Des Moines Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Des Moines, Iowa: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Des Moines: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Des Moines spend about 36 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 148 hours, about 6.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 5% more time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.8 minutes.
Des Moines holds about 6.5% of Iowa's population but accounts for roughly 6.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Des Moines would save about 59 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,837 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Des Moines | 17.8 min | 35.6 min | 148 hrs/yr | $4,594 | 3,118 |
| 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.
Des Moines Commute Map
On average, it takes 17.8 minutes to get to work in Des Moines. That's 21% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 13.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Des Moines
- Car: 81.9%
- Worked at Home: 13.1%
- Walked: 2.4%
- Other: 1.0%
- Public Transportation: 0.8%
- Taxi: 0.4%
- Bicycle: 0.4%
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Des Moines: 3.0 times less than the Iowa average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Commute Mode Trends in Des Moines, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Des Moines 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Worked at Home | Walked | Other | Public Transportation | Taxi | Bicycle | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 90.2% | 2.8% | 3.0% | 0.7% | 2.8% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2010 | 90.1% | 3.0% | 2.8% | 0.6% | 3.0% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| 2011 | 89.9% | 3.3% | 2.9% | 0.6% | 2.8% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2012 | 90.1% | 3.4% | 2.8% | 0.6% | 2.4% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2013 | 90.6% | 3.3% | 2.8% | 0.7% | 1.9% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2014 | 91.0% | 3.4% | 2.5% | 0.5% | 1.9% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2015 | 91.2% | 3.0% | 2.6% | 0.6% | 2.0% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2016 | 90.6% | 3.3% | 2.8% | 0.6% | 2.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| 2017 | 90.3% | 3.2% | 3.0% | 0.6% | 2.2% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.2% |
| 2018 | 89.8% | 3.5% | 2.8% | 0.7% | 2.4% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.2% |
| 2019 | 89.6% | 3.5% | 3.0% | 0.7% | 2.3% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.2% |
| 2020 | 88.2% | 5.5% | 2.8% | 0.7% | 1.9% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| 2021 | 85.9% | 8.3% | 2.4% | 0.9% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.1% |
| 2022 | 84.3% | 10.3% | 2.3% | 0.8% | 1.5% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2023 | 83.5% | 11.3% | 2.3% | 1.0% | 1.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| 2024 | 81.9% | 13.1% | 2.4% | 1.0% | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.0% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2015 at 91.2%. Overall it fell from 90.2% in 2009 to 81.9% in 2024, down 8.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 9 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Des Moines: its share of workers rose from 2.8% in 2009 to 13.1% in 2024, up 10.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 2.8% to 0.8% of workers (down 2.0 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2010 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Des Moines
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Des Moines?
The bars show when commuters in Des Moines 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 AM
Des Moines4.4%
Iowa5.2%
|
4.4% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Des Moines3.1%
Iowa4.1%
|
3.1% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Des Moines4.8%
Iowa5.7%
|
4.8% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Des Moines8.2%
Iowa8.2%
|
8.2% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Des Moines9.6%
Iowa11.2%
|
9.6% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Des Moines14.0%
Iowa15.1%
|
14.0% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Des Moines13.9%
Iowa15.6%
|
13.9% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Des Moines9.9%
Iowa9.1%
|
9.9% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Des Moines4.8%
Iowa3.6%
|
4.8% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Des Moines5.9%
Iowa4.4%
|
5.9% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Des Moines2.9%
Iowa2.3%
|
2.9% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Des Moines1.6%
Iowa1.1%
|
1.6% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Des Moines8.5%
Iowa7.5%
|
8.5% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Des Moines8.4%
Iowa6.8%
|
8.4% |
Des Moines Iowa Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Des Moines is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.1% across Iowa. Early starts are less common than in Iowa: 12.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Iowa: 47.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.2%) 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 Des Moines, 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 Des Moines 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 Des Moines 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | Des Moines | Iowa | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:37 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 7:37 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:37 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 7:37 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:38 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:39 AM | 7:33 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:39 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:39 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:40 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:41 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:41 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:41 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:41 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:40 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:40 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:43 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Des Moines were on the road by 7:43 AM, 5 minutes later than in 2009 (7:37 AM). That goes against the trend across Iowa, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Des Moines now leave 5 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 Des Moines has moved 2 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Des Moines in the whole series.
How does Des Moines's commute time compare?
| Metric | Des Moines | Iowa | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 17.8 min | 17.0 min | 22.4 min |
| Departure Window | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM |
| Secondary Departure Window | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 13.1% | 11.3% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 2.4% | 2.9% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 0.8% | 0.7% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Des Moines is 17.8 minutes, longer than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.
0.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.7% in Iowa. 2.4% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Des Moines, Iowa.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Des Moines, Iowa?
Commuters here spend an estimated 148 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,594 at a typical national wage. That's 5% more than the typical Iowa commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Des Moines, Iowa?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Des Moines, Iowa. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.