Commuting in Cole County, Missouri: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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What does a typical morning commute look like in Cole County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:05 PM
Commute Time Burden in Cole County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Cole County spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 134 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 23% less time on the road than the Missouri average of 21.0 minutes each way, a difference of 4.8 minutes.
Cole County holds about 1.2% of Missouri's population but accounts for roughly 1.0% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Cole County would save about 54 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,665 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)
Cole County
16.1 min
32.2 min
134 hrs/yr
$4,163
811
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
16.1
minutes to get to work in
Cole County.
That's 28% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 83% 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 9.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Cole County
Car:
86.7%
Worked at Home:
9.2%
Other:
1.7%
Walked:
1.3%
Public Transportation:
0.5%
Taxi:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Bicycle:
0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Cole County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Cole 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
Other
Walked
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
94.1%
2.8%
0.4%
1.6%
0.3%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
2010
94.1%
3.2%
0.5%
1.5%
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
93.6%
3.1%
0.7%
1.6%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
2012
94.0%
2.9%
0.9%
1.2%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
2013
93.6%
2.8%
1.2%
1.6%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2014
94.1%
2.7%
1.3%
1.3%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2015
94.5%
2.6%
1.1%
1.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2016
94.7%
2.5%
1.0%
1.2%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2017
94.9%
2.7%
0.8%
1.1%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2018
95.0%
2.5%
0.9%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2019
94.6%
2.3%
1.0%
1.4%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2020
92.9%
3.8%
1.2%
1.5%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
92.0%
4.7%
1.2%
1.5%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
90.4%
5.8%
1.3%
1.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2023
88.9%
7.3%
1.5%
1.3%
0.4%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
86.7%
9.2%
1.7%
1.3%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2018 at 95.0%. Overall it fell from 94.1% in 2009 to 86.7% in 2024, down 7.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Cole County: its share of workers rose from 2.8% in 2009 to 9.2% in 2024, up 6.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Cole County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Cole County?
The bars show when commuters in Cole 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 AMCole County2.6%Missouri5.2%
2.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMCole County2.3%Missouri3.9%
2.3%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMCole County5.2%Missouri5.3%
5.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMCole County7.6%Missouri9.0%
7.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMCole County12.7%Missouri10.4%
12.7%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMCole County20.4%Missouri15.0%
20.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMCole County19.4%Missouri13.6%
19.4%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMCole County9.3%Missouri10.1%
9.3%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMCole County2.6%Missouri4.5%
2.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMCole County4.2%Missouri5.2%
4.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMCole County2.3%Missouri2.6%
2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMCole County0.9%Missouri1.2%
0.9%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMCole County4.6%Missouri7.0%
4.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMCole County6.0%Missouri6.9%
6.0%
Cole CountyMissouriSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Cole County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 20.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.0% across Missouri. Early starts are less common than in Missouri: 10.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.5% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Missouri: 61.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.1% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (18.0%) 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 Cole 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 Cole 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 Cole 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
Cole County
Missouri
United States
2009
7:31 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:29 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:32 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:32 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:33 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:33 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:33 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:31 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:33 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:32 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:30 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:27 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:28 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:27 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:27 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:29 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Cole County were on the road by 7:29 AM, 2 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:31 AM). Across Missouri, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Cole County now leave 9 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Cole County's commute time compare?
Metric
Cole County
Missouri
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.1 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
9.2%
13.0%
15.0%
Walked
1.3%
1.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
0.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Cole County is 16.1 minutes, shorter than the 21.0 minutes in Missouri.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.8% in Missouri. 1.3% commute by walking, lower than the 1.8% in Missouri.
Cole County, MO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Cole County, MO is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 77,032 residents against a local median of 25,269. Where Cole County, MO breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 29% below the local median of 22.8 min at 16.1 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 11.3 min on one-way commute, so Cole County, MO sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Cole County, MO has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Cole County, Missouri.
Is living in Cole County, Missouri good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 134 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,163 at a typical national wage. That's 23% less than the typical Missouri commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Cole County, Missouri?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Cole 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.
How do commute times compare across counties in Missouri?
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).