Washington County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 8:32 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in Washington County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:32 PM

Commute Time Burden in Washington County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Washington 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.

Washington County holds about 0.2% of Kansas's population and accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Washington County would save about 57 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,769 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)
Washington County	17.1 min	34.2 min	143 hrs/yr	$4,422	310
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.

Commute Time Map: Kansas Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Kansas

Wichita County (7.0 min)
Scott County (7.1 min)
Greeley County (7.2 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Kansas

Linn County (31.3 min)
Miami County (30.8 min)
Jefferson County (30.3 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Washington County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 17.1 minutes to get to work in Washington County. That's 24% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 71% 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 8.3% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Washington County

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Washington County, versus 0.1% in Kansas.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Washington County, versus 0.2% in Kansas.

Biking is essentially absent in Washington County, versus 0.3% in Kansas.

Commute Mode Trends in Washington County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Washington 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	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	86.2%	7.1%	5.4%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2010	82.9%	10.3%	5.2%	1.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2011	83.5%	9.3%	5.1%	1.3%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%
2012	83.3%	9.4%	5.8%	0.7%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%	0.1%
2013	82.8%	10.3%	4.6%	1.1%	0.7%	0.0%	0.2%	0.3%
2014	85.0%	8.4%	4.3%	1.1%	0.8%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%
2015	88.3%	5.9%	4.0%	1.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%
2016	87.6%	6.5%	4.3%	1.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2017	89.3%	4.9%	4.0%	1.4%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2018	90.5%	5.0%	3.6%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2019	91.0%	4.6%	3.7%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2020	90.3%	5.4%	3.8%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2021	90.3%	5.2%	3.3%	1.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
2022	90.0%	5.7%	3.2%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	87.1%	7.4%	4.2%	1.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	86.3%	8.3%	3.8%	1.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2019 at 91.0% and lowest in 2013 at 82.8%. Overall it held roughly steady, at 86.2% in 2009 and 86.3% in 2024. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Washington County: its share of workers rose from 7.1% in 2009 to 8.3% in 2024, up 1.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.4% to 3.8% of workers (down 1.6 percentage points).

Working from home peaked at 10.3% in 2010 and has since fallen back to 8.3%.

Commute Start Times in Washington County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Washington County?

The bars show when commuters in Washington 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		3.9%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.9%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.9%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.8%
6:30-6:59 AM		12.8%
7:00-7:29 AM		19.3%
7:30-7:59 AM		26.5%
8:00-8:29 AM		6.7%
8:30-8:59 AM		1.4%
9:00-9:59 AM		2.0%
10:00-10:59 AM		1.1%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.5%
12:00-3:59 PM		2.9%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.3%

Washington County Kansas Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Washington County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 26.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.8% across Kansas. Early starts are about as common as in Kansas: 12.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.5% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Kansas: 65.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 52.3% there. About 1 in 9 commuters (10.8%) 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 Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington 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	Washington County	Kansas	United States
2009	7:30 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:31 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:32 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:34 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:34 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:36 AM	7:38 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:34 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:32 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:31 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:27 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:24 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:21 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:20 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:22 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:27 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:23 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Washington County were on the road by 7:23 AM, 7 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:30 AM). The shift is sharper than across Kansas, where the typical start moved 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Washington County now leave 15 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does Washington County's commute time compare?

Metric	Washington 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	8.3%	11.8%	15.0%
Walked	3.8%	2.3%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.4%	0.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Washington County is about the same as in Kansas.

The share of commuters using public transit is about the same as Kansas. 3.8% commute by walking, higher than the 2.3% in Kansas.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Washington County, KS Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Washington County, KS is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 5,533 residents against a local median of 8,048. The measure that sets Washington County, KS apart most is one-way commute: 17.1 min, 42% above the local median of 12.0 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 8.3% against a local median of 5.8%, 42% above it. The counties themselves spread 6.8 min on one-way commute, so Washington County, KS sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Washington County, KS has the 5th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Washington County, KS	5,533	17.1 min #5/6	8.3% #2/6	7:23 AM #2/6
Jefferson County, NE	7,161	11.2 min	4.7%	7:23 AM
Clay County, KS	8,048	18.0 min	8.2%	7:22 AM
Marshall County, KS	9,993	11.8 min	5.8%	7:31 AM
Republic County, KS	4,646	12.0 min	3.9%	7:36 AM
Riley County, KS	71,946	12.3 min	11.2%	7:46 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Washington County, Kansas.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Washington County, Kansas?

Commuters here spend an estimated 143 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,422 at a typical national wage. That's 1% less than the typical Kansas commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Washington County, Kansas?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Washington 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.

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).