Golden Valley County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in Golden Valley County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Golden Valley County spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 131 hours, about 5.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% less time on the road than the Montana average of 16.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.3 minutes.

Golden Valley County holds about 0.1% of Montana's population and accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Golden Valley County would save about 52 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,624 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)
Golden Valley County	15.7 min	31.4 min	131 hrs/yr	$4,060	50
Montana	16.0 min	32.1 min	134 hrs/yr	$4,143	403
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: Montana Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 15.7 minutes to get to work in Golden Valley County. That's 30% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by walking. About 14.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Golden Valley County

• Car: 59.5% unusually low
• Walked: 22.7% unusually high
• Worked at Home: 14.1%
• Other: 3.7%
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
• Bicycle: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Golden Valley County, versus 0.1% in Montana.

Driving is 26% less common in Golden Valley County than the Montana average (59.5% vs 80.8%).

Walking is unusually common in Golden Valley County: 5.8 times more than the Montana average (22.7% vs 3.9%).

Public transit is essentially absent in Golden Valley County, versus 0.6% in Montana.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Golden Valley County, versus 0.1% in Montana.

Biking is essentially absent in Golden Valley County, versus 1.0% in Montana.

Golden Valley County stands out for active commuting: 22.7% of workers walk or bike to work, 4.7 times the Montana average of 4.9%.

Commute Mode Trends in Golden Valley County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Golden Valley 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.

• Car
• Walked
• Worked at Home
• Other
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Motorcycle
• Bicycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Walked	Worked at Home	Other	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle	Bicycle
2009	73.1%	10.0%	16.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2010	71.8%	9.4%	18.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2011	81.3%	8.7%	9.7%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2012	78.1%	12.8%	8.7%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2013	78.4%	12.1%	7.9%	1.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2014	74.0%	16.3%	8.2%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2015	70.2%	18.9%	9.5%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2016	62.9%	21.8%	14.4%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.6%
2017	62.5%	19.4%	16.1%	1.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2018	57.5%	23.2%	17.9%	1.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2019	58.4%	24.1%	16.1%	1.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	66.6%	17.6%	15.0%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	69.8%	14.8%	10.6%	4.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	64.2%	21.0%	11.9%	2.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	60.5%	22.8%	11.8%	4.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	59.5%	22.7%	14.1%	3.7%	0.0%	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 2011 at 81.3% and lowest in 2018 at 57.5%. Overall it fell from 73.1% in 2009 to 59.5% in 2024, down 13.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.

Walking gained the most ground in Golden Valley County: its share of workers rose from 10.0% in 2009 to 22.7% in 2024, up 12.7 percentage points.

Working from home lost the most ground, falling from 16.8% to 14.1% of workers (down 2.7 percentage points).

Walking overtook working from home to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2012 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 24.1% in 2019 and has since fallen back to 22.7%.

Commute Start Times in Golden Valley County

• 🐦 Early BirdThe 2nd-earliest start among Montana's 56 counties: half of commuters are on the road by 7:15 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Golden Valley County?

The bars show when commuters in Golden Valley 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 Montana for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM	12:00-4:59 AM Golden Valley County10.6% Montana4.0%	10.6%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM Golden Valley County1.5% Montana2.7%	1.5%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM Golden Valley County1.5% Montana4.0%	1.5%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM Golden Valley County8.8% Montana6.7%	8.8%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM Golden Valley County12.2% Montana10.3%	12.2%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM Golden Valley County30.4% Montana13.7%	30.4%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM Golden Valley County7.9% Montana19.2%	7.9%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM Golden Valley County3.3% Montana11.7%	3.3%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM Golden Valley County4.6% Montana5.7%	4.6%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM Golden Valley County3.0% Montana6.3%	3.0%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM Golden Valley County0.0% Montana3.3%	0.0%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM Golden Valley County8.5% Montana1.5%	8.5%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM Golden Valley County5.2% Montana5.7%	5.2%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM Golden Valley County2.4% Montana5.2%	2.4%

Golden Valley County Montana Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Golden Valley County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 30.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.7% across Montana. Early starts are more common than in Montana: 13.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.7% there. The morning rush looks much like Montana's: 53.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 55.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.1%) 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 Golden Valley 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 Golden Valley 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 Golden Valley County next to Montana 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.

• Golden Valley County
• Montana
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	Golden Valley County	Montana	United States
2009	7:21 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:21 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:22 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:32 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:26 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:17 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:27 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:16 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:14 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:21 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:26 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:19 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:21 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:18 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:14 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:15 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Golden Valley County were on the road by 7:15 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:21 AM). The shift is sharper than across Montana, where the typical start moved 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Golden Valley County now leave 23 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 Golden Valley County has moved 11 minutes earlier.

How does Golden Valley County's commute time compare?

Metric	Golden Valley County	Montana	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	15.7 min	16.0 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	06:30 AM – 06:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	14.1%	12.5%	15.0%
Walked	22.7%	3.9%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	0.6%	3.2%

The average commute time in Golden Valley County is about the same as in Montana.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in Montana. 22.7% commute by walking, higher than the 3.9% in Montana.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau