Commuting in Douglas County, Kansas: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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How much time do drivers in Douglas County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:10 PM
Commute Time Burden in Douglas County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Douglas County spend about 34 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 143 hours, about 5.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% less time on the road than the Kansas average of 17.2 minutes each way, a difference of 0.1 minutes.
Douglas County holds about 4.1% of Kansas's population and accounts for roughly 4.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Douglas County would save about 57 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,770 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)
Douglas County
17.1 min
34.3 min
143 hrs/yr
$4,424
1,091
Kansas
17.2 min
34.4 min
143 hrs/yr
$4,448
662
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
17.1
minutes to get to work in
Douglas County.
That's 24% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 72% of counties in Kansas
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 15.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Douglas County
Car:
75.9%
Worked at Home:
15.6%
Walked:
4.1%
Public Transportation:
2.4%unusually high
Bicycle:
1.0%unusually high
Other:
0.9%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually common in Douglas County: 6.1 times more than the Kansas average (2.4% vs 0.4%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Douglas County, versus 0.2% in Kansas.
Biking is unusually common in Douglas County: 3.4 times more than the Kansas average (1.0% vs 0.3%).
Commute Mode Trends in Douglas County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Douglas 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
Public Transportation
Bicycle
Other
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
85.8%
4.4%
6.0%
1.5%
1.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2010
86.1%
4.2%
5.9%
1.6%
1.6%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
2011
85.9%
4.1%
5.8%
1.7%
1.7%
0.3%
0.4%
0.1%
2012
86.4%
4.2%
5.4%
1.7%
1.5%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
2013
86.6%
4.1%
5.2%
1.9%
1.4%
0.4%
0.4%
0.2%
2014
86.9%
3.9%
5.3%
2.0%
1.0%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2015
87.0%
4.2%
5.1%
2.0%
0.9%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
2016
87.3%
4.1%
5.1%
2.0%
0.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
2017
86.9%
3.8%
5.3%
2.1%
0.8%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
2018
86.2%
4.2%
5.5%
2.3%
0.8%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
2019
86.5%
4.4%
5.3%
2.1%
0.9%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
84.1%
6.9%
5.1%
2.0%
1.1%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2021
81.7%
9.3%
4.7%
2.0%
1.1%
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
78.9%
11.7%
4.9%
2.5%
1.0%
0.8%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
77.2%
14.1%
4.1%
2.6%
0.9%
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
75.9%
15.6%
4.1%
2.4%
1.0%
0.9%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2016 at 87.3%. Overall it fell from 85.8% in 2009 to 75.9% in 2024, down 9.9 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Douglas County: its share of workers rose from 4.4% in 2009 to 15.6% in 2024, up 11.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 6.0% to 4.1% of workers (down 1.9 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Douglas County
🦉Night OwlThe latest start among Kansas's 105 counties: half of commuters are still at home at 7:57 AM.
😴Sleeping InThe highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among Kansas's 105 counties: 32.2% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Douglas County?
The bars show when commuters in Douglas 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 Kansas for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMDouglas County3.1%Kansas4.7%
3.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMDouglas County1.9%Kansas3.5%
1.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMDouglas County2.2%Kansas5.2%
2.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMDouglas County5.2%Kansas7.6%
5.2%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMDouglas County8.3%Kansas10.3%
8.3%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMDouglas County13.9%Kansas14.9%
13.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMDouglas County17.3%Kansas16.8%
17.3%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMDouglas County9.4%Kansas10.4%
9.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMDouglas County6.6%Kansas4.5%
6.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMDouglas County8.0%Kansas5.0%
8.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMDouglas County3.9%Kansas2.5%
3.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMDouglas County2.2%Kansas1.1%
2.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMDouglas County10.6%Kansas7.0%
10.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMDouglas County7.5%Kansas6.6%
7.5%
Douglas CountyKansasSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Douglas County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 17.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.8% across Kansas. Early starts are less common than in Kansas: 7.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.5% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Kansas: 48.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 52.3% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (32.2%) 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 Douglas 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 Douglas 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 Douglas County next to Kansas 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
Douglas County
Kansas
United States
2009
8:00 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:59 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:59 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2012
8:01 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
8:02 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:59 AM
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:58 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:58 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:56 AM
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:54 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:55 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:56 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:54 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:56 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:56 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:57 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Douglas County were on the road by 7:57 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (8:00 AM). Kansas followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Douglas County now leave 19 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 Douglas County has moved 2 minutes later.
How does Douglas County's commute time compare?
Metric
Douglas County
Kansas
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
17.1 min
17.2 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
15.6%
11.8%
15.0%
Walked
4.1%
2.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
2.4%
0.4%
3.2%
The average commute time in Douglas County is about the same as in Kansas.
2.4% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.4% in Kansas. 4.1% commute by walking, higher than the 2.3% in Kansas.
Douglas County, KS Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Douglas County, KS is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 120,302 residents against a local median of 83,123. Where Douglas County, KS breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 39% above the local median of 11.2% at 15.6%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 17.1 min against a local median of 20.2 min, 15% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 15% below the local median it puts Douglas County, KS at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 12.5% on work from home, so Douglas County, KS sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Douglas County, KS has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Douglas County, Kansas.
Is living in Douglas County, Kansas good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 143 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,424 at a typical national wage. That's 1% less than the typical Kansas commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Douglas County, Kansas?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Douglas County, Kansas. 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 public transportation a realistic commute option in Douglas County, Kansas?
Public transit usage is notably higher here than typical: about 2.4% of commuters use it versus 0.4% in Kansas, making it a realistic option for many workers.
Is Douglas County, Kansas a good location for remote and hybrid workers?
About 15.6% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Douglas County would save about 57 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,770 at the same national wage assumption used above.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Kansas?
Among counties in Kansas, the shortest average commutes are in Wichita County (7.0 min), Scott County (7.1 min), Greeley County (7.2 min). The longest are in Linn County (31.3 min), Miami County (30.8 min), Jefferson County (30.3 min).