Is the commute in Thornton longer than the national average?
Map AI9/10/26, 12:06 PM
Commute Time Burden in Thornton: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Thornton spend about 58 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 241 hours, about 10.0 full days, spent commuting.
That is 30% more time on the road than the Colorado average of 22.2 minutes each way, a difference of 6.7 minutes.
Thornton holds about 2.4% of Colorado's population but accounts for roughly 3.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Thornton would save about 96 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,986 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)
Thornton
28.9 min
57.8 min
241 hrs/yr
$7,465
3,091
Colorado
22.2 min
44.3 min
185 hrs/yr
$5,727
1,277
United States
22.5 min
44.9 min
187 hrs/yr
$5,803
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.
Thornton Commute Map
On average, it takes
28.9
minutes to get to work in
Thornton.
That's 29% longer than the 22.5-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
,
followed by
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
.
Most people travel to work by
Car
, followed by
Worked at Home
.
About 13.1%
work from home.
Commute mode distribution
Car:
83.1%
Worked at Home:
13.1%
Public Transportation:
1.9%
Walked:
0.8%
Other:
0.6%
Bicycle:
0.3%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%
Bicycle commuting is unusually low in Thornton: 3.5 times less than the Colorado average (0.3% vs 0.9%).
Few people walk or bike to work in Thornton: just 1.1%, 3.1 times below the Colorado average of 3.5%.
How does Thornton's commute time compare?
Metric
Thornton
Colorado
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
28.9 min
22.2 min
22.5 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 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
13.1%
18.8%
13.4%
Walked
0.8%
2.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.9%
1.9%
3.5%
The average commute time in Thornton is 28.9 minutes, longer than the 22.2 minutes in Colorado.
The share of commuters using public transit is about the same as Colorado. 0.8% commute by walking, lower than the 2.5% in Colorado.
Common questions about commuting in Thornton, Colorado.
Is commuting expensive in Thornton, Colorado?
Commuters here spend an estimated 241 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,465 at a typical national wage. That's 30% more than the typical Colorado commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Thornton, Colorado?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Thornton, 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.