Commuting in Carson, California: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 3:42 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Carson?
Map AI9/24/26, 3:42 PM
Commute Time Burden in Carson: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Carson spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 197 hours, about 8.2 full days, spent commuting. That is about the same time on the road as the California average of 23.5 minutes each way.
Carson holds about 0.2% of California's population and accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Carson would save about 79 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,437 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)
Carson
23.6 min
47.2 min
197 hrs/yr
$6,092
3,644
California
23.5 min
47.0 min
196 hrs/yr
$6,065
2,449
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.
Carson Commute Map
On average, it takes
23.6
minutes to get to work in
Carson.
That's 5% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 8.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Carson
Car:
86.5%
Worked at Home:
8.7%
Public Transportation:
1.6%
Other:
1.4%
Walked:
1.0%
Bicycle:
0.4%
Taxi:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Carson, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Carson 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
Public Transportation
Other
Walked
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
90.4%
2.9%
2.8%
1.8%
1.7%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2010
90.8%
2.8%
3.1%
1.0%
1.8%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2011
90.5%
3.0%
3.4%
0.8%
1.9%
0.1%
0.0%
0.3%
2012
90.6%
3.2%
3.3%
0.6%
1.8%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2013
90.9%
3.5%
3.0%
0.7%
1.6%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2014
91.2%
2.9%
3.2%
1.0%
1.4%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2015
91.0%
2.8%
3.2%
1.3%
1.3%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
2016
90.8%
2.5%
3.6%
1.4%
1.1%
0.3%
0.0%
0.2%
2017
89.8%
2.6%
3.8%
1.7%
1.0%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
2018
90.3%
2.3%
3.6%
1.6%
1.3%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
2019
89.3%
3.1%
3.3%
1.8%
1.4%
0.6%
0.3%
0.2%
2020
89.0%
4.3%
2.7%
1.7%
1.6%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
2021
87.8%
6.2%
1.9%
2.3%
1.1%
0.3%
0.4%
0.1%
2022
87.7%
6.7%
1.8%
1.8%
1.5%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
2023
86.7%
7.9%
1.7%
1.7%
1.4%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2024
86.5%
8.7%
1.6%
1.4%
1.0%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2014 at 91.2%. Overall it fell from 90.4% in 2009 to 86.5% in 2024, down 3.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Carson: its share of workers rose from 2.9% in 2009 to 8.7% in 2024, up 5.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 2.8% to 1.6% of workers (down 1.2 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Carson
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Carson?
The bars show when commuters in Carson 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 California for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMCarson7.1%California6.7%
7.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMCarson3.9%California4.5%
3.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMCarson5.6%California4.5%
5.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMCarson10.7%California8.4%
10.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMCarson7.5%California7.5%
7.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMCarson13.7%California13.1%
13.7%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMCarson8.7%California10.2%
8.7%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMCarson12.2%California12.6%
12.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMCarson3.8%California5.8%
3.8%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMCarson7.1%California8.6%
7.1%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMCarson3.0%California3.9%
3.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMCarson1.4%California1.8%
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMCarson7.5%California6.9%
7.5%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMCarson7.8%California5.5%
7.8%
CarsonCaliforniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Carson is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 13.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.1% across California. Early starts are about as common as in California: 16.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.8% there. The morning rush looks much like California's: 42.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.3% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.8%) 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 Carson, 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 Carson 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 Carson next to California 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
Carson
California
United States
2009
7:29 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:29 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:33 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:33 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:32 AM
7:43 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:33 AM
7:43 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:29 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:29 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:31 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:31 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:30 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:35 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:31 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:30 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:35 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:35 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Carson were on the road by 7:35 AM, 7 minutes later than in 2009 (7:29 AM). California followed the same path, with the typical start moving 6 minutes later. Commuters in Carson now leave 3 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 Carson has moved 6 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Carson in the whole series.
How does Carson's commute time compare?
Metric
Carson
California
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.6 min
23.5 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
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
8.7%
17.2%
15.0%
Walked
1.0%
2.4%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.6%
2.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Carson is 23.6 minutes, longer than the 23.5 minutes in California.
1.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.9% in California. 1.0% commute by walking, lower than the 2.4% in California.
Carson, CA is the 2nd largest of the 6 cities compared here, 92,071 residents against a local median of 22,667. Nothing separates Carson, CA sharply from the cities around it. Each measure below lands within 15% of the local median, close enough that the differences are within what survey sampling alone would produce.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 11% below the local median at 8.7% against 9.7%. Carson, CA has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Carson, California.
Is living in Carson, California good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 197 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,092 at a typical national wage.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Carson, California?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Carson, California. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.