Commuting in Sun City West, Arizona: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 3:35 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Sun City West?
Map AI9/24/26, 3:35 PM
Commute Time Burden in Sun City West: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Sun City West spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 135 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 28% less time on the road than the Arizona average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 6.2 minutes.
Sun City West holds about 0.3% of Arizona's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Sun City West would save about 54 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,675 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)
Sun City West
16.2 min
32.4 min
135 hrs/yr
$4,188
4,577
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.
Sun City West Commute Map
On average, it takes
16.2
minutes to get to work in
Sun City West.
That's 28% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 22.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Sun City West
Car:
71.6%
Worked at Home:
22.3%
Other:
3.8%
Bicycle:
1.0%
Walked:
0.8%
Motorcycle:
0.4%
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is essentially absent in Sun City West, versus 1.0% in Arizona.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Sun City West, versus 0.2% in Arizona.
Commute Mode Trends in Sun City West, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Sun City West 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
Other
Bicycle
Walked
Motorcycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
2009
82.4%
9.8%
5.6%
1.1%
0.6%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
2010
80.9%
9.1%
4.9%
1.2%
2.4%
1.6%
0.0%
0.0%
2011
80.2%
10.5%
5.5%
0.8%
1.9%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2012
77.0%
11.1%
6.2%
0.7%
2.9%
1.8%
0.3%
0.0%
2013
79.3%
9.1%
6.4%
1.7%
1.9%
1.3%
0.3%
0.0%
2014
77.7%
12.1%
5.6%
1.9%
1.5%
0.8%
0.3%
0.0%
2015
80.6%
11.9%
4.7%
1.5%
0.6%
0.3%
0.4%
0.0%
2016
82.0%
11.8%
3.6%
1.4%
0.5%
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
2017
80.9%
13.7%
2.6%
1.8%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2018
79.3%
14.7%
4.3%
0.6%
0.9%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2019
79.1%
16.1%
3.8%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
78.3%
17.0%
3.7%
0.6%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
75.8%
17.8%
4.5%
0.8%
0.3%
0.8%
0.0%
0.0%
2022
75.9%
18.8%
4.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.7%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
73.5%
22.0%
2.3%
1.0%
0.6%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
71.6%
22.3%
3.8%
1.0%
0.8%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 82.4% in 2009 to 71.6% in 2024, down 10.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Sun City West: its share of workers rose from 9.8% in 2009 to 22.3% in 2024, up 12.5 percentage points.
Walking peaked at 2.9% in 2012 and has since fallen back to 0.8%.
Commute Start Times in Sun City West
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Sun City West?
The bars show when commuters in Sun City West 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 AMSun City West7.2%Arizona8.5%
7.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSun City West6.4%Arizona5.8%
6.4%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSun City West1.6%Arizona5.7%
1.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSun City West10.0%Arizona9.2%
10.0%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSun City West11.3%Arizona9.3%
11.3%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSun City West7.2%Arizona13.1%
7.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSun City West15.7%Arizona10.1%
15.7%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSun City West6.8%Arizona10.1%
6.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSun City West4.2%Arizona4.2%
4.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSun City West10.3%Arizona5.9%
10.3%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSun City West2.2%Arizona2.9%
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSun City West1.3%Arizona1.5%
1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSun City West6.8%Arizona7.0%
6.8%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSun City West9.1%Arizona6.5%
9.1%
Sun City WestArizonaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Sun City West is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 10.1% across Arizona. Early starts are less common than in Arizona: 15.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 20.1% there. The morning rush looks much like Arizona's: 41.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 42.6% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (29.7%) 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 Sun City West, 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 Sun City West 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 Sun City West 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.
Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show typical departure times by year
Year
Sun City West
Arizona
United States
2009
7:47 AM
7:23 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:47 AM
7:25 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:40 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:38 AM
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:20 AM
7:27 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:36 AM
7:27 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:23 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:25 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:35 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:40 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:30 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:37 AM
7:25 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:36 AM
7:26 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:37 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:42 AM
7:26 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Sun City West were on the road by 7:42 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:47 AM). That goes against the trend across Arizona, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Sun City West now leave 4 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 Sun City West has moved 13 minutes later.
How does Sun City West's commute time compare?
Metric
Sun City West
Arizona
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.2 min
22.4 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
22.3%
18.4%
15.0%
Walked
0.8%
1.7%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
1.0%
3.2%
The average commute time in Sun City West is 16.2 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Arizona.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.0% in Arizona. 0.8% commute by walking, lower than the 1.7% in Arizona.
Sun City West, AZ Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
Sun City West, AZ is the smallest of the 5 cities compared here, 25,067 residents against a local median of 95,495. Sun City West, AZ's one-way commute, at 16.2 min, runs 40% below the 27.1 min typical of the cities around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 22.3% against a local median of 19.2%, 16% above it. The cities themselves sit within 4.9 min of each other on one-way commute, a tighter band than the gap between any of them and Sun City West, AZ, which makes it a genuine outlier here rather than one end of a wide local spread. Sun City West, AZ has the lowest one-way commute of the 5 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Sun City West, Arizona.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Sun City West, Arizona?
Commuters here spend an estimated 135 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,188 at a typical national wage. That's 28% less than the typical Arizona commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Sun City West, Arizona?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Sun City West, Arizona. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Sun City West, Arizona?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 1.0% in Arizona, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.