Gaithersburg Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 4:01 PM

How long is the round-trip commute in Gaithersburg?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:01 PM

Commute Time Burden in Gaithersburg: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Gaithersburg spend about 53 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 223 hours, about 9.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% less time on the road than the Maryland average of 28.3 minutes each way, a difference of 1.6 minutes.

Gaithersburg holds about 1.1% of Maryland's population and accounts for roughly 1.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Gaithersburg would save about 89 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,759 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)
Gaithersburg	26.7 min	53.4 min	223 hrs/yr	$6,898	3,592
Maryland	28.3 min	56.5 min	236 hrs/yr	$7,301	2,353
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.

Gaithersburg Commute Map

On average, it takes 26.7 minutes to get to work in Gaithersburg. That's 19% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 24.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Gaithersburg

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Gaithersburg, versus 0.1% in Maryland.

Commute Mode Trends in Gaithersburg, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Gaithersburg 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	Public Transportation	Other	Walked	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	81.8%	3.3%	12.2%	0.3%	1.9%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%
2010	82.0%	3.2%	11.2%	0.5%	2.4%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%
2011	82.3%	3.3%	11.1%	0.5%	2.3%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2012	80.6%	3.6%	12.4%	0.5%	2.4%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%
2013	80.7%	3.3%	12.5%	0.6%	2.5%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
2014	78.6%	3.4%	13.9%	1.0%	2.7%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
2015	77.7%	3.6%	15.2%	0.8%	2.4%	0.0%	0.2%	0.1%
2016	76.4%	4.4%	15.7%	0.9%	2.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
2017	78.3%	4.5%	14.1%	0.9%	1.8%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
2018	78.3%	4.9%	13.5%	0.8%	1.6%	0.3%	0.4%	0.1%
2019	78.7%	5.6%	12.3%	0.7%	1.9%	0.4%	0.4%	0.1%
2020	77.2%	8.6%	10.8%	0.6%	1.8%	0.6%	0.3%	0.1%
2021	73.0%	14.2%	8.5%	1.5%	1.7%	0.8%	0.4%	0.0%
2022	68.9%	18.6%	7.6%	1.7%	1.8%	0.8%	0.6%	0.0%
2023	66.3%	22.5%	6.5%	1.9%	1.7%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%
2024	63.8%	24.6%	7.0%	2.0%	1.7%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2011 at 82.3%. Overall it fell from 81.8% in 2009 to 63.8% in 2024, down 18.0 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Gaithersburg: its share of workers rose from 3.3% in 2009 to 24.6% in 2024, up 21.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 19.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 12.2% to 7.0% of workers (down 5.2 percentage points).

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Gaithersburg

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Gaithersburg?

The bars show when commuters in Gaithersburg 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 Maryland for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		4.4%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.6%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.9%
7:00-7:29 AM		14.7%
7:30-7:59 AM		9.7%
8:00-8:29 AM		14.4%
8:30-8:59 AM		8.5%
9:00-9:59 AM		9.7%
10:00-10:59 AM		4.1%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.9%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.4%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.1%

Gaithersburg Maryland Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Gaithersburg is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.0% across Maryland. Early starts are less common than in Maryland: 11.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush looks much like Maryland's: 46.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.3% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.1%) 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 Gaithersburg, 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 Gaithersburg 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 Gaithersburg next to Maryland 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	Gaithersburg	Maryland	United States
2009	7:48 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:53 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:53 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:50 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:52 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:53 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:49 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:52 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:54 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:53 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:54 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:58 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:57 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:57 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:56 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:57 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Gaithersburg were on the road by 7:57 AM, 9 minutes later than in 2009 (7:48 AM). The shift is sharper than across Maryland, where the typical start moved 4 minutes later. Commuters in Gaithersburg 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 Gaithersburg has moved 2 minutes later.

How does Gaithersburg's commute time compare?

Metric	Gaithersburg	Maryland	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	26.7 min	28.3 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	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	24.6%	19.3%	15.0%
Walked	1.7%	2.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	7.0%	4.2%	3.2%

The average commute time in Gaithersburg is 26.7 minutes, shorter than the 28.3 minutes in Maryland.

7.0% commute by public transit, higher than the 4.2% in Maryland. 1.7% commute by walking, lower than the 2.0% in Maryland.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Gaithersburg, MD Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

Gaithersburg, MD is the 2nd largest of the 4 cities compared here, 71,117 residents against a local median of 25,048. Gaithersburg, MD sits close to the middle of its own neighbourhood. No measure below is more than 15% off the local median, so the choice between these cities turns on things this data does not capture.

The largest of those small differences is work from home, 15% above the local median at 24.6% against 21.4%. Gaithersburg, MD has the 2nd highest work from home of the 4 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Gaithersburg, MD	71,117	26.7 min #1/4	24.6% #2/4	7:57 AM #2/4
North Potomac, MD	23,845	30.1 min	39.2%	8:16 AM
Montgomery Village, MD	25,048	30.3 min	19.0%	8:01 AM
Germantown, MD	82,710	27.7 min	21.4%	7:52 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Is commuting expensive in Gaithersburg, Maryland?

Commuters here spend an estimated 223 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,898 at a typical national wage. That's 6% less than the typical Maryland commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Gaithersburg, Maryland?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.