Commuting in Buchanan County, Missouri: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:05 PM
Is the commute in Buchanan County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:05 PM
Commute Time Burden in Buchanan County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Buchanan County spend about 28 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 115 hours, about 4.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 34% less time on the road than the Missouri average of 21.0 minutes each way, a difference of 7.2 minutes.
Buchanan County holds about 1.4% of Missouri's population but accounts for roughly 0.9% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Buchanan County would save about 46 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,421 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)
Buchanan County
13.8 min
27.5 min
115 hrs/yr
$3,553
922
Missouri
21.0 min
41.9 min
175 hrs/yr
$5,415
923
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
13.8
minutes to get to work in
Buchanan County.
That's 39% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 95% of counties in Missouri
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 7.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Buchanan County
Car:
90.2%
Worked at Home:
7.3%
Walked:
1.2%
Motorcycle:
0.5%unusually high
Other:
0.4%
Public Transportation:
0.2%unusually low
Taxi:
0.2%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Buchanan County: 4.0 times more than the Missouri average (0.5% vs 0.1%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Buchanan County: 3.7 times less than the Missouri average (0.2% vs 0.8%).
Biking is essentially absent in Buchanan County, versus 0.2% in Missouri.
Commute Mode Trends in Buchanan County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Buchanan 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
Motorcycle
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
Bicycle
2009
93.3%
2.9%
2.1%
0.3%
0.6%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
2010
93.1%
3.0%
1.8%
0.3%
0.7%
0.8%
0.3%
0.0%
2011
92.8%
2.8%
2.2%
0.2%
0.8%
1.0%
0.3%
0.0%
2012
93.0%
2.6%
2.1%
0.2%
0.8%
1.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2013
94.0%
2.3%
1.8%
0.3%
0.3%
1.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2014
93.8%
2.1%
1.7%
0.4%
0.6%
1.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2015
94.0%
2.0%
1.6%
0.4%
0.7%
1.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2016
94.1%
2.1%
1.7%
0.4%
0.6%
0.8%
0.2%
0.1%
2017
94.2%
2.3%
1.5%
0.3%
0.7%
0.8%
0.1%
0.1%
2018
93.6%
2.4%
1.7%
0.3%
0.9%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
2019
93.7%
2.6%
1.5%
0.2%
1.0%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2020
92.8%
3.9%
1.3%
0.2%
0.8%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
2021
92.1%
4.6%
1.3%
0.2%
0.9%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
2022
91.8%
5.6%
1.2%
0.0%
0.7%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
90.4%
6.9%
1.3%
0.2%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
90.2%
7.3%
1.2%
0.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2017 at 94.2%. Overall it fell from 93.3% in 2009 to 90.2% in 2024, down 3.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Buchanan County: its share of workers rose from 2.9% in 2009 to 7.3% in 2024, up 4.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.1% to 1.2% of workers (down 0.9 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Buchanan County
😴Sleeping InThe 2nd-highest share of 9 AM-or-later starts among Missouri's 115 counties: 28.7% of commuters leave at 9 AM or later.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Buchanan County?
The bars show when commuters in Buchanan 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 Missouri for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMBuchanan County6.4%Missouri5.2%
6.4%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMBuchanan County4.4%Missouri3.9%
4.4%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMBuchanan County4.6%Missouri5.3%
4.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMBuchanan County8.1%Missouri9.0%
8.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMBuchanan County9.0%Missouri10.4%
9.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMBuchanan County12.9%Missouri15.0%
12.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMBuchanan County12.9%Missouri13.6%
12.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMBuchanan County9.5%Missouri10.1%
9.5%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMBuchanan County3.4%Missouri4.5%
3.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMBuchanan County4.9%Missouri5.2%
4.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMBuchanan County2.2%Missouri2.6%
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMBuchanan County1.3%Missouri1.2%
1.3%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMBuchanan County9.3%Missouri7.0%
9.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMBuchanan County11.0%Missouri6.9%
11.0%
Buchanan CountyMissouriSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Buchanan County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 12.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.0% across Missouri. Early starts are about as common as in Missouri: 15.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.5% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Missouri: 44.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.1% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (28.7%) 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 Buchanan 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 Buchanan 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 Buchanan County next to Missouri 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
Buchanan County
Missouri
United States
2009
7:38 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:37 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:38 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:36 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:37 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:38 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:38 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:37 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:39 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:36 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:34 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:38 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:38 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:40 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:41 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Buchanan County were on the road by 7:41 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:38 AM). Across Missouri, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Buchanan County now leave 3 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 Buchanan County has moved 7 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Buchanan County in the whole series.
How does Buchanan County's commute time compare?
Metric
Buchanan County
Missouri
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
13.8 min
21.0 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
7.3%
13.0%
15.0%
Walked
1.2%
1.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
0.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Buchanan County is 13.8 minutes, shorter than the 21.0 minutes in Missouri.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.8% in Missouri. 1.2% commute by walking, lower than the 1.8% in Missouri.
Buchanan County, MO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Buchanan County, MO is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 83,567 residents against a local median of 18,065. The measure that sets Buchanan County, MO apart most is one-way commute: 13.8 min, 38% below the local median of 22.1 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 7.3% against a local median of 9.9%, 26% below it. The counties themselves spread 9.2 min on one-way commute, so Buchanan County, MO sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Buchanan County, MO has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Buchanan County, Missouri.
Is commuting expensive in Buchanan County, Missouri?
Commuters here spend an estimated 115 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,553 at a typical national wage. That's 34% less than the typical Missouri commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Buchanan County, Missouri?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Buchanan County, Missouri. 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.
Do people use public transit in Buchanan County, Missouri?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.2% of commuters use it versus 0.8% in Missouri, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Which counties in Missouri have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in Missouri, the shortest average commutes are in Saline County (11.9 min), Adair County (12.0 min), Nodaway County (12.1 min). The longest are in Bollinger County (33.1 min), Ray County (32.2 min), Maries County (31.9 min).