North Bethesda Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in North Bethesda, 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, 4:02 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in North Bethesda?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:02 PM

Commute Time Burden in North Bethesda: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in North Bethesda spend about 55 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 229 hours, about 9.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 3% less time on the road than the Maryland average of 28.3 minutes each way, a difference of 0.8 minutes.

North Bethesda holds about 0.8% of Maryland's population and accounts for roughly 0.8% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in North Bethesda would save about 92 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,842 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)
North Bethesda	27.5 min	55.0 min	229 hrs/yr	$7,105	4,401
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.

North Bethesda Commute Map

On average, it takes 27.5 minutes to get to work in North Bethesda. That's 23% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 09:00 AM – 09:59 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 37.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in North Bethesda

Driving is 32% less common in North Bethesda than the Maryland average (49.2% vs 72.4%).

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in North Bethesda: 6.2 times less than the Maryland average (0.1% vs 0.5%).

Commute Mode Trends in North Bethesda, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in North Bethesda 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	Walked	Other	Bicycle	Motorcycle	Taxi
2009	68.5%	4.5%	22.0%	3.1%	1.3%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%
2010	67.7%	5.7%	22.5%	2.6%	1.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2011	65.2%	5.6%	24.8%	2.8%	1.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2012	66.2%	6.0%	23.8%	2.6%	0.9%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
2013	65.5%	6.3%	24.7%	2.2%	0.6%	0.6%	0.0%	0.1%
2014	63.7%	6.6%	25.5%	2.7%	0.7%	0.6%	0.0%	0.1%
2015	64.2%	6.1%	25.0%	3.1%	0.7%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	65.2%	6.3%	23.8%	3.3%	0.7%	0.7%	0.0%	0.1%
2017	63.8%	6.8%	24.1%	3.4%	0.7%	0.9%	0.0%	0.3%
2018	64.9%	7.3%	22.6%	3.1%	0.9%	0.9%	0.0%	0.2%
2019	65.0%	6.9%	22.9%	3.1%	1.1%	0.7%	0.0%	0.2%
2020	58.6%	17.8%	19.5%	2.4%	0.9%	0.6%	0.0%	0.1%
2021	55.8%	23.9%	16.5%	2.1%	0.8%	0.6%	0.1%	0.1%
2022	53.6%	29.4%	13.6%	1.8%	1.0%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%
2023	50.9%	32.5%	13.4%	1.7%	1.0%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%
2024	49.2%	37.1%	10.8%	1.3%	0.9%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 68.5% in 2009 to 49.2% in 2024, down 19.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in North Bethesda: its share of workers rose from 4.5% in 2009 to 37.1% in 2024, up 32.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 30.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 22.0% to 10.8% of workers (down 11.2 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 North Bethesda

What Time Do People Leave for Work in North Bethesda?

The bars show when commuters in North Bethesda 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		3.3%
5:00-5:29 AM		1.3%
5:30-5:59 AM		2.8%
6:00-6:29 AM		6.8%
6:30-6:59 AM		6.4%
7:00-7:29 AM		10.9%
7:30-7:59 AM		11.3%
8:00-8:29 AM		16.6%
8:30-8:59 AM		9.9%
9:00-9:59 AM		17.4%
10:00-10:59 AM		5.2%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		3.9%
4:00-11:59 PM		2.4%

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

The busiest time to head out in North Bethesda is 9:00-9:59 AM, when 17.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 7.9% across Maryland. Early starts are less common than in Maryland: 7.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.8% there. The morning rush looks much like Maryland's: 45.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.3% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (30.7%) 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 North Bethesda, 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 North Bethesda 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 North Bethesda 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	North Bethesda	Maryland	United States
2009	8:08 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2010	8:08 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2011	8:08 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2012	8:06 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	8:04 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	8:05 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	8:04 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2016	8:04 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2017	8:06 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2018	8:07 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2019	8:05 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:06 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:08 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:10 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:10 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:13 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in North Bethesda were on the road by 8:13 AM, 5 minutes later than in 2009 (8:08 AM). Maryland followed the same path, with the typical start moving 4 minutes later. Commuters in North Bethesda now leave 35 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 North Bethesda has moved 8 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for North Bethesda in the whole series.

How does North Bethesda's commute time compare?

Metric	North Bethesda	Maryland	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	27.5 min	28.3 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	09:00 AM – 09:59 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	37.1%	19.3%	15.0%
Walked	1.3%	2.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	10.8%	4.2%	3.2%

The average commute time in North Bethesda is about the same as in Maryland.

10.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 4.2% in Maryland. 1.3% commute by walking, lower than the 2.0% in Maryland.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in North Bethesda, Maryland.

How much does the average commute cost workers in North Bethesda, Maryland?

Commuters here spend an estimated 229 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,105 at a typical national wage. That's 3% less than the typical Maryland commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in North Bethesda, Maryland?

Traffic peaks between 09:00 AM – 09:59 AM in North Bethesda, 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.

How much money can remote workers save in North Bethesda, Maryland?

About 37.1% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in North Bethesda would save about 92 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,842 at the same national wage assumption used above.