Imperial Beach Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Imperial Beach, 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 Imperial Beach: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Imperial Beach spend about 52 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 219 hours, about 9.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 12% more time on the road than the California average of 23.5 minutes each way, a difference of 2.8 minutes.
Imperial Beach holds about 0.1% of California's population and accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Imperial Beach would save about 87 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,711 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imperial Beach | 26.2 min | 52.5 min | 219 hrs/yr | $6,777 | 7,401 |
| 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.
Imperial Beach Commute Map
On average, it takes 26.2 minutes to get to work in Imperial Beach. That's 17% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 10.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Imperial Beach
- Car: 80.4%
- Worked at Home: 10.6%
- Public Transportation: 4.0%
- Walked: 3.5%
- Other: 0.6%
- Motorcycle: 0.5%
- Bicycle: 0.3%
- Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Imperial Beach: 12.3 times less than the California average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Imperial Beach, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Imperial Beach 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 | Public Transportation | Walked | Other | Motorcycle | Bicycle | Taxi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 85.4% | 4.1% | 6.7% | 2.3% | 0.4% | 0.8% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2010 | 84.8% | 4.0% | 6.6% | 2.2% | 0.3% | 1.3% | 0.9% | 0.0% |
| 2011 | 85.7% | 3.0% | 6.3% | 2.1% | 0.7% | 1.2% | 1.1% | 0.0% |
| 2012 | 87.4% | 2.1% | 5.8% | 1.9% | 0.5% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 0.0% |
| 2013 | 85.5% | 3.2% | 5.7% | 2.4% | 0.3% | 1.3% | 1.6% | 0.0% |
| 2014 | 87.4% | 3.4% | 4.5% | 1.9% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 1.4% | 0.0% |
| 2015 | 86.5% | 3.6% | 4.1% | 2.8% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 1.4% | 0.0% |
| 2016 | 86.3% | 3.9% | 3.7% | 3.0% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 1.3% | 0.0% |
| 2017 | 85.9% | 4.0% | 4.2% | 3.0% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 1.4% | 0.0% |
| 2018 | 85.4% | 4.1% | 5.0% | 2.6% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 1.2% | 0.0% |
| 2019 | 84.9% | 4.1% | 5.0% | 2.3% | 1.5% | 0.8% | 1.4% | 0.0% |
| 2020 | 84.7% | 6.1% | 4.9% | 2.3% | 1.3% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.0% |
| 2021 | 83.3% | 7.7% | 5.0% | 2.4% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.0% |
| 2022 | 82.0% | 7.6% | 4.9% | 3.9% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.9% | 0.0% |
| 2023 | 81.3% | 9.2% | 4.4% | 3.4% | 0.9% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 0.0% |
| 2024 | 80.4% | 10.6% | 4.0% | 3.5% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2012 at 87.4%. Overall it fell from 85.4% in 2009 to 80.4% in 2024, down 5.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 10 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Imperial Beach: its share of workers rose from 4.1% in 2009 to 10.6% in 2024, up 6.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 6.7% to 4.0% of workers (down 2.7 percentage points).
Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Biking peaked at 1.6% in 2013 and has since fallen back to 0.3%.
Commute Start Times in Imperial Beach
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Imperial Beach?
The bars show when commuters in Imperial Beach 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
Imperial Beach5.7%
California6.7%
|
5.7% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Imperial Beach6.7%
California4.5%
|
6.7% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Imperial Beach8.1%
California4.5%
|
8.1% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Imperial Beach11.1%
California8.4%
|
11.1% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Imperial Beach7.4%
California7.5%
|
7.4% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Imperial Beach12.2%
California13.1%
|
12.2% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Imperial Beach8.2%
California10.2%
|
8.2% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Imperial Beach12.5%
California12.6%
|
12.5% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Imperial Beach4.1%
California5.8%
|
4.1% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Imperial Beach5.9%
California8.6%
|
5.9% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Imperial Beach3.5%
California3.9%
|
3.5% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Imperial Beach2.5%
California1.8%
|
2.5% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Imperial Beach6.4%
California6.9%
|
6.4% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Imperial Beach5.8%
California5.5%
|
5.8% |
Imperial Beach California Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Imperial Beach is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 12.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.6% across California. Early starts are more common than in California: 20.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.8% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in California: 40.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.3% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.0%) 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 Imperial Beach, 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 Imperial Beach 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 Imperial Beach 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 | Imperial Beach | California | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:11 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 7:14 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:17 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 7:22 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:13 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:20 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:24 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:16 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:20 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:23 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:25 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:23 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:24 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:23 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:22 AM | 7:44 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:27 AM | 7:45 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Imperial Beach were on the road by 7:27 AM, 17 minutes later than in 2009 (7:11 AM). The shift is sharper than across California, where the typical start moved 6 minutes later. Commuters in Imperial Beach now leave 11 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 Imperial Beach has moved 2 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Imperial Beach in the whole series.
How does Imperial Beach's commute time compare?
| Metric | Imperial Beach | California | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 26.2 min | 23.5 min | 22.4 min |
| Departure Window | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM |
| Secondary Departure Window | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 10.6% | 17.2% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 3.5% | 2.4% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 4.0% | 2.9% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Imperial Beach is 26.2 minutes, longer than the 23.5 minutes in California.
4.0% commute by public transit, higher than the 2.9% in California. 3.5% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in California.
Imperial Beach, CA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
Imperial Beach, CA is the smallest of the 4 cities compared here, 25,196 residents against a local median of 57,784. Imperial Beach, CA sits close to the middle of its own neighbourhood. No measure below is more than 15% off the local median, so the choice between these cities turns on things this data does not capture.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 11% above the local median at 26.2 min against 23.6 min. Imperial Beach, CA has the 4th lowest one-way commute of the 4 areas compared here.
| Area | Population | One-way commute | Work from home | Typical departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imperial Beach, CA | 25,196 | 26.2 min #4/4 | 10.6% #2/4 | 7:27 AM #3/4 |
| National City, CA | 57,784 | 22.4 min | 6.8% | 7:13 AM |
| Chula Vista, CA | 265,525 | 25.6 min | 12.4% | 7:29 AM |
| La Presa, CA | 34,750 | 23.6 min | 9.7% | 7:16 AM |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Imperial Beach, California.
Is living in Imperial Beach, California good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 219 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,777 at a typical national wage. That's 12% more than the typical California commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Imperial Beach, California?
Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Imperial Beach, California. 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.