Commuting in Polk 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, 8:18 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Polk County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:18 PM
Commute Time Burden in Polk County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Polk County spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 196 hours, about 8.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 12% more time on the road than the Missouri average of 21.0 minutes each way, a difference of 2.5 minutes.
Polk County holds about 0.5% of Missouri's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Polk County would save about 78 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,427 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)
Polk County
23.5 min
47.0 min
196 hrs/yr
$6,068
578
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
23.5
minutes to get to work in
Polk County.
That's 5% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 76% 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 9.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Polk County
Car:
87.4%
Worked at Home:
9.3%
Walked:
1.5%
Other:
0.8%
Bicycle:
0.5%
Motorcycle:
0.4%unusually high
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Polk County: 3.0 times more than the Missouri average (0.4% vs 0.1%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Polk County: 16.9 times less than the Missouri average (0.0% vs 0.8%).
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Polk County: 3.9 times less than the Missouri average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in Polk County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Polk 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
Other
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Public Transportation
Taxi
2009
89.1%
5.9%
3.4%
0.8%
0.2%
0.2%
0.6%
0.0%
2010
89.7%
5.3%
3.4%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
0.4%
0.0%
2011
91.5%
4.8%
2.6%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
2012
91.2%
4.6%
2.9%
0.8%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2013
90.8%
4.7%
3.2%
0.3%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
0.0%
2014
90.7%
4.6%
3.6%
0.3%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2015
89.9%
5.6%
3.5%
0.3%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2016
89.1%
6.7%
3.1%
0.3%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2017
89.7%
6.5%
2.8%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2018
90.6%
5.7%
2.8%
0.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2019
88.3%
6.9%
4.0%
0.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2020
88.3%
7.5%
3.3%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
89.6%
5.9%
3.3%
0.5%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
88.1%
7.1%
3.2%
1.0%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
87.7%
8.7%
2.3%
0.4%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
87.4%
9.3%
1.5%
0.8%
0.5%
0.4%
0.0%
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 91.5%. Overall it fell from 89.1% in 2009 to 87.4% in 2024, down 1.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Polk County: its share of workers rose from 5.9% in 2009 to 9.3% in 2024, up 3.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 2.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.4% to 1.5% of workers (down 1.9 percentage points).
Biking overtook public transit to become the 5th most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Polk County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Polk County?
The bars show when commuters in Polk 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 AMPolk County7.9%Missouri5.2%
7.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMPolk County4.8%Missouri3.9%
4.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMPolk County5.6%Missouri5.3%
5.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMPolk County9.8%Missouri9.0%
9.8%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMPolk County10.4%Missouri10.4%
10.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMPolk County19.0%Missouri15.0%
19.0%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMPolk County12.9%Missouri13.6%
12.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMPolk County6.8%Missouri10.1%
6.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMPolk County1.7%Missouri4.5%
1.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMPolk County3.6%Missouri5.2%
3.6%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMPolk County1.9%Missouri2.6%
1.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMPolk County1.6%Missouri1.2%
1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMPolk County6.7%Missouri7.0%
6.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMPolk County7.2%Missouri6.9%
7.2%
Polk CountyMissouriSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Polk County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 19.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.0% across Missouri. Early starts are more common than in Missouri: 18.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.5% there. The morning rush looks much like Missouri's: 49.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.1% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.0%) 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 Polk 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 Polk 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 Polk 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
Polk County
Missouri
United States
2009
7:32 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:33 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:34 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:34 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:33 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:32 AM
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:33 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:34 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:36 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:34 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:30 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:26 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:21 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:19 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:18 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:18 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Polk County were on the road by 7:18 AM, 13 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:32 AM). Across Missouri, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Polk County now leave 20 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 Polk County has moved 12 minutes earlier.
How does Polk County's commute time compare?
Metric
Polk County
Missouri
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.5 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
9.3%
13.0%
15.0%
Walked
1.5%
1.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.8%
3.2%
The average commute time in Polk County is 23.5 minutes, longer than the 21.0 minutes in Missouri.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.8% in Missouri. 1.5% commute by walking, lower than the 1.8% in Missouri.
Polk County, MO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Polk County, MO is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 32,444 residents against a local median of 14,615. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest counties, which makes Polk County, MO an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.
The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 7% above the local median at 23.5 min against 22.0 min. Polk County, MO has the 5th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Polk County, Missouri.
Is commuting expensive in Polk County, Missouri?
Commuters here spend an estimated 196 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,068 at a typical national wage. That's 12% more than the typical Missouri commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Polk County, Missouri?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Polk 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.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Polk 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.
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).