Yolo County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Yolo County, California: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 8:14 PM

How much time do drivers in Yolo County spend on the road daily?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:14 PM

Commute Time Burden in Yolo County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Yolo County spend about 40 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 167 hours, about 7.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 15% less time on the road than the California average of 23.5 minutes each way, a difference of 3.4 minutes.

Yolo County holds about 0.6% of California's population but accounts for roughly 0.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Yolo County would save about 67 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,074 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)
Yolo County	20.1 min	40.1 min	167 hrs/yr	$5,186	1,964
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.

Commute Time Map: California Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in California

Inyo County (11.1 min)
Mono County (12.0 min)
Del Norte County (12.1 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in California

Alpine County (31.3 min)
San Benito County (31.2 min)
Contra Costa County (31.0 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Yolo County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 20.1 minutes to get to work in Yolo County. That's 10% 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 18.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Yolo County

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Yolo County, versus 0.2% in California.

Biking is unusually common in Yolo County: 7.0 times more than the California average (4.9% vs 0.7%).

Commute Mode Trends in Yolo County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Yolo County 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	Bicycle	Walked	Public Transportation	Other	Motorcycle	Taxi
2009	81.3%	3.5%	6.9%	3.4%	3.4%	1.0%	0.3%	0.1%
2010	80.2%	3.7%	7.8%	3.5%	3.7%	0.9%	0.3%	0.1%
2011	80.2%	3.8%	8.0%	3.0%	3.8%	0.6%	0.4%	0.1%
2012	79.6%	4.3%	8.6%	2.8%	3.8%	0.6%	0.3%	0.0%
2013	79.3%	4.4%	9.2%	2.7%	3.7%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%
2014	78.8%	4.1%	9.4%	3.1%	3.6%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%
2015	78.6%	4.2%	9.2%	3.2%	3.7%	0.5%	0.5%	0.0%
2016	78.1%	4.6%	9.1%	3.4%	3.9%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%
2017	78.5%	5.0%	8.3%	3.3%	3.9%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%
2018	78.0%	5.5%	8.0%	3.2%	4.2%	0.6%	0.4%	0.1%
2019	78.9%	6.0%	7.3%	2.6%	4.2%	0.5%	0.5%	0.1%
2020	76.6%	9.5%	6.3%	2.2%	4.2%	0.7%	0.4%	0.1%
2021	74.5%	12.5%	5.8%	2.2%	3.6%	1.0%	0.4%	0.1%
2022	73.5%	14.6%	5.5%	2.0%	3.0%	1.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2023	70.9%	17.2%	5.1%	2.8%	2.4%	1.3%	0.2%	0.0%
2024	69.3%	18.1%	4.9%	3.3%	2.8%	1.5%	0.1%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 81.3% in 2009 to 69.3% in 2024, down 12.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Yolo County: its share of workers rose from 3.5% in 2009 to 18.1% in 2024, up 14.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 12.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Biking lost the most ground, falling from 6.9% to 4.9% of workers (down 2.0 percentage points).

Working from home overtook biking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Yolo County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Yolo County?

The bars show when commuters in Yolo County 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		5.5%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.6%
5:30-5:59 AM		4.5%
6:00-6:29 AM		7.2%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.4%
7:00-7:29 AM		11.0%
7:30-7:59 AM		13.6%
8:00-8:29 AM		12.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		7.5%
9:00-9:59 AM		7.9%
10:00-10:59 AM		4.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.2%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.6%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.7%

Yolo County California Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Yolo County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 13.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 10.2% across California. Early starts are less common than in California: 13.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.8% there. The morning rush looks much like California's: 44.9% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.3% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.7%) 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 Yolo County, 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 Yolo County 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 Yolo County 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	Yolo County	California	United States
2009	7:50 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:49 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:51 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:50 AM	7:42 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:50 AM	7:43 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:49 AM	7:43 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:51 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:50 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:51 AM	7:42 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:51 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:51 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:50 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:48 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:46 AM	7:43 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:50 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:54 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Yolo County were on the road by 7:54 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:50 AM). Across California the shift was bigger still, with the typical start moving 6 minutes later. Commuters in Yolo County now leave 16 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 Yolo County has moved 3 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Yolo County in the whole series.

How does Yolo County's commute time compare?

Metric	Yolo County	California	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	20.1 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	18.1%	17.2%	15.0%
Walked	3.3%	2.4%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.8%	2.9%	3.2%

The average commute time in Yolo County is 20.1 minutes, shorter than the 23.5 minutes in California.

2.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.9% in California. 3.3% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in California.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Yolo County, CA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Yolo County, CA is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 220,537 residents against a local median of 134,769. Where Yolo County, CA breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 48% above the local median of 12.3% at 18.1%.

The counties themselves spread 13.8% on work from home, so Yolo County, CA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Yolo County, CA has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Yolo County, CA	220,537	20.1 min #2/6	18.1% #2/6	7:54 AM #5/6
Sutter County, CA	98,856	20.8 min	7.7%	7:25 AM
Solano County, CA	451,581	23.7 min	12.3%	7:32 AM
Napa County, CA	134,769	20.3 min	14.6%	7:54 AM
Colusa County, CA	21,984	18.6 min	5.3%	6:59 AM
Sacramento County, CA	1,591,938	23.1 min	19.1%	7:43 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Yolo County, California.

Is commuting expensive in Yolo County, California?

Commuters here spend an estimated 167 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,186 at a typical national wage. That's 15% less than the typical California commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Yolo County, California?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Yolo County, 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.

Which counties in California have the fastest and slowest commutes?

Among counties in California, the shortest average commutes are in Inyo County (11.1 min), Mono County (12.0 min), Del Norte County (12.1 min). The longest are in Alpine County (31.3 min), San Benito County (31.2 min), Contra Costa County (31.0 min).