Commuting in Garfield County, Colorado: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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What does a typical morning commute look like in Garfield County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:07 PM
Commute Time Burden in Garfield County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Garfield County spend about 51 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 212 hours, about 8.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 16% more time on the road than the Colorado average of 22.0 minutes each way, a difference of 3.4 minutes.
Garfield County holds about 1.1% of Colorado's population but accounts for roughly 1.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Garfield County would save about 85 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,631 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)
Garfield County
25.5 min
50.9 min
212 hrs/yr
$6,578
438
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.
On average, it takes
25.5
minutes to get to work in
Garfield County.
That's 14% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 89% 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 11.0% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Garfield County
Car:
83.2%
Worked at Home:
11.0%
Bicycle:
2.1%
Walked:
2.0%
Public Transportation:
1.1%
Other:
0.6%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Garfield County, versus 0.1% in Colorado.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Garfield County, versus 0.1% in Colorado.
Commute Mode Trends in Garfield County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Garfield 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
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
83.1%
6.5%
2.0%
4.2%
3.7%
0.2%
0.0%
0.3%
2010
82.3%
6.3%
1.7%
4.6%
4.6%
0.3%
0.0%
0.2%
2011
82.9%
5.6%
1.9%
4.3%
4.5%
0.7%
0.0%
0.1%
2012
82.2%
7.0%
1.6%
4.4%
4.1%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
2013
82.8%
6.2%
1.6%
4.1%
4.5%
0.7%
0.0%
0.1%
2014
83.4%
6.4%
1.6%
3.3%
4.2%
0.9%
0.0%
0.2%
2015
83.2%
6.7%
2.0%
2.8%
4.4%
0.8%
0.0%
0.2%
2016
83.0%
6.8%
1.7%
3.2%
4.1%
1.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2017
83.9%
6.8%
1.6%
2.7%
3.8%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2018
83.1%
7.4%
1.6%
3.0%
3.8%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2019
82.3%
7.5%
1.6%
3.5%
4.1%
0.9%
0.0%
0.1%
2020
81.9%
8.2%
2.1%
3.4%
3.6%
0.7%
0.0%
0.1%
2021
82.3%
8.8%
2.7%
2.9%
2.7%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
2022
81.2%
9.3%
3.1%
3.1%
2.7%
0.6%
0.0%
0.1%
2023
82.8%
10.0%
2.4%
2.5%
1.7%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
83.2%
11.0%
2.1%
2.0%
1.1%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2017 at 83.9% and lowest in 2022 at 81.2%. Overall it held roughly steady, at 83.1% in 2009 and 83.2% in 2024. It has risen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Garfield County: its share of workers rose from 6.5% in 2009 to 11.0% in 2024, up 4.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 3.7% to 1.1% of workers (down 2.6 percentage points).
Biking overtook public transit to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2022 release and has stayed ahead since.
Biking peaked at 3.1% in 2022 and has since fallen back to 2.1%.
Commute Start Times in Garfield County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Garfield County?
The bars show when commuters in Garfield 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
12:00-4:59 AMGarfield County3.8%Colorado4.6%
3.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMGarfield County4.6%Colorado3.6%
4.6%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMGarfield County5.3%Colorado5.0%
5.3%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMGarfield County7.7%Colorado8.5%
7.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMGarfield County11.9%Colorado10.2%
11.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMGarfield County18.4%Colorado15.3%
18.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMGarfield County12.9%Colorado12.8%
12.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMGarfield County13.7%Colorado11.8%
13.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMGarfield County5.9%Colorado5.4%
5.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMGarfield County5.9%Colorado6.9%
5.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMGarfield County1.6%Colorado3.2%
1.6%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMGarfield County1.1%Colorado1.5%
1.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMGarfield County5.3%Colorado6.0%
5.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMGarfield County1.9%Colorado5.2%
1.9%
Garfield CountyColoradoSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Garfield County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 18.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Colorado. Early starts are about as common as in Colorado: 13.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Colorado: 57.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.1% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (15.8%) 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 Garfield 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 Garfield 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 Garfield 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
Garfield County
Colorado
United States
2009
7:25 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:27 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:29 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:28 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:28 AM
7:37 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:27 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:25 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:22 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:23 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:23 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:21 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:20 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:23 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:25 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:24 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:27 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Garfield County were on the road by 7:27 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:25 AM). Across Colorado, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Garfield County 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 Garfield County has moved 6 minutes later.
How does Garfield County's commute time compare?
Metric
Garfield County
Colorado
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
25.5 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
11.0%
21.0%
15.0%
Walked
2.0%
2.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.1%
1.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Garfield County is 25.5 minutes, longer than the 22.0 minutes in Colorado.
1.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.6% in Colorado. 2.0% commute by walking, lower than the 2.5% in Colorado.
Garfield County, CO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Garfield County, CO is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 62,477 residents against a local median of 16,985. Garfield County, CO's one-way commute, at 25.5 min, runs 58% above the 16.2 min typical of the counties around it. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 11.0% against a local median of 13.7%, 20% below it. The counties themselves spread 9.1 min on one-way commute, so Garfield County, CO sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Garfield County, CO has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Garfield County, Colorado.
Is commuting expensive in Garfield County, Colorado?
Commuters here spend an estimated 212 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,578 at a typical national wage. That's 16% more than the typical Colorado commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Garfield County, Colorado?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Garfield 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.
How do commute times compare across 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).