Commuting in Kootenai County, Idaho: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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What does a typical morning commute look like in Kootenai County?
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Commute Time Burden in Kootenai County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Kootenai County spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 155 hours, about 6.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 4% more time on the road than the Idaho average of 18.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.7 minutes.
Kootenai County holds about 9.4% of Idaho's population but accounts for roughly 9.8% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Kootenai County would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,925 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)
Kootenai County
18.6 min
37.3 min
155 hrs/yr
$4,812
1,017
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.
On average, it takes
18.6
minutes to get to work in
Kootenai County.
That's 17% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 74% of counties in Idaho
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 15.1% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Kootenai County
Car:
81.8%
Worked at Home:
15.1%
Walked:
1.5%
Other:
0.6%
Bicycle:
0.5%
Public Transportation:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Taxi:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Kootenai County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Kootenai 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
Other
Bicycle
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
89.3%
6.1%
2.0%
1.1%
0.7%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
2010
89.0%
6.5%
2.0%
1.1%
0.6%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
2011
89.4%
6.2%
2.0%
0.8%
0.7%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2012
89.3%
6.6%
1.8%
0.7%
0.5%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2013
89.5%
6.4%
1.8%
0.8%
0.5%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
2014
90.0%
6.2%
1.8%
0.7%
0.4%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2015
89.5%
6.0%
2.2%
1.0%
0.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2016
89.9%
5.9%
2.1%
1.0%
0.6%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2017
90.5%
5.5%
2.0%
1.0%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2018
90.6%
5.8%
1.8%
0.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2019
90.1%
6.1%
1.9%
0.9%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2020
88.8%
8.3%
1.5%
0.7%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
87.6%
9.6%
1.2%
0.6%
0.4%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
85.1%
11.7%
1.4%
0.6%
0.5%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
82.7%
14.0%
1.6%
0.6%
0.4%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
81.8%
15.1%
1.5%
0.6%
0.5%
0.3%
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 90.6%. Overall it fell from 89.3% in 2009 to 81.8% in 2024, down 7.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Kootenai County: its share of workers rose from 6.1% in 2009 to 15.1% in 2024, up 9.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.0% to 1.5% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Kootenai County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Kootenai County?
The bars show when commuters in Kootenai 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
12:00-4:59 AMKootenai County5.9%Idaho5.2%
5.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMKootenai County3.3%Idaho3.5%
3.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMKootenai County5.4%Idaho5.1%
5.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMKootenai County9.8%Idaho7.9%
9.8%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMKootenai County11.5%Idaho10.3%
11.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMKootenai County15.6%Idaho14.2%
15.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMKootenai County10.3%Idaho14.5%
10.3%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMKootenai County8.0%Idaho10.6%
8.0%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMKootenai County4.6%Idaho5.4%
4.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMKootenai County7.4%Idaho6.3%
7.4%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMKootenai County3.6%Idaho3.3%
3.6%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMKootenai County1.8%Idaho1.6%
1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMKootenai County7.0%Idaho6.3%
7.0%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMKootenai County5.8%Idaho5.9%
5.8%
Kootenai CountyIdahoSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Kootenai County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.2% across Idaho. Early starts are about as common as in Idaho: 14.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.7% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Idaho: 45.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.6% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.6%) 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 Kootenai 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 Kootenai 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 Kootenai 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
Kootenai County
Idaho
United States
2009
7:30 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:27 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:29 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:29 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:29 AM
7:40 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:29 AM
7:41 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:29 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:29 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:28 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:29 AM
7:41 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:27 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:29 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:26 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:27 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:28 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:27 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Kootenai County were on the road by 7:27 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:30 AM). Idaho followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Kootenai County now leave 11 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Kootenai County's commute time compare?
Metric
Kootenai County
Idaho
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.6 min
18.0 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
15.1%
13.3%
15.0%
Walked
1.5%
2.6%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.3%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Kootenai County is 18.6 minutes, longer than the 18.0 minutes in Idaho.
0.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in Idaho. 1.5% commute by walking, lower than the 2.6% in Idaho.
Kootenai County, ID Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Kootenai County, ID is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 181,718 residents against a local median of 41,044. The measure that sets Kootenai County, ID apart most is work from home: 15.1%, 53% above the local median of 9.9%.
The counties themselves spread 7.5% on work from home, so Kootenai County, ID sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Kootenai County, ID has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Kootenai County, Idaho.
Is commuting expensive in Kootenai County, Idaho?
Commuters here spend an estimated 155 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,812 at a typical national wage. That's 4% more than the typical Idaho commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Kootenai County, Idaho?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Kootenai County, Idaho. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How do commute times compare across 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).