are more common than in Alaska: 50.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.0% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Alaska: 28.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.3% there. About 1 in 9 commuters (11.3%) 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 Denali Borough, 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 Denali Borough 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 Denali Borough next to Alaska 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 Denali Borough Alaska United States
2009 7:19 AM 7:47 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:32 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:37 AM 7:46 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:32 AM 7:47 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:53 AM 7:46 AM 7:39 AM
2014 8:00 AM 7:45 AM 7:39 AM
2015 8:05 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM
2016 8:07 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:36 AM 7:43 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:27 AM 7:44 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:07 AM 7:45 AM 7:37 AM
2020 6:59 AM 7:45 AM 7:37 AM
2021 6:57 AM 7:44 AM 7:37 AM
2022 6:21 AM 7:44 AM 7:37 AM
2023 6:08 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM
2024 5:59 AM 7:43 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Denali Borough were on the road by 5:59 AM, 80 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:19 AM). The shift is sharper than across Alaska, where the typical start moved 4 minutes earlier. Commuters in Denali Borough now leave 99 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 Denali Borough has moved 68 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Denali Borough in the whole series.

How does Denali Borough's commute time compare?

Metric Denali Borough Alaska US Average
Avg. Commute Time 15.3 min 16.1 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 05:00 AM – 05:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window 05:30 AM – 05:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 4.2% 9.7% 15.0%
Walked 29.9% 7.2% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 1.0% 3.2%

The average commute time in Denali Borough is 15.3 minutes, shorter than the 16.1 minutes in Alaska.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.0% in Alaska. 29.9% commute by walking, higher than the 7.2% in Alaska.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Denali Borough, AK Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Denali Borough, AK is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 1,969 residents against a local median of 95,452. The measure that sets Denali Borough, AK apart most is work from home: 4.2%, 60% below the local median of 10.6%.

The counties themselves spread 5.1% on work from home, so Denali Borough, AK sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Denali Borough, AK has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Denali Borough, AK 1,969 15.3 min #2/6 4.2% #6/6 5:59 AM #1/6
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK 112,982 25.3 min 11.7% 7:27 AM
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK 5,195 6.6 min 8.8% 7:57 AM
Anchorage Municipality, AK 288,818 17.1 min 10.9% 7:46 AM
Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK 95,452 17.2 min 6.6% 7:31 AM
Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK 60,577 16.1 min 10.6% 7:51 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Denali Borough, Alaska.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Denali Borough, Alaska?

Commuters here spend an estimated 128 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,961 at a typical national wage. That's 5% less than the typical Alaska commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Denali Borough, Alaska?

Traffic peaks between 05:00 AM – 05:29 AM in Denali Borough, Alaska. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 05:30 AM – 05:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.

How common is public transit use in Denali Borough, Alaska?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 1.0% in Alaska, 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).