Commuting in Idaho: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 11:43 AM
How much time do drivers in Idaho spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Commute Time Burden in Idaho: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Idaho spend about 36 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 150 hours, about 6.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 20% less time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 4.4 minutes.
Idaho holds about 0.6% of US's population but accounts for roughly 0.5% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Idaho would save about 60 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,857 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)
Idaho
18.0 min
35.9 min
150 hrs/yr
$4,641
865
US
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
18.0
minutes to get to work in
Idaho.
That's 20% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 84% of states in US
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 13.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Idaho
Car:
81.6%
Worked at Home:
13.3%
Walked:
2.6%
Other:
0.9%
Bicycle:
0.7%
Public Transportation:
0.5%unusually low
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Idaho: 5.9 times less than the US average (0.5% vs 3.2%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Idaho: 3.2 times less than the US average (0.1% vs 0.3%).
Commute Mode Trends in Idaho, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Idaho 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
Other
Bicycle
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
87.9%
5.2%
3.3%
1.1%
1.1%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
2010
87.8%
5.4%
3.2%
1.0%
1.2%
0.9%
0.5%
0.0%
2011
87.6%
5.6%
3.2%
1.0%
1.2%
0.9%
0.5%
0.1%
2012
87.6%
5.7%
3.1%
1.0%
1.2%
0.9%
0.5%
0.1%
2013
87.9%
5.7%
3.0%
1.0%
1.1%
0.8%
0.4%
0.1%
2014
88.0%
5.9%
3.0%
0.9%
1.0%
0.8%
0.4%
0.1%
2015
88.0%
5.9%
3.0%
0.9%
1.0%
0.8%
0.4%
0.0%
2016
88.3%
5.9%
2.8%
0.8%
1.0%
0.7%
0.4%
0.0%
2017
88.5%
5.9%
2.7%
0.8%
1.0%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
2018
88.6%
6.1%
2.6%
0.8%
1.0%
0.7%
0.3%
0.1%
2019
88.4%
6.2%
2.7%
0.8%
0.8%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
87.2%
7.8%
2.5%
0.8%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2021
85.9%
9.2%
2.3%
0.8%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2022
83.9%
10.8%
2.7%
0.8%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2023
82.5%
12.2%
2.7%
0.9%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
81.6%
13.3%
2.6%
0.9%
0.7%
0.5%
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 2018 at 88.6%. Overall it fell from 87.9% in 2009 to 81.6% in 2024, down 6.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Idaho: its share of workers rose from 5.2% in 2009 to 13.3% in 2024, up 8.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.3% to 2.6% of workers (down 0.7 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Idaho
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Idaho?
The bars show when commuters in Idaho 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 the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMIdaho5.2%The U.S.5.5%
5.2%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMIdaho3.5%The U.S.4.0%
3.5%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMIdaho5.1%The U.S.4.9%
5.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMIdaho7.9%The U.S.8.7%
7.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMIdaho10.3%The U.S.9.4%
10.3%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMIdaho14.2%The U.S.14.4%
14.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMIdaho14.5%The U.S.11.9%
14.5%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMIdaho10.6%The U.S.11.5%
10.6%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMIdaho5.4%The U.S.5.5%
5.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMIdaho6.3%The U.S.6.8%
6.3%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMIdaho3.3%The U.S.3.1%
3.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMIdaho1.6%The U.S.1.5%
1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMIdaho6.3%The U.S.6.8%
6.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMIdaho5.9%The U.S.6.1%
5.9%
IdahoThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Idaho is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 14.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.9% across the U.S.. Early starts are about as common as in the U.S.: 13.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in the U.S.: 49.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.4%) 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 Idaho, 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 Idaho 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 Idaho next to 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
Idaho
United States
2009
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:40 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:41 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:41 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Idaho were on the road by 7:38 AM, 2 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:40 AM). Commuters in Idaho 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 Idaho has moved 2 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Idaho in the whole series.
How does Idaho's commute time compare?
Metric
Idaho
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.0 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
13.3%
15.0%
Walked
2.6%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Idaho is 18.0 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in US.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.2% in US. 2.6% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in US.
Idaho is the 5th largest of the 6 states compared here, 1,929,983 residents against a local median of 3,390,702. Where Idaho breaks from the states next to it is work from home, sitting 25% below the local median of 17.6% at 13.3%.
The states themselves spread 7.8% on work from home, so Idaho sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Idaho has the 4th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Commuters here spend an estimated 150 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,641 at a typical national wage. That's 20% less than the typical US commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Idaho?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in 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.
How common is public transit use in Idaho?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.5% of commuters use it versus 3.2% in the U.S., meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Which counties in Idaho have the fastest and slowest commutes?
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).