Commuting in Des Moines 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, 8:25 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Des Moines County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:25 PM
Commute Time Burden in Des Moines County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Des Moines County spend about 27 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 114 hours, about 4.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 20% less time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 3.3 minutes.
Des Moines County holds about 1.2% of Iowa's population but accounts for roughly 1.0% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Des Moines County would save about 46 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,411 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 County
13.7 min
27.3 min
114 hrs/yr
$3,526
310
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
13.7
minutes to get to work in
Des Moines County.
That's 39% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 76% 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 4.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Des Moines County
Car:
92.2%
Worked at Home:
4.2%
Walked:
1.6%
Public Transportation:
0.9%
Taxi:
0.4%
Bicycle:
0.4%
Other:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Des Moines County, versus 0.1% in Iowa.
Commute Mode Trends in Des Moines County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Des Moines 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
Taxi
Bicycle
Other
Motorcycle
2009
93.8%
2.5%
1.7%
0.5%
0.2%
0.3%
0.7%
0.2%
2010
93.6%
2.5%
1.8%
0.6%
0.5%
0.4%
0.5%
0.2%
2011
92.8%
2.9%
2.0%
0.6%
0.6%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
2012
92.5%
2.4%
2.1%
0.7%
0.8%
0.7%
0.5%
0.3%
2013
93.5%
2.5%
2.1%
0.4%
0.5%
0.3%
0.4%
0.4%
2014
92.2%
3.1%
2.4%
0.3%
0.8%
0.3%
0.5%
0.4%
2015
92.0%
2.7%
3.3%
0.3%
0.4%
0.3%
0.7%
0.4%
2016
90.8%
2.9%
3.5%
0.3%
0.4%
0.7%
1.0%
0.4%
2017
90.1%
3.2%
3.0%
0.5%
0.4%
0.6%
1.8%
0.3%
2018
90.4%
3.2%
3.2%
0.3%
0.5%
0.5%
1.5%
0.2%
2019
90.8%
3.1%
3.2%
0.4%
0.5%
0.3%
1.5%
0.2%
2020
91.6%
3.2%
2.3%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
1.5%
0.1%
2021
91.3%
3.6%
2.5%
0.4%
0.8%
0.1%
1.3%
0.1%
2022
91.2%
4.0%
3.0%
0.3%
1.1%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2023
92.0%
4.3%
1.8%
0.7%
0.8%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2024
92.2%
4.2%
1.6%
0.9%
0.4%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share bottomed out in 2017 at 90.1%. Overall it fell from 93.8% in 2009 to 92.2% in 2024, down 1.6 percentage points. It has risen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Des Moines County: its share of workers rose from 2.5% in 2009 to 4.2% in 2024, up 1.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking peaked at 3.5% in 2016 and has since fallen back to 1.6%.
Commute Start Times in Des Moines County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Des Moines County?
The bars show when commuters in Des Moines 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 AMDes Moines County6.3%Iowa5.2%
6.3%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMDes Moines County3.6%Iowa4.1%
3.6%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMDes Moines County5.3%Iowa5.7%
5.3%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMDes Moines County7.0%Iowa8.2%
7.0%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMDes Moines County10.2%Iowa11.2%
10.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMDes Moines County15.6%Iowa15.1%
15.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMDes Moines County17.1%Iowa15.6%
17.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMDes Moines County11.3%Iowa9.1%
11.3%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMDes Moines County2.3%Iowa3.6%
2.3%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMDes Moines County3.9%Iowa4.4%
3.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMDes Moines County2.1%Iowa2.3%
2.1%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMDes Moines County0.5%Iowa1.1%
0.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMDes Moines County7.6%Iowa7.5%
7.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMDes Moines County7.3%Iowa6.8%
7.3%
Des Moines CountyIowaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Des Moines County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 17.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are about as common as in Iowa: 15.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Iowa: 54.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.4%) 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 Des Moines 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 Des Moines 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 Des Moines 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
Des Moines County
Iowa
United States
2009
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:39 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:35 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:32 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:36 AM
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:38 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:33 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:32 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:33 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:29 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:27 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:29 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:29 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:30 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:32 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:34 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Des Moines County were on the road by 7:34 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:37 AM). Iowa followed the same path, with the typical start moving 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Des Moines County now leave 4 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 Des Moines County has moved 7 minutes later.
How does Des Moines County's commute time compare?
Metric
Des Moines County
Iowa
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
13.7 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
4.2%
11.3%
15.0%
Walked
1.6%
2.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.9%
0.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in Des Moines County is 13.7 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.
0.9% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.7% in Iowa. 1.6% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.
Des Moines County, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Des Moines County, IA is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 38,487 residents against a local median of 17,281. The measure that sets Des Moines County, IA apart most is one-way commute: 13.7 min, 36% below the local median of 21.3 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 4.2% against a local median of 6.1%, 31% below it. The counties themselves spread 12.1 min on one-way commute, so Des Moines County, IA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Des Moines County, IA has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Des Moines County, Iowa.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Des Moines County, Iowa?
Commuters here spend an estimated 114 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,526 at a typical national wage. That's 20% less than the typical Iowa commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Des Moines County, Iowa?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Des Moines 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.
How do commute times compare across 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).