Commuting in Ouachita 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, 6:43 PM
Is the commute in Ouachita Parish longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 6:43 PM
Commute Time Burden in Ouachita Parish: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Ouachita Parish spend about 36 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 150 hours, about 6.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 15% less time on the road than the Louisiana average of 21.3 minutes each way, a difference of 3.3 minutes.
Ouachita Parish holds about 3.4% of Louisiana's population but accounts for roughly 2.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Ouachita Parish would save about 60 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,859 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)
Ouachita Parish
18.0 min
36.0 min
150 hrs/yr
$4,647
1,174
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
18.0
minutes to get to work in
Ouachita Parish.
That's 20% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 86% 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 8.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Ouachita Parish
Car:
88.1%
Worked at Home:
8.3%
Walked:
1.5%
Other:
1.0%
Public Transportation:
0.8%
Bicycle:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Ouachita Parish: 3.1 times less than the Louisiana average (0.0% vs 0.1%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Ouachita Parish, versus 0.2% in Louisiana.
Commute Mode Trends in Ouachita Parish, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Ouachita 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
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
94.4%
2.0%
1.3%
0.4%
1.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2010
94.5%
1.8%
1.5%
0.5%
1.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
94.0%
1.8%
1.4%
0.8%
1.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2012
94.7%
1.7%
1.0%
0.8%
1.4%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2013
95.0%
1.7%
0.9%
0.9%
1.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2014
95.1%
1.7%
0.8%
1.0%
1.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2015
94.9%
2.0%
0.8%
0.8%
1.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2016
95.1%
1.9%
0.8%
0.6%
1.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2017
94.7%
2.2%
0.9%
0.7%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2018
94.5%
2.4%
1.0%
0.6%
1.0%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2019
94.2%
2.4%
1.2%
0.6%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2020
93.4%
3.3%
1.1%
0.7%
1.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
91.8%
4.7%
1.3%
0.9%
1.0%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2022
90.2%
6.1%
1.6%
0.8%
1.0%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2023
89.3%
7.1%
1.4%
1.0%
0.9%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
88.1%
8.3%
1.5%
1.0%
0.8%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2014 at 95.1%. Overall it fell from 94.4% in 2009 to 88.1% in 2024, down 6.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 8 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Ouachita Parish: its share of workers rose from 2.0% in 2009 to 8.3% in 2024, up 6.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.6% to 0.8% of workers (down 0.8 percentage points).
Walking overtook public transit to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Ouachita Parish
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Ouachita Parish?
The bars show when commuters in Ouachita 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 AMOuachita Parish3.7%Louisiana8.3%
3.7%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMOuachita Parish2.8%Louisiana4.7%
2.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMOuachita Parish3.9%Louisiana5.4%
3.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMOuachita Parish8.5%Louisiana10.1%
8.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMOuachita Parish12.5%Louisiana10.8%
12.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMOuachita Parish21.2%Louisiana16.1%
21.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMOuachita Parish17.0%Louisiana11.9%
17.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMOuachita Parish8.7%Louisiana9.6%
8.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMOuachita Parish2.5%Louisiana3.9%
2.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMOuachita Parish4.3%Louisiana5.0%
4.3%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMOuachita Parish2.7%Louisiana2.3%
2.7%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMOuachita Parish0.8%Louisiana1.0%
0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMOuachita Parish5.5%Louisiana5.4%
5.5%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMOuachita Parish5.9%Louisiana5.3%
5.9%
Ouachita ParishLouisianaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Ouachita Parish is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 21.2% 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: 59.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 48.5% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.2%) 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 Ouachita 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 Ouachita 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 Ouachita 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
Ouachita Parish
Louisiana
United States
2009
7:31 AM
7:23 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:30 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:31 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:34 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:32 AM
7:23 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:32 AM
7:23 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:31 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:31 AM
7:23 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:28 AM
7:22 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:29 AM
7:22 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:30 AM
7:21 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:29 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:27 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:27 AM
7:20 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:27 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:26 AM
7:20 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Ouachita Parish were on the road by 7:26 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:31 AM). Louisiana followed the same path, with the typical start moving 3 minutes earlier. Commuters in Ouachita Parish now leave 11 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 Ouachita Parish has moved 3 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Ouachita Parish in the whole series.
How does Ouachita Parish's commute time compare?
Metric
Ouachita Parish
Louisiana
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.0 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
8.3%
8.1%
15.0%
Walked
1.5%
1.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.8%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Ouachita Parish is 18.0 minutes, shorter than the 21.3 minutes in Louisiana.
0.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Louisiana. 1.5% commute by walking, lower than the 1.8% in Louisiana.
Ouachita Parish, LA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Ouachita Parish, LA is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 158,478 residents against a local median of 19,819. The measure that sets Ouachita Parish, LA apart most is work from home: 8.3%, 55% above the local median of 5.4%.
The counties themselves spread 2.6% on work from home, so Ouachita Parish, LA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Ouachita Parish, LA has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana?
Commuters here spend an estimated 150 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,647 at a typical national wage. That's 15% less than the typical Louisiana commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Ouachita 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.
How do commute times compare across counties in Louisiana?
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).