Otero County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Otero County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Otero County spend about 25 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 104 hours, about 4.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 44% less time on the road than the Colorado average of 22.0 minutes each way, a difference of 9.6 minutes.

Otero County holds about 0.3% of Colorado's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Otero County would save about 42 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,287 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)
Otero County	12.5 min	24.9 min	104 hrs/yr	$3,216	189
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

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 12.5 minutes to get to work in Otero County. That's 44% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 73% of counties in Colorado

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 6.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Otero County

• Car: 88.0% unusually high
• Worked at Home: 6.1% unusually low
• Walked: 5.3%
• Other: 0.6%
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
• Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Otero County, versus 0.1% in Colorado.

Driving is 21% more common in Otero County than the Colorado average (88.0% vs 72.7%).

Public transit is essentially absent in Otero County, versus 1.6% in Colorado.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Otero County, versus 0.1% in Colorado.

Working from home is unusually rare in Otero County: 3.4 times less than the Colorado average (6.1% vs 21.0%).

Biking is essentially absent in Otero County, versus 0.9% in Colorado.

Commute Mode Trends in Otero County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Otero 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.

• Car
• Worked at Home
• Walked
• Other
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Motorcycle
• Bicycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Walked	Other	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	87.6%	4.4%	5.4%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.7%	1.2%
2010	86.2%	6.1%	4.9%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%	1.1%
2011	85.7%	6.6%	4.6%	1.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.5%	1.2%
2012	88.2%	5.2%	3.8%	1.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%	0.8%
2013	86.6%	7.1%	4.5%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.4%
2014	87.7%	7.3%	3.7%	0.8%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%
2015	88.4%	6.8%	3.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%	0.5%
2016	89.5%	5.6%	3.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.7%
2017	89.7%	5.2%	3.8%	0.5%	0.1%	0.0%	0.3%	0.5%
2018	89.2%	4.4%	3.7%	1.8%	0.3%	0.0%	0.3%	0.2%
2019	88.7%	4.2%	2.9%	3.2%	0.1%	0.4%	0.2%	0.3%
2020	90.1%	3.9%	2.4%	2.8%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%	0.2%
2021	90.4%	3.7%	2.4%	2.6%	0.1%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%
2022	88.5%	3.9%	4.5%	2.4%	0.1%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	88.9%	5.6%	4.0%	1.0%	0.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	88.0%	6.1%	5.3%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	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 2021 at 90.4% and lowest in 2011 at 85.7%. Overall it held roughly steady, at 87.6% in 2009 and 88.0% in 2024. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Otero County: its share of workers rose from 4.4% in 2009 to 6.1% in 2024, up 1.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Biking lost the most ground, falling from 1.2% to 0.0% of workers (down 1.2 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.

Working from home peaked at 7.3% in 2014 and has since fallen back to 6.1%.

Commute Start Times in Otero County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Otero County?

The bars show when commuters in Otero 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 AM Otero County4.0% Colorado4.6%	4.0%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Otero County2.5% Colorado3.6%	2.5%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Otero County7.0% Colorado5.0%	7.0%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Otero County12.0% Colorado8.5%	12.0%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Otero County14.0% Colorado10.2%	14.0%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Otero County11.8% Colorado15.3%	11.8%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Otero County23.2% Colorado12.8%	23.2%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Otero County8.8% Colorado11.8%	8.8%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Otero County2.1% Colorado5.4%	2.1%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Otero County3.4% Colorado6.9%	3.4%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Otero County1.7% Colorado3.2%	1.7%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Otero County0.4% Colorado1.5%	0.4%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Otero County4.6% Colorado6.0%	4.6%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Otero County4.5% Colorado5.2%	4.5%

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

The busiest time to head out in Otero County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 23.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.8% 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 concentrated than in Colorado: 57.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.1% there. About 1 in 7 commuters (14.7%) 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 Otero 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 Otero 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 Otero 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.

• Otero County
• Colorado
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Otero County	Colorado	United States
2009	7:37 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:39 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:40 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:35 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:38 AM	7:37 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:36 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:33 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:31 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:32 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:23 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:20 AM	7:34 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:21 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:18 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:10 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:19 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:27 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Otero County were on the road by 7:27 AM, 10 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:37 AM). Across Colorado, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Otero 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 Otero County has moved 7 minutes later.

How does Otero County's commute time compare?

Metric	Otero County	Colorado	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	12.5 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	6.1%	21.0%	15.0%
Walked	5.3%	2.5%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	1.6%	3.2%

The average commute time in Otero County is 12.5 minutes, shorter than the 22.0 minutes in Colorado.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.6% in Colorado. 5.3% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in Colorado.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau