Commuting in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 4:13 PM
Is the commute in Lafayette Parish longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 4:13 PM
Commute Time Burden in Lafayette Parish: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Lafayette Parish spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 156 hours, about 6.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 12% less time on the road than the Louisiana average of 21.3 minutes each way, a difference of 2.6 minutes.
Lafayette Parish holds about 5.4% of Louisiana's population but accounts for roughly 4.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Lafayette Parish would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,929 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)
Lafayette Parish
18.7 min
37.3 min
156 hrs/yr
$4,822
2,203
Louisiana
21.3 min
42.5 min
177 hrs/yr
$5,493
1,164
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
18.7
minutes to get to work in
Lafayette Parish.
That's 17% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 71% of counties in Louisiana
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 10.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Lafayette Parish
Car:
86.0%
Worked at Home:
10.4%
Walked:
1.6%
Other:
0.8%
Public Transportation:
0.5%
Taxi:
0.4%
Bicycle:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Lafayette Parish, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Lafayette Parish 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
Bicycle
Motorcycle
2009
93.6%
2.4%
1.7%
0.5%
1.0%
0.1%
0.4%
0.2%
2010
93.7%
2.2%
1.8%
0.5%
1.0%
0.1%
0.5%
0.2%
2011
93.6%
2.1%
1.7%
0.7%
1.0%
0.1%
0.6%
0.2%
2012
93.1%
2.2%
1.8%
0.8%
1.0%
0.1%
0.6%
0.3%
2013
93.4%
2.4%
1.7%
0.8%
0.7%
0.1%
0.5%
0.3%
2014
93.2%
2.7%
1.5%
0.9%
0.7%
0.3%
0.5%
0.3%
2015
93.0%
2.6%
1.8%
0.9%
0.6%
0.3%
0.5%
0.2%
2016
92.7%
2.7%
1.9%
0.9%
0.6%
0.2%
0.6%
0.2%
2017
92.6%
3.0%
1.9%
1.0%
0.7%
0.2%
0.6%
0.1%
2018
92.3%
3.3%
1.8%
1.1%
0.7%
0.2%
0.6%
0.0%
2019
92.4%
3.4%
1.8%
0.9%
0.8%
0.1%
0.7%
0.0%
2020
90.0%
5.7%
1.8%
1.1%
0.8%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2021
89.5%
6.8%
1.8%
0.8%
0.7%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2022
88.6%
7.8%
1.8%
0.9%
0.6%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
87.2%
9.1%
1.7%
0.8%
0.6%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
86.0%
10.4%
1.6%
0.8%
0.5%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2010 at 93.7%. Overall it fell from 93.6% in 2009 to 86.0% in 2024, down 7.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Lafayette Parish: its share of workers rose from 2.4% in 2009 to 10.4% in 2024, up 8.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.0% to 0.5% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Lafayette Parish
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lafayette Parish?
The bars show when commuters in Lafayette Parish 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 Louisiana for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMLafayette Parish4.8%Louisiana8.3%
4.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMLafayette Parish2.2%Louisiana4.7%
2.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMLafayette Parish3.5%Louisiana5.4%
3.5%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMLafayette Parish8.9%Louisiana10.1%
8.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMLafayette Parish12.0%Louisiana10.8%
12.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMLafayette Parish20.1%Louisiana16.1%
20.1%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMLafayette Parish14.6%Louisiana11.9%
14.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMLafayette Parish11.0%Louisiana9.6%
11.0%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMLafayette Parish5.4%Louisiana3.9%
5.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMLafayette Parish5.4%Louisiana5.0%
5.4%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMLafayette Parish2.3%Louisiana2.3%
2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMLafayette Parish0.7%Louisiana1.0%
0.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMLafayette Parish5.1%Louisiana5.4%
5.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMLafayette Parish4.2%Louisiana5.3%
4.2%
Lafayette ParishLouisianaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Lafayette Parish is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 20.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 16.1% across Louisiana. Early starts are less common than in Louisiana: 10.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 18.5% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Louisiana: 57.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 48.5% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (17.6%) 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 Lafayette Parish, 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 Lafayette Parish 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 Lafayette Parish next to Louisiana 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
Lafayette Parish
Louisiana
United States
2009
7:33 AM
7:23 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:32 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:31 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:30 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:29 AM
7:23 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:29 AM
7:23 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:30 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:31 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:32 AM
7:22 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:32 AM
7:22 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:31 AM
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:28 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:27 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:26 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:28 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:28 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Lafayette Parish were on the road by 7:28 AM, 5 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:33 AM). Louisiana followed the same path, with the typical start moving 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Lafayette Parish now leave 10 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Lafayette Parish has moved 3 minutes earlier.
How does Lafayette Parish's commute time compare?
Metric
Lafayette Parish
Louisiana
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.7 min
21.3 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
10.4%
8.1%
15.0%
Walked
1.6%
1.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Lafayette Parish is 18.7 minutes, shorter than the 21.3 minutes in Louisiana.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Louisiana. 1.6% commute by walking, lower than the 1.8% in Louisiana.
Lafayette Parish, LA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Lafayette Parish, LA is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 247,982 residents against a local median of 57,123. The measure that sets Lafayette Parish, LA apart most is work from home: 10.4%, 64% above the local median of 6.3%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 18.7 min against a local median of 22.5 min, 17% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 17% below the local median it puts Lafayette Parish, LA at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 2.8% on work from home, so Lafayette Parish, LA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Lafayette Parish, LA has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana?
Commuters here spend an estimated 156 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,822 at a typical national wage. That's 12% less than the typical Louisiana commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Which counties in Louisiana have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in Louisiana, the shortest average commutes are in East Carroll Parish (11.4 min), Madison Parish (13.1 min), St. Mary Parish (15.5 min). The longest are in West Feliciana Parish (32.8 min), East Feliciana Parish (32.8 min), St. Helena Parish (32.4 min).