Commuting in Latah County, Idaho: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:32 PM
Is the commute in Latah County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:32 PM
Commute Time Burden in Latah County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Latah County spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 130 hours, about 5.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 13% less time on the road than the Idaho average of 18.0 minutes each way, a difference of 2.3 minutes.
Latah County holds about 2.1% of Idaho's population but accounts for roughly 1.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Latah County would save about 52 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,616 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)
Latah County
15.6 min
31.3 min
130 hrs/yr
$4,039
1,161
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
15.6
minutes to get to work in
Latah County.
That's 30% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 9.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Latah County
Car:
76.7%
Walked:
11.0%unusually high
Worked at Home:
9.9%
Other:
1.4%
Bicycle:
0.5%
Motorcycle:
0.3%
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%
Walking is unusually common in Latah County: 4.2 times more than the Idaho average (11.0% vs 2.6%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Latah County: 9.6 times less than the Idaho average (0.1% vs 0.5%).
Latah County stands out for active commuting: 11.5% of workers walk or bike to work, 3.4 times the Idaho average of 3.4%.
Commute Mode Trends in Latah County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Latah 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
Walked
Worked at Home
Other
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
2009
77.9%
12.7%
4.9%
0.2%
2.8%
0.4%
1.0%
0.0%
2010
76.7%
13.2%
4.6%
0.3%
3.8%
0.5%
0.8%
0.0%
2011
75.9%
13.6%
4.7%
0.3%
3.7%
0.6%
0.9%
0.3%
2012
76.4%
13.6%
4.7%
0.3%
3.4%
0.4%
1.0%
0.3%
2013
78.5%
12.5%
4.2%
0.2%
3.3%
0.4%
0.6%
0.3%
2014
77.9%
13.0%
4.9%
0.6%
2.7%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
2015
78.0%
13.5%
5.3%
0.4%
1.6%
0.2%
0.6%
0.3%
2016
77.1%
13.5%
5.3%
0.6%
2.7%
0.3%
0.6%
0.0%
2017
78.4%
13.0%
4.1%
0.5%
2.9%
0.4%
0.7%
0.0%
2018
77.8%
12.2%
4.5%
0.9%
3.3%
0.4%
0.8%
0.0%
2019
77.1%
13.6%
4.1%
0.6%
3.1%
0.3%
1.2%
0.0%
2020
76.3%
12.3%
6.7%
1.0%
2.4%
0.3%
0.9%
0.0%
2021
77.3%
11.3%
7.7%
1.3%
1.4%
0.3%
0.7%
0.0%
2022
73.9%
14.1%
9.5%
0.8%
1.0%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
2023
74.6%
13.1%
9.9%
1.2%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
76.7%
11.0%
9.9%
1.4%
0.5%
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 2013 at 78.5% and lowest in 2022 at 73.9%. Overall it fell from 77.9% in 2009 to 76.7% in 2024, down 1.2 percentage points. It has risen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Latah County: its share of workers rose from 4.9% in 2009 to 9.9% in 2024, up 5.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Biking lost the most ground, falling from 2.8% to 0.5% of workers (down 2.3 percentage points).
Walking peaked at 14.1% in 2022 and has since fallen back to 11.0%.
Commute Start Times in Latah County
😴Sleeping InThe 3rd-highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among Idaho's 44 counties: 26.7% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Latah County?
The bars show when commuters in Latah 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 AMLatah County4.4%Idaho5.2%
4.4%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMLatah County3.2%Idaho3.5%
3.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMLatah County6.0%Idaho5.1%
6.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMLatah County5.9%Idaho7.9%
5.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMLatah County10.0%Idaho10.3%
10.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMLatah County10.8%Idaho14.2%
10.8%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMLatah County15.9%Idaho14.5%
15.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMLatah County11.6%Idaho10.6%
11.6%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMLatah County5.5%Idaho5.4%
5.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMLatah County6.0%Idaho6.3%
6.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMLatah County2.5%Idaho3.3%
2.5%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMLatah County1.4%Idaho1.6%
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMLatah County11.6%Idaho6.3%
11.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMLatah County5.1%Idaho5.9%
5.1%
Latah CountyIdahoSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Latah County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.5% across Idaho. Early starts are about as common as in Idaho: 13.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.7% there. The morning rush looks much like Idaho's: 48.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.6% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.7%) 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 Latah 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 Latah 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 Latah 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
Latah County
Idaho
United States
2009
7:50 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:50 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:50 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:50 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:49 AM
7:40 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:50 AM
7:41 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:51 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:49 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:47 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:49 AM
7:41 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:51 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:49 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:49 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:48 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:50 AM
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:48 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Latah County were on the road by 7:48 AM, 2 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:50 AM). Idaho followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Latah County now leave 11 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 Latah County has moved 2 minutes earlier.
How does Latah County's commute time compare?
Metric
Latah County
Idaho
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
15.6 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
12:00 PM – 03:59 PM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
9.9%
13.3%
15.0%
Walked
11.0%
2.6%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in Latah County is 15.6 minutes, shorter than the 18.0 minutes in Idaho.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.5% in Idaho. 11.0% commute by walking, higher than the 2.6% in Idaho.
Latah County, ID Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Latah County, ID is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 41,044 residents against a local median of 22,455. The measure that sets Latah County, ID apart most is one-way commute: 15.6 min, 16% above the local median of 13.5 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 3.5 min on one-way commute, so Latah County, ID sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Latah County, ID has the 4th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Latah County, Idaho.
Is commuting expensive in Latah County, Idaho?
Commuters here spend an estimated 130 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,039 at a typical national wage. That's 13% less than the typical Idaho commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Latah County, Idaho?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Latah County, Idaho. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 12:00 PM – 03:59 PM also sees a secondary bump.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Latah County, Idaho?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 0.5% in Idaho, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
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).