Commuting in Summit County, Colorado: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 1:31 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Summit County?
Map AI9/24/26, 1:31 PM
Commute Time Burden in Summit County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Summit County spend about 35 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 145 hours, about 6.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 21% less time on the road than the Colorado average of 22.0 minutes each way, a difference of 4.7 minutes.
Summit County holds about 0.5% of Colorado's population but accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Summit County would save about 58 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,794 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)
Summit County
17.4 min
34.7 min
145 hrs/yr
$4,485
1,454
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
17.4
minutes to get to work in
Summit County.
That's 23% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 23.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Summit County
Car:
64.7%
Worked at Home:
23.7%
Walked:
6.0%
Public Transportation:
4.0%
Bicycle:
1.3%
Other:
0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Summit County, versus 0.1% in Colorado.
Commute Mode Trends in Summit County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Summit 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
Public Transportation
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Other
Taxi
2009
77.8%
8.1%
6.4%
5.6%
1.0%
0.5%
0.6%
0.0%
2010
73.7%
9.5%
6.5%
7.5%
1.6%
0.3%
1.0%
0.0%
2011
74.8%
8.1%
7.1%
7.1%
1.8%
0.2%
1.0%
0.0%
2012
74.1%
9.3%
7.5%
6.0%
1.9%
0.4%
0.7%
0.0%
2013
72.1%
9.2%
8.8%
7.1%
1.8%
0.3%
0.7%
0.0%
2014
71.9%
8.4%
9.1%
7.4%
1.9%
0.3%
0.7%
0.1%
2015
75.8%
8.0%
7.7%
5.5%
2.0%
0.4%
0.5%
0.1%
2016
76.2%
7.9%
7.7%
5.4%
1.8%
0.4%
0.5%
0.1%
2017
76.3%
8.1%
7.1%
6.7%
1.2%
0.0%
0.5%
0.1%
2018
79.8%
8.9%
4.5%
4.9%
0.9%
0.0%
0.9%
0.1%
2019
79.3%
10.3%
5.3%
4.3%
0.4%
0.0%
0.4%
0.0%
2020
72.1%
12.6%
6.2%
7.6%
1.2%
0.0%
0.4%
0.0%
2021
70.5%
15.3%
3.8%
8.8%
1.3%
0.0%
0.4%
0.0%
2022
70.6%
19.3%
3.8%
4.7%
1.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
69.2%
21.4%
3.3%
4.5%
1.4%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
64.7%
23.7%
6.0%
4.0%
1.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2018 at 79.8%. Overall it fell from 77.8% in 2009 to 64.7% in 2024, down 13.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Summit County: its share of workers rose from 8.1% in 2009 to 23.7% in 2024, up 15.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 13.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 5.6% to 4.0% of workers (down 1.6 percentage points).
Walking peaked at 9.1% in 2014 and has since fallen back to 6.0%.
Commute Start Times in Summit County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Summit County?
The bars show when commuters in Summit 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 AMSummit County2.3%Colorado4.6%
2.3%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSummit County2.7%Colorado3.6%
2.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSummit County3.7%Colorado5.0%
3.7%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSummit County5.0%Colorado8.5%
5.0%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSummit County8.5%Colorado10.2%
8.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSummit County18.4%Colorado15.3%
18.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSummit County14.0%Colorado12.8%
14.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSummit County18.2%Colorado11.8%
18.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSummit County7.9%Colorado5.4%
7.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSummit County8.8%Colorado6.9%
8.8%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSummit County3.2%Colorado3.2%
3.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSummit County0.2%Colorado1.5%
0.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSummit County5.2%Colorado6.0%
5.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSummit County2.0%Colorado5.2%
2.0%
Summit CountyColoradoSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Summit County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 18.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Colorado. Early starts are less common than in Colorado: 8.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Colorado: 59.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.1% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.4%) 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 Summit 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 Summit 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 Summit 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
Summit County
Colorado
United States
2009
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:57 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2011
8:02 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2012
8:01 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2013
8:04 AM
7:37 AM
7:39 AM
2014
8:05 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2015
8:05 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:59 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2017
8:07 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
8:02 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
8:00 AM
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:55 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:53 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:48 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:46 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:50 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Summit County were on the road by 7:50 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:55 AM). Across Colorado, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Summit County now leave 12 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Summit County has moved 9 minutes earlier.
How does Summit County's commute time compare?
Metric
Summit County
Colorado
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
17.4 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
23.7%
21.0%
15.0%
Walked
6.0%
2.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
4.0%
1.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Summit County is 17.4 minutes, shorter than the 22.0 minutes in Colorado.
4.0% commute by public transit, higher than the 1.6% in Colorado. 6.0% commute by walking, higher than the 2.5% in Colorado.
Summit County, CO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Summit County, CO is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 31,017 residents against a local median of 9,259. The measure that sets Summit County, CO apart most is work from home: 23.7%, 51% above the local median of 15.7%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 17.4 min against a local median of 20.7 min, 16% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 16% below the local median it puts Summit County, CO at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 15.7% on work from home, so Summit County, CO sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Summit County, CO has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Summit County, Colorado.
Is living in Summit County, Colorado good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 145 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,485 at a typical national wage. That's 21% less than the typical Colorado commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Summit County, Colorado?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Summit 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).