Washington County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 6:27 PM

How long is the round-trip commute in Washington County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 6:27 PM

Commute Time Burden in Washington County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Washington County spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 156 hours, about 6.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% more time on the road than the Arkansas average of 18.6 minutes each way, a difference of 0.1 minutes.

Washington County holds about 8.4% of Arkansas's population but accounts for roughly 8.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Washington County would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,936 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)
Washington County	18.7 min	37.5 min	156 hrs/yr	$4,839	1,892
Arkansas	18.6 min	37.2 min	155 hrs/yr	$4,807	912
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: Arkansas Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Arkansas

Arkansas County (11.9 min)
Phillips County (13.2 min)
Howard County (13.4 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Arkansas

Perry County (32.2 min)
Newton County (31.6 min)
Madison County (31.1 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Washington County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 18.7 minutes to get to work in Washington County. That's 16% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 11.2% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Washington County

Commute Mode Trends in Washington County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Washington 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	93.3%	3.0%	2.4%	0.3%	0.4%	0.3%	0.0%	0.3%
2010	92.8%	3.1%	2.5%	0.4%	0.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2011	91.6%	3.9%	2.8%	0.4%	0.7%	0.3%	0.0%	0.3%
2012	90.8%	4.7%	2.7%	0.4%	0.8%	0.3%	0.0%	0.3%
2013	90.6%	4.5%	2.8%	0.4%	1.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.3%
2014	90.5%	4.4%	2.7%	0.5%	1.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.3%
2015	90.7%	4.6%	2.5%	0.5%	0.9%	0.5%	0.0%	0.3%
2016	91.6%	4.0%	2.3%	0.4%	0.9%	0.5%	0.0%	0.3%
2017	92.4%	3.5%	2.1%	0.4%	0.7%	0.6%	0.0%	0.3%
2018	91.9%	4.3%	2.0%	0.3%	0.6%	0.5%	0.1%	0.2%
2019	91.9%	4.5%	1.9%	0.4%	0.7%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2020	89.7%	6.8%	1.7%	0.4%	0.7%	0.6%	0.1%	0.1%
2021	88.5%	8.1%	1.7%	0.4%	0.6%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%
2022	86.8%	9.6%	1.9%	0.4%	0.6%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%
2023	86.5%	10.0%	1.6%	0.7%	0.5%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%
2024	85.2%	11.2%	1.8%	0.6%	0.5%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 93.3% in 2009 to 85.2% in 2024, down 8.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Washington County: its share of workers rose from 3.0% in 2009 to 11.2% in 2024, up 8.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.4% to 1.8% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Washington County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Washington County?

The bars show when commuters in Washington 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 Arkansas for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		4.2%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.4%
5:30-5:59 AM		4.3%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.3%
6:30-6:59 AM		11.7%
7:00-7:29 AM		18.6%
7:30-7:59 AM		13.3%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.6%
9:00-9:59 AM		5.7%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.8%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.0%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.7%

Washington County Arkansas Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Washington County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 18.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 17.5% across Arkansas. Early starts are less common than in Arkansas: 10.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush looks much like Arkansas's: 53.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.9% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.8%) 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 Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington County next to Arkansas 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	Washington County	Arkansas	United States
2009	7:39 AM	7:28 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:39 AM	7:28 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:38 AM	7:28 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:38 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:38 AM	7:27 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:37 AM	7:27 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:37 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:35 AM	7:26 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:35 AM	7:26 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:33 AM	7:26 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:34 AM	7:26 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:34 AM	7:26 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:35 AM	7:26 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:35 AM	7:26 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:34 AM	7:26 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:31 AM	7:25 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Washington County were on the road by 7:31 AM, 7 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:39 AM). The shift is sharper than across Arkansas, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Washington County now leave 6 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 Washington County has moved 2 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Washington County in the whole series.

How does Washington County's commute time compare?

Metric	Washington County	Arkansas	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	18.7 min	18.6 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	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	11.2%	8.8%	15.0%
Walked	1.8%	1.4%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.5%	0.3%	3.2%

The average commute time in Washington County is about the same as in Arkansas.

0.5% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.3% in Arkansas. 1.8% commute by walking, higher than the 1.4% in Arkansas.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Washington County, AR Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Washington County, AR is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 256,746 residents against a local median of 19,571. Where Washington County, AR breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 78% above the local median of 6.3% at 11.2%.

The counties themselves spread 13.0% on work from home, so Washington County, AR sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Washington County, AR has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Washington County, AR	256,746	18.7 min #3/6	11.2% #2/6	7:31 AM #6/6
Benton County, AR	303,622	20.1 min	15.7%	7:24 AM
Crawford County, AR	61,139	21.7 min	6.3%	7:17 AM
Adair County, OK	19,571	18.6 min	3.3%	7:12 AM
Madison County, AR	17,329	31.1 min	8.8%	7:10 AM
Franklin County, AR	17,335	18.4 min	2.8%	7:13 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Washington County, Arkansas.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Washington County, Arkansas?

Commuters here spend an estimated 156 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,839 at a typical national wage. That's 1% more than the typical Arkansas commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Washington County, Arkansas?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Washington County, Arkansas. 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.

Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Arkansas?

Among counties in Arkansas, the shortest average commutes are in Arkansas County (11.9 min), Phillips County (13.2 min), Howard County (13.4 min). The longest are in Perry County (32.2 min), Newton County (31.6 min), Madison County (31.1 min).