Commuting in Dallas 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, 8:12 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Dallas County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:12 PM
Commute Time Burden in Dallas County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Dallas County spend about 62 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 258 hours, about 10.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 48% more time on the road than the Missouri average of 21.0 minutes each way, a difference of 10.0 minutes.
Dallas County holds about 0.3% of Missouri's population but accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Dallas County would save about 103 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,198 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)
Dallas County
31.0 min
61.9 min
258 hrs/yr
$7,996
405
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
31.0
minutes to get to work in
Dallas County.
That's 38% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the 5 slowest counties in Missouri
The most common departure window is 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 6.0% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Dallas County
Car:
88.9%
Worked at Home:
6.0%
Other:
4.0%
Bicycle:
0.8%unusually high
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Walked:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Walking is unusually rare in Dallas County: 56.0 times less than the Missouri average (0.0% vs 1.8%).
Public transit is essentially absent in Dallas County, versus 0.8% in Missouri.
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Dallas County, versus 0.2% in Missouri.
Biking is unusually common in Dallas County: 4.2 times more than the Missouri average (0.8% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Dallas County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Dallas 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
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
Walked
2009
90.8%
5.2%
0.6%
0.3%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2.9%
2010
91.7%
5.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.6%
0.0%
2.2%
2011
90.6%
4.7%
0.9%
0.5%
0.1%
0.5%
0.0%
2.7%
2012
90.3%
5.6%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2.5%
2013
88.1%
6.8%
1.4%
0.4%
0.1%
0.5%
0.0%
2.6%
2014
88.8%
6.4%
1.3%
0.9%
0.3%
0.4%
0.0%
1.9%
2015
89.1%
5.5%
1.8%
1.2%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2.0%
2016
89.5%
5.0%
1.9%
1.2%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2.1%
2017
90.6%
3.8%
2.2%
0.9%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
2.0%
2018
87.9%
4.8%
2.4%
1.4%
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
2.9%
2019
89.8%
5.3%
2.5%
0.6%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
1.6%
2020
87.8%
5.5%
5.2%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
1.2%
2021
88.4%
5.9%
4.4%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
0.9%
2022
86.5%
7.7%
4.0%
0.9%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.7%
2023
87.5%
6.5%
5.0%
0.7%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2024
88.9%
6.0%
4.0%
0.8%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2010 at 91.7% and lowest in 2022 at 86.5%. Overall it fell from 90.8% in 2009 to 88.9% in 2024, down 1.9 percentage points. It has risen in each of the last 2 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Dallas County: its share of workers rose from 5.2% in 2009 to 6.0% in 2024, up 0.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 0.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.9% to 0.0% of workers (down 2.9 percentage points).
Biking overtook walking to become the 4th most common choice in the 2022 release and has stayed ahead since.
Working from home peaked at 7.7% in 2022 and has since fallen back to 6.0%.
Commute Start Times in Dallas County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Dallas County?
The bars show when commuters in Dallas 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 AMDallas County7.8%Missouri5.2%
7.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMDallas County5.6%Missouri3.9%
5.6%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMDallas County1.9%Missouri5.3%
1.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMDallas County14.9%Missouri9.0%
14.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMDallas County14.4%Missouri10.4%
14.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMDallas County14.5%Missouri15.0%
14.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMDallas County9.0%Missouri13.6%
9.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMDallas County5.8%Missouri10.1%
5.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMDallas County5.2%Missouri4.5%
5.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMDallas County2.5%Missouri5.2%
2.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMDallas County0.7%Missouri2.6%
0.7%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMDallas County1.9%Missouri1.2%
1.9%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMDallas County7.3%Missouri7.0%
7.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMDallas County8.5%Missouri6.9%
8.5%
Dallas CountyMissouriSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Dallas County is 6:00-6:29 AM, when 14.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 9.0% 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: 43.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.1% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (20.8%) 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 Dallas 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 Dallas 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 Dallas 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
Dallas County
Missouri
United States
2009
7:10 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:13 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:18 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:18 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:16 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:19 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:15 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:16 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:14 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:15 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:08 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:04 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:04 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:04 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
6:55 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:11 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Dallas County were on the road by 7:11 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:10 AM). Across Missouri, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Dallas County now leave 27 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 Dallas County has moved 3 minutes later.
How does Dallas County's commute time compare?
Metric
Dallas County
Missouri
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
31.0 min
21.0 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
06:00 AM – 06:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
6.0%
13.0%
15.0%
Walked
< 0.1%
1.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Dallas County is 31.0 minutes, longer than the 21.0 minutes in Missouri.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.8% in Missouri. 0.0% commute by walking, lower than the 1.8% in Missouri.
Dallas County, MO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Dallas County, MO is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 17,551 residents against a local median of 36,390. Dallas County, MO's one-way commute, at 31.0 min, runs 41% above the 22.0 min typical of the counties around it. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 10.1 min on one-way commute, so Dallas County, MO sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Dallas County, MO has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Dallas County, Missouri.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Dallas County, Missouri?
Commuters here spend an estimated 258 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,996 at a typical national wage. That's 48% more than the typical Missouri commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Dallas County, Missouri?
Traffic peaks between 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM in Dallas County, Missouri. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How common is public transit use in Dallas County, Missouri?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% 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).