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Washington County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Washington County, Missouri: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 8:04 PM
How much time do drivers in Washington County spend on the road daily?
Map AI 9/24/26, 8:04 PM

Commute Time Burden in Washington County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Washington County spend about 63 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 262 hours, about 10.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 50% more time on the road than the Missouri average of 21.0 minutes each way, a difference of 10.5 minutes.

Washington County holds about 0.4% of Missouri's population but accounts for roughly 0.6% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Washington County would save about 105 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,246 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)
Washington County 31.4 min 62.8 min 262 hrs/yr $8,115 875
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.

Commute Time Map: Missouri Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Missouri
  1. Saline County (11.9 min)
  2. Adair County (12.0 min)
  3. Nodaway County (12.1 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Missouri
  1. Bollinger County (33.1 min)
  2. Ray County (32.2 min)
  3. Maries County (31.9 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Washington County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 31.4 minutes to get to work in Washington County. That's 40% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the 5 slowest counties in Missouri

The most common departure window is 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 5.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Washington County

  • Car: 92.2%
  • Worked at Home: 5.8%
  • Other: 1.0%
  • Walked: 0.8%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1%
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Public transit is unusually rare in Washington County: 77.2 times less than the Missouri average (0.0% vs 0.8%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Washington County, versus 0.2% in Missouri.

Biking is essentially absent in Washington County, versus 0.2% in Missouri.

Commute Mode Trends in Washington County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Washington 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 Motorcycle Public Transportation Taxi Bicycle
2009 94.8% 1.4% 1.6% 1.8% 0.2% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1%
2010 95.4% 1.1% 1.2% 1.8% 0.2% 0.2% 0.0% 0.1%
2011 94.5% 1.7% 1.3% 2.0% 0.2% 0.2% 0.0% 0.1%
2012 94.3% 1.9% 1.4% 2.1% 0.2% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0%
2013 94.5% 1.7% 1.7% 1.4% 0.2% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0%
2014 94.7% 2.1% 1.4% 1.1% 0.0% 0.7% 0.0% 0.0%
2015 95.0% 2.4% 1.2% 0.8% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0% 0.0%
2016 94.6% 3.0% 0.8% 1.1% 0.0% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0%
2017 94.0% 3.3% 1.2% 1.0% 0.0% 0.5% 0.0% 0.0%
2018 92.1% 4.6% 1.8% 1.2% 0.0% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0%
2019 91.5% 4.3% 1.7% 2.1% 0.0% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0%
2020 92.2% 4.3% 1.6% 1.6% 0.1% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0%
2021 92.9% 3.7% 1.6% 1.4% 0.1% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0%
2022 93.7% 3.5% 1.3% 1.0% 0.1% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 96.1% 3.0% 0.1% 0.8% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 92.2% 5.8% 1.0% 0.8% 0.1% 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 2023 at 96.1% and lowest in 2019 at 91.5%. Overall it fell from 94.8% in 2009 to 92.2% in 2024, down 2.6 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Washington County: its share of workers rose from 1.4% in 2009 to 5.8% in 2024, up 4.4 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 1.8% to 0.8% of workers (down 1.0 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2013 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Washington County

  • Dawn PatrolThe 2nd-highest share of pre-6 AM departures among Missouri's 115 counties: 30.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Washington County?

The bars show when commuters in Washington 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
16.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
7.4%
5:30-5:59 AM
7.3%
6:00-6:29 AM
10.3%
6:30-6:59 AM
7.7%
7:00-7:29 AM
10.7%
7:30-7:59 AM
13.4%
8:00-8:29 AM
7.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
2.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
5.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
1.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
0.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
6.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4.2%

Washington County Missouri Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Washington County is 12:00-4:59 AM, when 16.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 5.2% across Missouri. Early starts are more common than in Missouri: 30.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.5% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Missouri: 39.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.1% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (16.9%) 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 Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington County Missouri United States
2009 7:01 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2010 6:56 AM 7:33 AM 7:38 AM
2011 6:59 AM 7:33 AM 7:38 AM
2012 6:58 AM 7:33 AM 7:38 AM
2013 6:46 AM 7:33 AM 7:39 AM
2014 6:45 AM 7:33 AM 7:39 AM
2015 6:45 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM
2016 6:40 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM
2017 6:39 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM
2018 6:51 AM 7:31 AM 7:37 AM
2019 6:50 AM 7:31 AM 7:37 AM
2020 6:54 AM 7:32 AM 7:37 AM
2021 6:57 AM 7:32 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:05 AM 7:32 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:02 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:04 AM 7:32 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Washington County were on the road by 7:04 AM, 3 minutes later than in 2009 (7:01 AM). Across Missouri, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Washington County now leave 34 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 Washington County has moved 14 minutes later.

How does Washington County's commute time compare?

Metric Washington County Missouri US Average
Avg. Commute Time 31.4 min 21.0 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 12:00 AM – 04:59 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 5.8% 13.0% 15.0%
Walked 0.8% 1.8% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.8% 3.2%

The average commute time in Washington County is 31.4 minutes, longer than the 21.0 minutes in Missouri.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.8% in Missouri. 0.8% commute by walking, lower than the 1.8% in Missouri.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Washington County, MO Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Washington County, MO is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 23,470 residents against a local median of 66,999. The measure that sets Washington County, MO apart most is one-way commute: 31.4 min, 39% above the local median of 22.7 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 5.8% against a local median of 7.6%, 23% below it. The counties themselves spread 12.7 min on one-way commute, so Washington County, MO sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Washington County, MO has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Washington County, MO 23,470 31.4 min #6/6 5.8% #5/6 7:04 AM #2/6
Iron County, MO 9,446 22.7 min 7.0% 7:16 AM
Crawford County, MO 22,797 21.3 min 3.9% 6:57 AM
St. Francois County, MO 66,999 17.9 min 7.6% 7:19 AM
Jefferson County, MO 229,447 30.7 min 11.5% 7:12 AM
Franklin County, MO 105,953 22.7 min 10.3% 7:09 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Washington County, Missouri.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Washington County, Missouri?

Commuters here spend an estimated 262 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $8,115 at a typical national wage. That's 50% more than the typical Missouri commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Washington County, Missouri?

Traffic peaks between 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM in Washington 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 Washington 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).