Eureka Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Eureka, California: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Eureka: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Eureka spend about 27 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 112 hours, about 4.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 43% less time on the road than the California average of 23.5 minutes each way, a difference of 10.1 minutes.
Eureka holds about 0.1% of California's population but accounts for roughly 0.0% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Eureka would save about 45 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,383 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eureka | 13.4 min | 26.8 min | 112 hrs/yr | $3,457 | 1,168 |
| 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.
Eureka Commute Map
On average, it takes 13.4 minutes to get to work in Eureka. That's 40% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 11.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Eureka
- Car: 78.8%
- Worked at Home: 11.9%
- Walked: 4.7%
- Public Transportation: 1.4%
- Taxi: 1.3% unusually high
- Other: 0.9%
- Bicycle: 0.8%
- Motorcycle: 0.3%
Taking a taxi is unusually common in Eureka: 6.1 times more than the California average (1.3% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Eureka, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Eureka 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 | Walked | Public Transportation | Taxi | Other | Bicycle | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 85.0% | 4.6% | 4.5% | 1.6% | 0.2% | 1.2% | 2.2% | 0.6% |
| 2010 | 84.8% | 4.1% | 5.6% | 1.2% | 0.2% | 1.2% | 2.5% | 0.5% |
| 2011 | 84.7% | 3.8% | 5.0% | 1.4% | 0.7% | 1.5% | 2.4% | 0.6% |
| 2012 | 85.0% | 3.3% | 5.8% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 1.5% | 1.8% | 0.5% |
| 2013 | 85.6% | 4.1% | 5.3% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 1.7% | 0.5% |
| 2014 | 83.3% | 4.0% | 6.8% | 1.8% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 2.2% | 0.5% |
| 2015 | 81.2% | 5.7% | 6.8% | 2.2% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 2.7% | 0.5% |
| 2016 | 81.2% | 5.8% | 7.2% | 2.3% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 2.5% | 0.7% |
| 2017 | 80.7% | 6.4% | 7.1% | 2.1% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 2.2% | 1.1% |
| 2018 | 80.1% | 6.2% | 7.8% | 2.4% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 1.9% | 1.2% |
| 2019 | 82.4% | 7.1% | 6.1% | 1.3% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 1.3% | 1.1% |
| 2020 | 84.8% | 7.2% | 4.5% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 0.5% |
| 2021 | 82.5% | 10.1% | 4.4% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.4% |
| 2022 | 81.9% | 9.8% | 5.6% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1.0% | 0.8% | 0.1% |
| 2023 | 80.8% | 10.5% | 5.4% | 0.9% | 0.0% | 1.2% | 1.1% | 0.2% |
| 2024 | 78.8% | 11.9% | 4.7% | 1.4% | 1.3% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.3% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2013 at 85.6%. Overall it fell from 85.0% in 2009 to 78.8% in 2024, down 6.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Eureka: its share of workers rose from 4.6% in 2009 to 11.9% in 2024, up 7.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Biking lost the most ground, falling from 2.2% to 0.8% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).
Public transit overtook biking to become the 4th most common choice in the 2024 release and has stayed ahead since.
Walking peaked at 7.8% in 2018 and has since fallen back to 4.7%.
Commute Start Times in Eureka
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Eureka?
The bars show when commuters in Eureka 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 AM
Eureka3.8%
California6.7%
|
3.8% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Eureka2.9%
California4.5%
|
2.9% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Eureka3.0%
California4.5%
|
3.0% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Eureka4.2%
California8.4%
|
4.2% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Eureka3.3%
California7.5%
|
3.3% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Eureka11.3%
California13.1%
|
11.3% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Eureka22.1%
California10.2%
|
22.1% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Eureka12.6%
California12.6%
|
12.6% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Eureka9.3%
California5.8%
|
9.3% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Eureka7.1%
California8.6%
|
7.1% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Eureka4.2%
California3.9%
|
4.2% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Eureka1.7%
California1.8%
|
1.7% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Eureka7.2%
California6.9%
|
7.2% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Eureka7.2%
California5.5%
|
7.2% |
Eureka California Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Eureka is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 22.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 10.2% across California. Early starts are less common than in California: 9.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.8% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in California: 49.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.3% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.4%) 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 Eureka, 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 Eureka 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 Eureka 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | Eureka | California | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 8:00 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 8:00 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 8:06 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 8:10 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 8:13 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 8:13 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 8:13 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 8:14 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 8:08 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 8:09 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 8:04 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 8:02 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:59 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:59 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:58 AM | 7:44 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:59 AM | 7:45 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Eureka were on the road by 7:59 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across California, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 6 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Eureka now leave 21 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 Eureka has moved 4 minutes earlier.
How does Eureka's commute time compare?
| Metric | Eureka | California | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 13.4 min | 23.5 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 | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 11.9% | 17.2% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 4.7% | 2.4% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 1.4% | 2.9% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Eureka is 13.4 minutes, shorter than the 23.5 minutes in California.
1.4% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.9% in California. 4.7% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in California.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Eureka, California.
Is commuting expensive in Eureka, California?
Commuters here spend an estimated 112 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,457 at a typical national wage. That's 43% less than the typical California commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Eureka, California?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Eureka, 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.