Commuting in Dallas County, Iowa: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:09 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Dallas County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:09 PM
Commute Time Burden in Dallas County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Dallas County spend about 41 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 170 hours, about 7.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 20% more time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 3.5 minutes.
Dallas County holds about 3.4% of Iowa's population but accounts for roughly 4.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Dallas County would save about 68 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,110 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)
Dallas County
20.4 min
40.8 min
170 hrs/yr
$5,275
1,753
Iowa
17.0 min
33.9 min
141 hrs/yr
$4,382
606
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
20.4
minutes to get to work in
Dallas County.
That's 9% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 79% of counties in Iowa
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 20.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Dallas County
Car:
76.7%
Worked at Home:
20.2%
Other:
1.4%
Walked:
1.1%
Taxi:
0.3%
Bicycle:
0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Dallas County: 13.5 times less than the Iowa average (0.1% vs 0.7%).
Commute Mode Trends in Dallas County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Dallas 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
Other
Walked
Taxi
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
92.7%
5.0%
0.5%
1.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.3%
2010
93.0%
4.9%
0.8%
0.9%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2011
93.4%
4.9%
0.6%
0.6%
0.0%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2012
93.3%
4.7%
0.6%
0.8%
0.0%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2013
93.1%
4.9%
0.5%
1.0%
0.0%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2014
93.3%
4.4%
0.6%
1.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2015
93.2%
4.3%
0.5%
1.5%
0.0%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2016
93.2%
4.5%
0.4%
1.4%
0.0%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2017
92.9%
5.0%
0.4%
1.3%
0.0%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2018
93.3%
4.6%
0.3%
1.1%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
92.5%
5.5%
0.5%
0.8%
0.1%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
88.8%
9.1%
0.6%
0.7%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
0.2%
2021
83.3%
13.9%
1.0%
0.9%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2022
80.8%
16.1%
1.2%
1.0%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2023
78.3%
18.6%
1.2%
1.2%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
76.7%
20.2%
1.4%
1.1%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2011 at 93.4%. Overall it fell from 92.7% in 2009 to 76.7% in 2024, down 16.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Dallas County: its share of workers rose from 5.0% in 2009 to 20.2% in 2024, up 15.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Dallas County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Dallas County?
The bars show when commuters in Dallas 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 Iowa for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMDallas County3.0%Iowa5.2%
3.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMDallas County2.7%Iowa4.1%
2.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMDallas County5.5%Iowa5.7%
5.5%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMDallas County6.2%Iowa8.2%
6.2%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMDallas County10.9%Iowa11.2%
10.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMDallas County18.0%Iowa15.1%
18.0%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMDallas County20.1%Iowa15.6%
20.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMDallas County11.7%Iowa9.1%
11.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMDallas County4.5%Iowa3.6%
4.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMDallas County3.9%Iowa4.4%
3.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMDallas County3.2%Iowa2.3%
3.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMDallas County0.7%Iowa1.1%
0.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMDallas County4.5%Iowa7.5%
4.5%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMDallas County5.0%Iowa6.8%
5.0%
Dallas CountyIowaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Dallas County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 20.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are less common than in Iowa: 11.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Iowa: 60.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (17.3%) 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 Dallas 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 Dallas 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 Dallas County next to Iowa 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
Dallas County
Iowa
United States
2009
7:28 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:31 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:31 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:32 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:33 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:33 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:32 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:32 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:31 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:30 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:31 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:34 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:33 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:35 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:36 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:35 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Dallas County were on the road by 7:35 AM, 7 minutes later than in 2009 (7:28 AM). That goes against the trend across Iowa, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Dallas County now leave 2 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 Dallas County has moved 4 minutes later.
How does Dallas County's commute time compare?
Metric
Dallas County
Iowa
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
20.4 min
17.0 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
20.2%
11.3%
15.0%
Walked
1.1%
2.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in Dallas County is 20.4 minutes, longer than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 1.1% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.
Dallas County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Dallas County, IA is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 107,966 residents against a local median of 16,926. The measure that sets Dallas County, IA apart most is work from home: 20.2%, 72% above the local median of 11.8%.
The counties themselves spread 9.9% on work from home, so Dallas County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Dallas County, IA has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Dallas County, Iowa.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Dallas County, Iowa?
Commuters here spend an estimated 170 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,275 at a typical national wage. That's 20% more than the typical Iowa commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Dallas County, Iowa?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Dallas County, Iowa. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Do people use public transit in Dallas County, Iowa?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 0.7% in Iowa, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Is Dallas County, Iowa a good location for remote and hybrid workers?
About 20.2% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Dallas County would save about 68 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,110 at the same national wage assumption used above.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Iowa?
Among counties in Iowa, the shortest average commutes are in Sioux County (10.1 min), Union County (10.4 min), Cass County (10.6 min). The longest are in Monroe County (30.4 min), Madison County (30.1 min), Mills County (26.7 min).