Commuting in Mesa 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 Mesa County?
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Commute Time Burden in Mesa County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Mesa County spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 135 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 27% less time on the road than the Colorado average of 22.0 minutes each way, a difference of 5.9 minutes.
Mesa County holds about 2.7% of Colorado's population but accounts for roughly 2.0% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Mesa County would save about 54 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,669 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)
Mesa County
16.2 min
32.3 min
135 hrs/yr
$4,173
971
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
16.2
minutes to get to work in
Mesa County.
That's 28% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 13.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Mesa County
Car:
80.4%
Worked at Home:
13.7%
Walked:
2.3%
Bicycle:
1.4%
Other:
1.2%
Public Transportation:
0.7%
Motorcycle:
0.3%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Mesa County: 3.2 times less than the Colorado average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Commute Mode Trends in Mesa County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Mesa 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
Walked
Bicycle
Other
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
88.5%
5.3%
3.0%
1.4%
0.7%
0.5%
0.6%
0.0%
2010
89.6%
5.0%
2.4%
1.2%
0.6%
0.5%
0.6%
0.0%
2011
89.9%
5.0%
2.2%
1.2%
0.7%
0.5%
0.5%
0.0%
2012
89.7%
4.6%
2.5%
1.3%
0.8%
0.5%
0.4%
0.0%
2013
89.5%
4.8%
2.5%
1.4%
1.0%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
2014
88.7%
5.1%
2.8%
1.5%
1.2%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2015
88.5%
5.1%
2.9%
1.2%
1.3%
0.5%
0.4%
0.0%
2016
87.5%
5.6%
3.4%
1.2%
1.3%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
2017
87.1%
6.2%
3.7%
0.9%
1.3%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2018
87.0%
6.5%
3.1%
0.9%
1.6%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
2019
87.1%
7.2%
2.7%
0.8%
1.6%
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
2020
85.3%
8.2%
3.1%
1.1%
1.7%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2021
83.6%
10.0%
2.5%
1.1%
1.8%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
2022
81.8%
12.0%
1.9%
1.4%
1.9%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
2023
80.7%
13.1%
2.4%
1.3%
1.4%
0.8%
0.3%
0.0%
2024
80.4%
13.7%
2.3%
1.4%
1.2%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2011 at 89.9%. Overall it fell from 88.5% in 2009 to 80.4% in 2024, down 8.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Mesa County: its share of workers rose from 5.3% in 2009 to 13.7% in 2024, up 8.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.0% to 2.3% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Mesa County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Mesa County?
The bars show when commuters in Mesa 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 AMMesa County7.0%Colorado4.6%
7.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMMesa County2.4%Colorado3.6%
2.4%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMMesa County5.0%Colorado5.0%
5.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMMesa County6.5%Colorado8.5%
6.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMMesa County12.4%Colorado10.2%
12.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMMesa County12.3%Colorado15.3%
12.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMMesa County18.0%Colorado12.8%
18.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMMesa County9.7%Colorado11.8%
9.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMMesa County5.6%Colorado5.4%
5.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMMesa County6.2%Colorado6.9%
6.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMMesa County2.6%Colorado3.2%
2.6%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMMesa County1.2%Colorado1.5%
1.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMMesa County5.7%Colorado6.0%
5.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMMesa County5.3%Colorado5.2%
5.3%
Mesa CountyColoradoSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Mesa County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 18.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.8% across Colorado. Early starts are more common than in Colorado: 14.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Colorado: 52.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.1% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.0%) 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 Mesa 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 Mesa 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 Mesa 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
Mesa County
Colorado
United States
2009
7:35 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
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:36 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:36 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:38 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:39 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:38 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:36 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Mesa County were on the road by 7:37 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:35 AM). Across Colorado, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Mesa County now leave at about the same time as the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Mesa County's commute time compare?
Metric
Mesa County
Colorado
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.2 min
22.0 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
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
13.7%
21.0%
15.0%
Walked
2.3%
2.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.7%
1.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Mesa County is 16.2 minutes, shorter than the 22.0 minutes in Colorado.
0.7% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.6% in Colorado. 2.3% commute by walking, lower than the 2.5% in Colorado.
Mesa County, CO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Mesa County, CO is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 158,600 residents against a local median of 31,598. Mesa County, CO's work from home, at 13.7%, runs 18% above the 11.5% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 6.9% on work from home, so Mesa County, CO sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Mesa County, CO has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Mesa County, Colorado.
Is commuting expensive in Mesa County, Colorado?
Commuters here spend an estimated 135 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,173 at a typical national wage. That's 27% less than the typical Colorado commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Mesa County, Colorado?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Mesa County, Colorado. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 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).