Sioux City Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Sioux City, 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 Sioux City: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Sioux City spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 133 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% less time on the road than the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way, a difference of 1.0 minutes.
Sioux City holds about 2.6% of Iowa's population but accounts for roughly 2.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Sioux City would save about 53 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,654 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux City | 16.0 min | 32.0 min | 133 hrs/yr | $4,136 | 1,657 |
| 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.
Sioux City Commute Map
On average, it takes 16.0 minutes to get to work in Sioux City. That's 29% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 5.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Sioux City
- Car: 91.1%
- Worked at Home: 5.1%
- Walked: 1.6%
- Public Transportation: 1.3%
- Other: 0.4%
- Taxi: 0.3%
- Bicycle: 0.1%
- Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Sioux City: 3.1 times less than the Iowa average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Commute Mode Trends in Sioux City, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Sioux City 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 | Public Transportation | Other | Taxi | Bicycle | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 90.4% | 4.7% | 2.1% | 1.0% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2010 | 90.2% | 4.3% | 2.5% | 1.0% | 1.7% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 2011 | 90.1% | 4.0% | 2.1% | 1.1% | 2.4% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2012 | 90.3% | 3.6% | 1.7% | 1.2% | 3.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2013 | 90.3% | 3.0% | 1.7% | 1.3% | 3.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| 2014 | 90.5% | 3.3% | 1.5% | 1.3% | 2.9% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2015 | 91.2% | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1.1% | 2.4% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2016 | 91.2% | 3.6% | 1.8% | 1.2% | 1.7% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2017 | 91.6% | 3.6% | 1.8% | 1.2% | 1.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| 2018 | 92.4% | 4.0% | 1.7% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2019 | 93.1% | 3.1% | 2.0% | 1.1% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2020 | 93.1% | 3.0% | 1.9% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2021 | 93.0% | 3.5% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2022 | 92.8% | 4.0% | 1.7% | 1.0% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2023 | 91.1% | 4.7% | 2.0% | 1.4% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 2024 | 91.1% | 5.1% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2019 at 93.1% and lowest in 2011 at 90.1%. Overall it rose from 90.4% in 2009 to 91.1% in 2024, up 0.7 percentage points.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.1% to 1.6% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Sioux City
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Sioux City?
The bars show when commuters in Sioux City 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
Sioux City6.4%
Iowa5.2%
|
6.4% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Sioux City4.3%
Iowa4.1%
|
4.3% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Sioux City5.1%
Iowa5.7%
|
5.1% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Sioux City8.2%
Iowa8.2%
|
8.2% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Sioux City9.9%
Iowa11.2%
|
9.9% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Sioux City11.5%
Iowa15.1%
|
11.5% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Sioux City17.0%
Iowa15.6%
|
17.0% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Sioux City8.7%
Iowa9.1%
|
8.7% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Sioux City3.3%
Iowa3.6%
|
3.3% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Sioux City3.6%
Iowa4.4%
|
3.6% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Sioux City2.0%
Iowa2.3%
|
2.0% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Sioux City1.4%
Iowa1.1%
|
1.4% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Sioux City9.4%
Iowa7.5%
|
9.4% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Sioux City9.3%
Iowa6.8%
|
9.3% |
Sioux City Iowa Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Sioux City is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 17.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are more common than in Iowa: 15.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Iowa: 47.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.7%) 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 Sioux City, 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 Sioux City 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 Sioux City 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 | Sioux City | Iowa | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:47 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 7:47 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:49 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 7:47 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:46 AM | 7:34 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:45 AM | 7:33 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:46 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:44 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:42 AM | 7:32 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:42 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:42 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:37 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:37 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:37 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:39 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:38 AM | 7:31 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Sioux City were on the road by 7:38 AM, 9 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:47 AM). The shift is sharper than across Iowa, where the typical start moved 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Sioux City now leave at about the same time as the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Sioux City has moved 4 minutes earlier.
How does Sioux City's commute time compare?
| Metric | Sioux City | Iowa | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 16.0 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 | 5.1% | 11.3% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 1.6% | 2.9% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 1.3% | 0.7% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Sioux City is 16.0 minutes, shorter than the 17.0 minutes in Iowa.
1.3% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.7% in Iowa. 1.6% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Sioux City, Iowa.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Sioux City, Iowa?
Commuters here spend an estimated 133 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,136 at a typical national wage. That's 6% less than the typical Iowa commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Sioux City, Iowa?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Sioux City, 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.