West Des Moines Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in West Des Moines, Iowa: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 3:59 PM

How much time do drivers in West Des Moines spend on the road daily?

Map AI 9/24/26, 3:59 PM

Commute Time Burden in West Des Moines: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in West Des Moines spend about 34 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 141 hours, about 5.9 full days, spent commuting. That is about the same time on the road as the Iowa average of 17.0 minutes each way.

West Des Moines holds about 2.1% of Iowa's population and accounts for roughly 2.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in West Des Moines would save about 57 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,754 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)
West Des Moines	17.0 min	34.0 min	141 hrs/yr	$4,386	3,540
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.

West Des Moines Commute Map

On average, it takes 17.0 minutes to get to work in West Des Moines. That's 24% 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 19.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in West Des Moines

Walking is unusually rare in West Des Moines: 3.8 times less than the Iowa average (0.8% vs 2.9%).

Taking a taxi is unusually common in West Des Moines: 5.2 times more than the Iowa average (0.8% vs 0.2%).

Few people walk or bike to work in West Des Moines: just 0.9%, 3.4 times below the Iowa average of 3.2%.

Commute Mode Trends in West Des Moines, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in West 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.

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	Taxi	Walked	Other	Public Transportation	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	92.5%	4.3%	0.3%	1.4%	0.3%	1.2%	0.0%	0.1%
2010	92.9%	3.9%	0.3%	1.2%	0.3%	1.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2011	93.7%	3.5%	0.3%	1.1%	0.3%	1.0%	0.1%	0.1%
2012	93.7%	3.5%	0.3%	0.9%	0.3%	1.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2013	93.7%	3.8%	0.1%	0.7%	0.4%	0.9%	0.2%	0.2%
2014	94.2%	3.7%	0.1%	0.7%	0.3%	0.7%	0.2%	0.2%
2015	94.1%	3.5%	0.1%	0.6%	0.3%	1.1%	0.2%	0.1%
2016	93.8%	3.5%	0.1%	0.8%	0.2%	1.2%	0.1%	0.2%
2017	93.2%	4.0%	0.1%	0.8%	0.3%	1.2%	0.1%	0.2%
2018	93.3%	3.8%	0.3%	0.6%	0.3%	1.5%	0.2%	0.1%
2019	92.4%	4.5%	0.3%	0.7%	0.6%	1.4%	0.2%	0.0%
2020	88.9%	8.2%	0.4%	0.8%	0.6%	0.9%	0.2%	0.0%
2021	85.3%	11.4%	0.9%	0.7%	0.6%	0.7%	0.3%	0.0%
2022	82.5%	14.1%	1.0%	0.8%	0.7%	0.6%	0.3%	0.1%
2023	79.9%	17.1%	0.7%	1.1%	0.6%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%
2024	77.9%	19.0%	0.8%	0.8%	0.7%	0.6%	0.2%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2014 at 94.2%. Overall it fell from 92.5% in 2009 to 77.9% in 2024, down 14.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in West Des Moines: its share of workers rose from 4.3% in 2009 to 19.0% in 2024, up 14.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.2% to 0.6% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in West Des Moines

What Time Do People Leave for Work in West Des Moines?

The bars show when commuters in West 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		3.5%
5:00-5:29 AM		1.8%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		4.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		11.2%
7:00-7:29 AM		13.7%
7:30-7:59 AM		21.1%
8:00-8:29 AM		12.1%
8:30-8:59 AM		5.1%
9:00-9:59 AM		7.6%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.5%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.7%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.2%

West Des Moines Iowa Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in West Des Moines is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 21.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.6% across Iowa. Early starts are less common than in Iowa: 9.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Iowa: 58.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.0% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.9%) 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 West 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 West 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 West 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.

Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Show typical departure times by year

Year	West Des Moines	Iowa	United States
2009	7:42 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:44 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:43 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:44 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:44 AM	7:34 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:46 AM	7:33 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:45 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:45 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:44 AM	7:32 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:42 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:43 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:48 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:45 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:46 AM	7:31 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:47 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:46 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in West Des Moines were on the road by 7:46 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:42 AM). That goes against the trend across Iowa, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in West Des Moines now leave 8 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 West Des Moines has moved 3 minutes later.

How does West Des Moines's commute time compare?

Metric	West Des Moines	Iowa	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	17.0 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	19.0%	11.3%	15.0%
Walked	0.8%	2.9%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.6%	0.7%	3.2%

The average commute time in West Des Moines is about the same as in Iowa.

0.6% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in Iowa. 0.8% commute by walking, lower than the 2.9% in Iowa.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

West Des Moines, IA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How West Des Moines, IA compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
West Des Moines, IA	67,280	17.0 min #1/2	19.0% #1/2	7:46 AM #2/2
Urbandale, IA	42,731	17.8 min	17.1%	7:41 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in West Des Moines, Iowa.

What is the financial impact of commuting in West Des Moines, Iowa?

Commuters here spend an estimated 141 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,386 at a typical national wage.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in West Des Moines, Iowa?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in West Des Moines, 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 much money can remote workers save in West Des Moines, Iowa?

About 19.0% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in West Des Moines would save about 57 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,754 at the same national wage assumption used above.