El Mirage Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in El Mirage, Arizona: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in El Mirage: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in El Mirage spend about 56 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 233 hours, about 9.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 25% more time on the road than the Arizona average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 5.5 minutes.
El Mirage holds about 0.5% of Arizona's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in El Mirage would save about 93 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,890 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Mirage | 28.0 min | 55.9 min | 233 hrs/yr | $7,226 | 5,137 |
| Arizona | 22.4 min | 44.9 min | 187 hrs/yr | $5,798 | 1,948 |
| 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.
El Mirage Commute Map
On average, it takes 28.0 minutes to get to work in El Mirage. That's 25% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 14.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in El Mirage
- Car: 81.7%
- Worked at Home: 14.9%
- Other: 1.8%
- Walked: 1.4%
- Public Transportation: 0.1% unusually low
- Taxi: < 0.1%
- Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in El Mirage: 376.6 times less than the Arizona average (0.0% vs 0.3%).
Public transit is unusually rare in El Mirage: 9.4 times less than the Arizona average (0.1% vs 1.0%).
Biking is unusually rare in El Mirage: 10.3 times less than the Arizona average (0.0% vs 0.5%).
Commute Mode Trends in El Mirage, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in El Mirage 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Worked at Home | Other | Walked | Public Transportation | Taxi | Motorcycle | Bicycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 92.0% | 3.1% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| 2010 | 94.2% | 2.9% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.0% |
| 2011 | 91.2% | 2.8% | 1.6% | 0.8% | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0.9% | 0.0% |
| 2012 | 93.1% | 2.9% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 2.0% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| 2013 | 91.3% | 3.7% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 2.2% | 0.0% | 0.5% | 0.3% |
| 2014 | 92.1% | 2.7% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 1.9% | 0.0% | 1.1% | 0.4% |
| 2015 | 92.3% | 2.9% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1.4% | 0.8% |
| 2016 | 94.8% | 2.9% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.8% |
| 2017 | 94.4% | 3.3% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.5% |
| 2018 | 94.3% | 3.3% | 0.9% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
| 2019 | 93.1% | 3.7% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.7% |
| 2020 | 88.6% | 6.8% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.5% |
| 2021 | 86.5% | 8.5% | 2.4% | 1.5% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| 2022 | 83.8% | 11.6% | 2.5% | 1.5% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| 2023 | 82.3% | 13.6% | 2.3% | 1.5% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| 2024 | 81.7% | 14.9% | 1.8% | 1.4% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2016 at 94.8%. Overall it fell from 92.0% in 2009 to 81.7% in 2024, down 10.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 8 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in El Mirage: its share of workers rose from 3.1% in 2009 to 14.9% in 2024, up 11.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 0.6% to 0.1% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in El Mirage
What Time Do People Leave for Work in El Mirage?
The bars show when commuters in El Mirage 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 Arizona for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
| 12:00-4:59 AM |
12:00-4:59 AM
El Mirage13.2%
Arizona8.5%
|
13.2% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
El Mirage9.6%
Arizona5.8%
|
9.6% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
El Mirage5.0%
Arizona5.7%
|
5.0% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
El Mirage10.4%
Arizona9.2%
|
10.4% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
El Mirage9.3%
Arizona9.3%
|
9.3% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
El Mirage11.9%
Arizona13.1%
|
11.9% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
El Mirage5.2%
Arizona10.1%
|
5.2% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
El Mirage6.3%
Arizona10.1%
|
6.3% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
El Mirage3.2%
Arizona4.2%
|
3.2% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
El Mirage4.8%
Arizona5.9%
|
4.8% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
El Mirage1.9%
Arizona2.9%
|
1.9% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
El Mirage1.0%
Arizona1.5%
|
1.0% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
El Mirage10.7%
Arizona7.0%
|
10.7% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
El Mirage7.4%
Arizona6.5%
|
7.4% |
El Mirage Arizona Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in El Mirage is 12:00-4:59 AM, when 13.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 8.5% across Arizona. Early starts are more common than in Arizona: 27.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 20.1% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Arizona: 32.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 42.6% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.9%) 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 El Mirage, 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 El Mirage 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 El Mirage next to Arizona 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | El Mirage | Arizona | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 6:43 AM | 7:23 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 6:53 AM | 7:25 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:00 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 6:50 AM | 7:27 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:00 AM | 7:27 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:04 AM | 7:27 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:06 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:04 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:07 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:06 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:09 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:06 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:01 AM | 7:25 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:02 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:01 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:06 AM | 7:26 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in El Mirage were on the road by 7:06 AM, 23 minutes later than in 2009 (6:43 AM). The shift is sharper than across Arizona, where the typical start moved 3 minutes later. Commuters in El Mirage now leave 32 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 El Mirage has moved 3 minutes earlier.
How does El Mirage's commute time compare?
| Metric | El Mirage | Arizona | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 28.0 min | 22.4 min | 22.4 min |
| Departure Window | 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM |
| Secondary Departure Window | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 14.9% | 18.4% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 1.4% | 1.7% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 0.1% | 1.0% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in El Mirage is 28.0 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Arizona.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.0% in Arizona. 1.4% commute by walking, lower than the 1.7% in Arizona.
El Mirage, AZ Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
El Mirage, AZ is typical in size for this group, 34,950 residents against a local median of 40,024, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. El Mirage, AZ's work from home, at 14.9%, runs 23% below the 19.4% typical of the cities around it.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 28.0 min against a local median of 23.1 min, 21% above it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 21% above the local median it puts El Mirage, AZ at the weaker end of the local range. The cities themselves spread 7.7% on work from home, so El Mirage, AZ sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. El Mirage, AZ has the 3rd highest work from home of the 4 areas compared here.
| Area | Population | One-way commute | Work from home | Typical departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Mirage, AZ | 34,950 | 28.0 min #4/4 | 14.9% #3/4 | 7:06 AM #1/4 |
| Sun City, AZ | 40,024 | 23.1 min | 19.4% | 7:25 AM |
| Glendale, AZ | 256,120 | 26.2 min | 14.6% | 7:19 AM |
| Sun City West, AZ | 25,067 | 16.2 min | 22.3% | 7:42 AM |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in El Mirage, Arizona.
Is living in El Mirage, Arizona good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 233 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,226 at a typical national wage. That's 25% more than the typical Arizona commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in El Mirage, Arizona?
Traffic peaks between 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM in El Mirage, Arizona. 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.
Do people use public transit in El Mirage, Arizona?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 1.0% in Arizona, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.