Colorado Springs Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 10/21/26, 7:56 PM

How much time do drivers in Colorado Springs spend on the road daily?

Map AI 10/21/26, 7:56 PM

Commute Time Burden in Colorado Springs: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Colorado Springs spend about 41 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 172 hours, about 7.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% less time on the road than the Colorado average of 22.0 minutes each way, a difference of 1.4 minutes.

Colorado Springs holds about 8.0% of Colorado's population but accounts for roughly 7.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Colorado Springs would save about 69 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,134 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)
Colorado Springs	20.7 min	41.3 min	172 hrs/yr	$5,336	2,830
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.

Colorado Springs Commute Map

On average, it takes 20.7 minutes to get to work in Colorado Springs. That's 8% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 17.2% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Colorado Springs

Public transit is unusually rare in Colorado Springs: 3.3 times less than the Colorado average (0.5% vs 1.6%).

Commute Mode Trends in Colorado Springs, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Colorado Springs 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	Walked	Other	Public Transportation	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	89.6%	4.8%	2.4%	0.6%	1.6%	0.5%	0.1%	0.5%
2010	89.4%	4.9%	2.6%	0.6%	1.6%	0.5%	0.1%	0.4%
2011	89.4%	4.8%	2.7%	0.7%	1.3%	0.6%	0.1%	0.4%
2012	89.4%	5.1%	2.6%	0.8%	1.2%	0.5%	0.0%	0.4%
2013	89.4%	5.2%	2.5%	0.8%	1.1%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%
2014	89.9%	5.1%	2.2%	0.8%	1.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.3%
2015	90.0%	5.2%	1.9%	0.8%	1.1%	0.6%	0.0%	0.3%
2016	89.9%	5.6%	1.9%	0.7%	1.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%
2017	89.6%	5.9%	1.8%	0.7%	1.2%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%
2018	89.5%	6.1%	2.0%	0.6%	1.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%
2019	88.8%	6.8%	2.0%	0.6%	1.0%	0.6%	0.1%	0.1%
2020	86.8%	9.0%	1.9%	0.7%	0.9%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2021	84.8%	11.1%	1.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2022	82.6%	13.4%	1.9%	0.8%	0.6%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2023	80.4%	15.7%	1.8%	0.9%	0.5%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
2024	78.9%	17.2%	1.8%	0.9%	0.5%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2015 at 90.0%. Overall it fell from 89.6% in 2009 to 78.9% in 2024, down 10.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 9 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Colorado Springs: its share of workers rose from 4.8% in 2009 to 17.2% in 2024, up 12.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 10.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.6% to 0.5% of workers (down 1.1 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Colorado Springs

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Colorado Springs?

The bars show when commuters in Colorado Springs 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		3.8%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.8%
5:30-5:59 AM		5.6%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.0%
6:30-6:59 AM		11.2%
7:00-7:29 AM		15.8%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.8%
8:00-8:29 AM		11.3%
8:30-8:59 AM		5.0%
9:00-9:59 AM		6.9%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.2%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.6%

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

The busiest time to head out in Colorado Springs is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Colorado. Early starts are about as common as in Colorado: 12.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush looks much like Colorado's: 51.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.8%) 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 Colorado Springs, 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 Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs 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	Colorado Springs	Colorado	United States
2009	7:33 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:33 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:34 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:35 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:35 AM	7:37 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:36 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:36 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:35 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:35 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:35 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:35 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:36 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:35 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:36 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:37 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:37 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Colorado Springs were on the road by 7:37 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:33 AM). Across Colorado, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Colorado Springs now leave 1 minute 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 Colorado Springs has moved 2 minutes later.

How does Colorado Springs's commute time compare?

Metric	Colorado Springs	Colorado	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	20.7 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	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	17.2%	21.0%	15.0%
Walked	1.8%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.5%	1.6%	3.2%

The average commute time in Colorado Springs is 20.7 minutes, shorter than the 22.0 minutes in Colorado.

0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.6% in Colorado. 1.8% commute by walking, lower than the 2.5% in Colorado.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Colorado Springs, CO Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Colorado Springs, CO compares with the 2 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Colorado Springs, CO	466,797	20.7 min #1/3	17.2% #1/3	7:37 AM #3/3
Cimarron Hills, CO	22,094	22.0 min	12.6%	7:26 AM
Security-Widefield, CO	32,834	22.0 min	13.0%	7:20 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Colorado Springs, Colorado?

Commuters here spend an estimated 172 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,336 at a typical national wage. That's 6% less than the typical Colorado commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Colorado Springs, Colorado?

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

How common is public transit use in Colorado Springs, Colorado?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.5% of commuters use it versus 1.6% in Colorado, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.