Ada County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Ada County, Idaho: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 8:18 PM

How long is the round-trip commute in Ada County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:18 PM

Commute Time Burden in Ada County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Ada County spend about 40 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 168 hours, about 7.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 12% more time on the road than the Idaho average of 18.0 minutes each way, a difference of 2.2 minutes.

Ada County holds about 26.9% of Idaho's population but accounts for roughly 30.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Ada County would save about 67 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,088 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)
Ada County	20.2 min	40.4 min	168 hrs/yr	$5,220	2,213
Idaho	18.0 min	35.9 min	150 hrs/yr	$4,641	865
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.

Commute Time Map: Idaho Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Idaho

Custer County (8.9 min)
Lemhi County (11.6 min)
Madison County (12.0 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Idaho

Camas County (49.5 min)
Boise County (38.0 min)
Lincoln County (32.0 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Ada County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 20.2 minutes to get to work in Ada County. That's 10% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 77% of counties in Idaho

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 18.5% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Ada County

Commute Mode Trends in Ada County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Ada 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	Bicycle	Other	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	89.3%	4.7%	1.8%	2.1%	0.6%	0.7%	0.1%	0.7%
2010	88.5%	5.2%	1.9%	2.4%	0.6%	0.6%	0.1%	0.7%
2011	87.6%	5.9%	2.1%	2.4%	0.7%	0.6%	0.1%	0.7%
2012	87.7%	6.4%	1.9%	2.3%	0.6%	0.6%	0.1%	0.5%
2013	87.6%	6.6%	2.1%	2.0%	0.6%	0.5%	0.0%	0.5%
2014	87.7%	6.8%	2.1%	1.8%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2015	87.9%	6.9%	2.0%	1.6%	0.7%	0.5%	0.0%	0.5%
2016	88.3%	6.8%	1.8%	1.7%	0.5%	0.5%	0.0%	0.4%
2017	88.4%	6.9%	1.5%	1.7%	0.6%	0.5%	0.0%	0.4%
2018	88.4%	7.1%	1.4%	1.7%	0.6%	0.4%	0.1%	0.3%
2019	87.9%	7.3%	1.6%	1.7%	0.7%	0.4%	0.1%	0.3%
2020	85.4%	9.4%	2.0%	1.6%	0.8%	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%
2021	82.9%	12.1%	2.0%	1.5%	0.9%	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%
2022	79.8%	14.7%	2.2%	1.5%	0.9%	0.4%	0.1%	0.3%
2023	77.7%	16.8%	2.3%	1.4%	1.0%	0.4%	0.1%	0.2%
2024	76.3%	18.5%	2.1%	1.3%	1.0%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 89.3% in 2009 to 76.3% in 2024, down 13.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Ada County: its share of workers rose from 4.7% in 2009 to 18.5% in 2024, up 13.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Biking lost the most ground, falling from 2.1% to 1.3% of workers (down 0.8 percentage points).

Walking overtook biking to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Ada County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Ada County?

The bars show when commuters in Ada 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 Idaho for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		3.6%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.2%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.6%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.6%
6:30-6:59 AM		10.2%
7:00-7:29 AM		14.7%
7:30-7:59 AM		15.2%
8:00-8:29 AM		12.2%
8:30-8:59 AM		6.6%
9:00-9:59 AM		8.1%
10:00-10:59 AM		4.1%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.7%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.4%

Ada County Idaho Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Ada County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.5% across Idaho. Early starts are less common than in Idaho: 9.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Idaho: 52.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.6% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.0%) 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 Ada 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 Ada 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 Ada County next to Idaho 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	Ada County	Idaho	United States
2009	7:46 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:47 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:46 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:47 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:48 AM	7:40 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:47 AM	7:41 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:47 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:49 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:50 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:51 AM	7:41 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:51 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:50 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:49 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:50 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:47 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:48 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Ada County were on the road by 7:48 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:46 AM). That goes against the trend across Idaho, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Ada County now leave 10 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 Ada County has moved 3 minutes earlier.

How does Ada County's commute time compare?

Metric	Ada County	Idaho	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	20.2 min	18.0 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	18.5%	13.3%	15.0%
Walked	2.1%	2.6%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.3%	0.5%	3.2%

The average commute time in Ada County is 20.2 minutes, longer than the 18.0 minutes in Idaho.

0.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in Idaho. 2.1% commute by walking, lower than the 2.6% in Idaho.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Ada County, ID Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Ada County, ID is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 518,902 residents against a local median of 26,771. Ada County, ID's work from home, at 18.5%, runs 61% above the 11.5% typical of the counties around it.

The counties themselves spread 15.8% on work from home, so Ada County, ID sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Ada County, ID has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Ada County, ID	518,902	20.2 min #3/6	18.5% #2/6	7:48 AM #6/6
Canyon County, ID	250,790	23.2 min	13.0%	7:24 AM
Gem County, ID	20,614	30.3 min	11.5%	7:17 AM
Boise County, ID	8,309	38.0 min	20.3%	7:10 AM
Payette County, ID	26,771	17.7 min	5.9%	7:34 AM
Elmore County, ID	29,321	15.8 min	4.5%	7:15 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Ada County, Idaho.

Is commuting expensive in Ada County, Idaho?

Commuters here spend an estimated 168 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,220 at a typical national wage. That's 12% more than the typical Idaho commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Ada County, Idaho?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Ada County, Idaho. 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.

Is Ada County, Idaho a good location for remote and hybrid workers?

About 18.5% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Ada County would save about 67 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,088 at the same national wage assumption used above.

Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Idaho?

Among counties in Idaho, the shortest average commutes are in Custer County (8.9 min), Lemhi County (11.6 min), Madison County (12.0 min). The longest are in Camas County (49.5 min), Boise County (38.0 min), Lincoln County (32.0 min).