Arapahoe County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 8:37 PM

How long is the round-trip commute in Arapahoe County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:37 PM

Commute Time Burden in Arapahoe County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Arapahoe County spend about 50 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 210 hours, about 8.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 14% more time on the road than the Colorado average of 22.0 minutes each way, a difference of 3.1 minutes.

Arapahoe County holds about 11.1% of Colorado's population but accounts for roughly 12.7% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Arapahoe County would save about 84 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,600 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)
Arapahoe County	25.2 min	50.3 min	210 hrs/yr	$6,499	3,291
Colorado	22.0 min	44.1 min	184 hrs/yr	$5,694	1,277
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: Colorado Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Colorado

Hinsdale County (6.6 min)
Prowers County (7.6 min)
Cheyenne County (7.7 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Colorado

Park County (42.5 min)
Elbert County (41.5 min)
Teller County (31.3 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Arapahoe County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 25.2 minutes to get to work in Arapahoe County. That's 12% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 87% of counties in Colorado

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 21.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Arapahoe County

Biking is unusually rare in Arapahoe County: 3.0 times less than the Colorado average (0.3% vs 0.9%).

Commute Mode Trends in Arapahoe County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Arapahoe 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	Public Transportation	Walked	Other	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	87.1%	5.2%	4.3%	1.9%	0.8%	0.1%	0.4%	0.3%
2010	87.1%	5.2%	4.4%	1.8%	0.8%	0.0%	0.5%	0.2%
2011	87.1%	5.2%	4.5%	1.7%	0.7%	0.1%	0.4%	0.3%
2012	87.1%	5.1%	4.7%	1.6%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%	0.3%
2013	86.7%	5.5%	4.7%	1.6%	0.7%	0.1%	0.4%	0.3%
2014	86.9%	5.6%	4.6%	1.5%	0.7%	0.1%	0.4%	0.2%
2015	86.6%	5.9%	4.7%	1.5%	0.7%	0.1%	0.4%	0.2%
2016	86.1%	6.4%	4.6%	1.6%	0.7%	0.0%	0.3%	0.2%
2017	85.9%	6.9%	4.4%	1.5%	0.8%	0.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2018	86.0%	7.0%	4.2%	1.5%	0.8%	0.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2019	85.6%	7.4%	4.1%	1.5%	0.8%	0.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2020	83.3%	10.0%	3.6%	1.5%	0.9%	0.1%	0.4%	0.2%
2021	79.7%	13.9%	3.4%	1.4%	0.9%	0.1%	0.4%	0.2%
2022	77.7%	16.4%	2.9%	1.4%	0.9%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%
2023	75.3%	18.7%	2.8%	1.5%	1.0%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%
2024	73.2%	21.1%	2.5%	1.4%	1.0%	0.4%	0.3%	0.2%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 87.1% in 2009 to 73.2% in 2024, down 13.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Arapahoe County: its share of workers rose from 5.2% in 2009 to 21.1% in 2024, up 15.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 13.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 4.3% to 2.5% of workers (down 1.8 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Arapahoe County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Arapahoe County?

The bars show when commuters in Arapahoe 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 Colorado for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		5.4%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.3%
5:30-5:59 AM		4.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.3%
6:30-6:59 AM		10.0%
7:00-7:29 AM		14.0%
7:30-7:59 AM		11.8%
8:00-8:29 AM		12.0%
8:30-8:59 AM		5.1%
9:00-9:59 AM		7.5%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.1%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.1%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.4%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.2%

Arapahoe County Colorado Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Arapahoe County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Colorado. Early starts are about as common as in Colorado: 13.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Colorado: 47.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.3%) 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 Arapahoe 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 Arapahoe 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 Arapahoe County next to Colorado 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	Arapahoe County	Colorado	United States
2009	7:38 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:39 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:39 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:38 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:37 AM	7:37 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:35 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:34 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:31 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:30 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:31 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:30 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:33 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:33 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:35 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:37 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:38 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Arapahoe County were on the road by 7:38 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Colorado, the typical start barely moved either. Commuters in Arapahoe County now leave at about the same time as the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Arapahoe County has moved 8 minutes later.

How does Arapahoe County's commute time compare?

Metric	Arapahoe County	Colorado	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	25.2 min	22.0 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	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	21.1%	21.0%	15.0%
Walked	1.4%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.5%	1.6%	3.2%

The average commute time in Arapahoe County is 25.2 minutes, longer than the 22.0 minutes in Colorado.

2.5% commute by public transit, higher than the 1.6% in Colorado. 1.4% commute by walking, lower than the 2.5% in Colorado.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Arapahoe County, CO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Arapahoe County, CO is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 647,849 residents against a local median of 377,140. Where Arapahoe County, CO breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 23% below the local median of 27.3% at 21.1%.

The counties themselves spread 15.2% on work from home, so Arapahoe County, CO sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Arapahoe County, CO has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Arapahoe County, CO	647,849	25.2 min #4/6	21.1% #5/6	7:38 AM #4/6
Adams County, CO	525,525	28.3 min	15.3%	7:17 AM
Elbert County, CO	27,839	41.5 min	21.3%	7:06 AM
Denver County, CO	718,150	22.9 min	27.3%	7:47 AM
Douglas County, CO	377,140	23.6 min	30.5%	7:37 AM
Broomfield County, CO	76,305	22.9 min	29.9%	7:51 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Arapahoe County, Colorado.

Is living in Arapahoe County, Colorado good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 210 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,499 at a typical national wage. That's 14% more than the typical Colorado commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Arapahoe County, Colorado?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Arapahoe County, Colorado. 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.

Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Colorado?

Among counties in Colorado, the shortest average commutes are in Hinsdale County (6.6 min), Prowers County (7.6 min), Cheyenne County (7.7 min). The longest are in Park County (42.5 min), Elbert County (41.5 min), Teller County (31.3 min).