San Carlos Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in San Carlos, 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 San Carlos: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in San Carlos spend about 44 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 184 hours, about 7.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% less time on the road than the California average of 23.5 minutes each way, a difference of 1.4 minutes.
San Carlos 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 San Carlos would save about 74 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,285 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Carlos | 22.1 min | 44.2 min | 184 hrs/yr | $5,711 | 3,072 |
| 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.
San Carlos Commute Map
On average, it takes 22.1 minutes to get to work in San Carlos. That's 1% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 34.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in San Carlos
- Car: 56.2% unusually low
- Worked at Home: 34.9%
- Public Transportation: 3.3%
- Other: 2.5%
- Bicycle: 1.6%
- Walked: 1.3%
- Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in San Carlos: 11.0 times less than the California average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Driving is 25% less common in San Carlos than the California average (56.2% vs 75.2%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in San Carlos: 4.2 times less than the California average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in San Carlos, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in San Carlos 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 | Other | Bicycle | Walked | Taxi | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 84.9% | 5.5% | 5.3% | 0.6% | 1.3% | 2.3% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2010 | 85.8% | 5.0% | 5.2% | 0.5% | 1.1% | 2.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2011 | 85.0% | 6.1% | 5.5% | 0.5% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2012 | 85.1% | 6.2% | 5.5% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.6% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2013 | 84.9% | 6.8% | 5.1% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 1.4% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2014 | 84.2% | 7.5% | 5.3% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 0.3% |
| 2015 | 83.1% | 8.0% | 5.7% | 0.6% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 0.0% | 0.3% |
| 2016 | 82.6% | 6.7% | 7.1% | 0.6% | 1.0% | 1.7% | 0.0% | 0.3% |
| 2017 | 80.8% | 7.5% | 7.8% | 0.5% | 1.2% | 2.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| 2018 | 79.8% | 7.5% | 8.0% | 0.7% | 1.2% | 2.3% | 0.1% | 0.4% |
| 2019 | 78.5% | 8.4% | 8.0% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 3.0% | 0.1% | 0.4% |
| 2020 | 71.6% | 15.6% | 7.0% | 1.6% | 1.0% | 2.8% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| 2021 | 65.3% | 23.6% | 5.5% | 2.0% | 1.0% | 2.2% | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| 2022 | 61.0% | 29.3% | 3.6% | 2.7% | 1.2% | 1.8% | 0.0% | 0.3% |
| 2023 | 57.9% | 32.4% | 3.7% | 2.4% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2024 | 56.2% | 34.9% | 3.3% | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 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 2010 at 85.8%. Overall it fell from 84.9% in 2009 to 56.2% in 2024, down 28.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 12 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in San Carlos: its share of workers rose from 5.5% in 2009 to 34.9% in 2024, up 29.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 26.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 5.3% to 3.3% of workers (down 2.0 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in San Carlos
What Time Do People Leave for Work in San Carlos?
The bars show when commuters in San Carlos 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
San Carlos2.6%
California6.7%
|
2.6% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
San Carlos1.3%
California4.5%
|
1.3% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
San Carlos2.3%
California4.5%
|
2.3% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
San Carlos4.1%
California8.4%
|
4.1% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
San Carlos5.8%
California7.5%
|
5.8% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
San Carlos10.7%
California13.1%
|
10.7% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
San Carlos14.3%
California10.2%
|
14.3% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
San Carlos22.8%
California12.6%
|
22.8% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
San Carlos11.5%
California5.8%
|
11.5% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
San Carlos12.7%
California8.6%
|
12.7% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
San Carlos4.5%
California3.9%
|
4.5% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
San Carlos1.6%
California1.8%
|
1.6% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
San Carlos4.1%
California6.9%
|
4.1% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
San Carlos1.7%
California5.5%
|
1.7% |
San Carlos California Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in San Carlos is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 22.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.6% across California. Early starts are less common than in California: 6.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.8% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in California: 53.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.3% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.6%) 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 San Carlos, 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 San Carlos 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 San Carlos 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 | San Carlos | California | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:58 AM | 7:39 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 8:03 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 8:05 AM | 7:41 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 8:07 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 8:08 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 8:07 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 8:07 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 8:07 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 8:05 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 8:06 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 8:05 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 8:07 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 8:06 AM | 7:42 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 8:09 AM | 7:43 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 8:10 AM | 7:44 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 8:12 AM | 7:45 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in San Carlos were on the road by 8:12 AM, 14 minutes later than in 2009 (7:58 AM). The shift is sharper than across California, where the typical start moved 6 minutes later. Commuters in San Carlos now leave 34 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 San Carlos has moved 7 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for San Carlos in the whole series.
How does San Carlos's commute time compare?
| Metric | San Carlos | California | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 22.1 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 | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 34.9% | 17.2% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 1.3% | 2.4% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 3.3% | 2.9% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in San Carlos is 22.1 minutes, shorter than the 23.5 minutes in California.
3.3% commute by public transit, higher than the 2.9% in California. 1.3% commute by walking, lower than the 2.4% in California.
San Carlos, CA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
San Carlos, CA is the 3rd largest of the 4 cities compared here, 27,659 residents against a local median of 82,255. San Carlos, CA's work from home, at 34.9%, runs 31% above the 26.7% typical of the cities around it.
The cities themselves spread 8.8% on work from home, so San Carlos, CA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. San Carlos, CA has the highest work from home of the 4 areas compared here.
| Area | Population | One-way commute | Work from home | Typical departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Carlos, CA | 27,659 | 22.1 min #1/4 | 34.9% #1/4 | 8:12 AM #2/4 |
| Belmont, CA | 24,586 | 25.4 min | 33.5% | 8:14 AM |
| Redwood City, CA | 82,255 | 22.3 min | 26.7% | 8:10 AM |
| San Mateo, CA | 101,951 | 23.2 min | 24.7% | 8:12 AM |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in San Carlos, California.
What is the financial impact of commuting in San Carlos, California?
Commuters here spend an estimated 184 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,711 at a typical national wage. That's 6% less than the typical California commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in San Carlos, California?
Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in San Carlos, California. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Is San Carlos, California a good location for remote and hybrid workers?
About 34.9% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in San Carlos would save about 74 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,285 at the same national wage assumption used above.