Commuting in Lewis and Clark County, Montana: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 7:57 PM
How much time do drivers in Lewis and Clark County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:57 PM
Commute Time Burden in Lewis and Clark County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Lewis and Clark 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 135 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% more time on the road than the Montana average of 16.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.2 minutes.
Lewis and Clark County holds about 6.6% of Montana's population but accounts for roughly 6.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Lewis and Clark County would save about 54 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,677 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)
Lewis and Clark County
16.2 min
32.4 min
135 hrs/yr
$4,191
903
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.
On average, it takes
16.2
minutes to get to work in
Lewis and Clark County.
That's 28% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 73% of counties in Montana
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 14.5% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Lewis and Clark County
Car:
78.9%
Worked at Home:
14.5%
Walked:
4.3%
Bicycle:
1.1%
Other:
0.9%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Public Transportation:
0.2%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Lewis and Clark County: 3.0 times less than the Montana average (0.2% vs 0.6%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Lewis and Clark County, versus 0.1% in Montana.
Commute Mode Trends in Lewis and Clark County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Lewis and Clark 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
Bicycle
Other
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
85.7%
4.6%
6.3%
1.7%
1.1%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2010
86.8%
4.5%
5.4%
1.6%
1.2%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2011
88.5%
4.2%
4.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2012
88.4%
4.2%
4.1%
1.6%
0.9%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2013
88.7%
4.0%
4.3%
1.7%
0.8%
0.6%
0.0%
0.0%
2014
88.5%
4.6%
4.1%
1.4%
0.7%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
2015
88.7%
4.5%
4.3%
1.2%
0.7%
0.5%
0.1%
0.0%
2016
87.6%
5.2%
4.7%
1.2%
0.6%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2017
87.2%
5.9%
4.4%
1.3%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2018
87.2%
6.0%
4.3%
1.1%
0.5%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
2019
87.8%
5.7%
3.9%
1.0%
0.9%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2020
84.9%
8.2%
4.4%
1.1%
0.6%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2021
83.0%
10.2%
4.2%
1.0%
0.7%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
2022
81.0%
11.9%
4.5%
0.9%
1.0%
0.3%
0.4%
0.0%
2023
79.8%
12.9%
4.8%
0.9%
1.0%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
2024
78.9%
14.5%
4.3%
1.1%
0.9%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2013 at 88.7%. Overall it fell from 85.7% in 2009 to 78.9% in 2024, down 6.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Lewis and Clark County: its share of workers rose from 4.6% in 2009 to 14.5% in 2024, up 9.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 8.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 6.3% to 4.3% of workers (down 2.0 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2014 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Lewis and Clark County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Lewis and Clark County?
The bars show when commuters in Lewis and Clark 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 AMLewis and Clark County2.8%Montana4.0%
2.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMLewis and Clark County0.7%Montana2.7%
0.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMLewis and Clark County3.1%Montana4.0%
3.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMLewis and Clark County5.0%Montana6.7%
5.0%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMLewis and Clark County11.8%Montana10.3%
11.8%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMLewis and Clark County14.7%Montana13.7%
14.7%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMLewis and Clark County22.4%Montana19.2%
22.4%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMLewis and Clark County11.9%Montana11.7%
11.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMLewis and Clark County7.1%Montana5.7%
7.1%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMLewis and Clark County6.2%Montana6.3%
6.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMLewis and Clark County2.1%Montana3.3%
2.1%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMLewis and Clark County1.0%Montana1.5%
1.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMLewis and Clark County5.7%Montana5.7%
5.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMLewis and Clark County5.6%Montana5.2%
5.6%
Lewis and Clark CountyMontanaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Lewis and Clark County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 22.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 19.2% across Montana. Early starts are less common than in Montana: 6.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Montana: 60.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 55.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (20.5%) 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 Lewis and Clark 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 Lewis and Clark 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 Lewis and Clark 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.
Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show typical departure times by year
Year
Lewis and Clark County
Montana
United States
2009
7:46 AM
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:45 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:44 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:43 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:43 AM
7:45 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:44 AM
7:45 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:43 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:45 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:44 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:44 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:43 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:45 AM
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:44 AM
7:45 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:46 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:46 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:46 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Lewis and Clark County were on the road by 7:46 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Montana, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Lewis and Clark County now leave 8 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Lewis and Clark County has moved 3 minutes later.
How does Lewis and Clark County's commute time compare?
Metric
Lewis and Clark County
Montana
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.2 min
16.0 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
14.5%
12.5%
15.0%
Walked
4.3%
3.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
0.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Lewis and Clark County is about the same as in Montana.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in Montana. 4.3% commute by walking, higher than the 3.9% in Montana.
Lewis and Clark County, MT Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Lewis and Clark County, MT is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 73,430 residents against a local median of 7,053. The measure that sets Lewis and Clark County, MT apart most is work from home: 14.5%, 50% above the local median of 9.6%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 16.2 min against a local median of 13.9 min, 16% above it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 16% above the local median it puts Lewis and Clark County, MT at the weaker end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 7.7% on work from home, so Lewis and Clark County, MT sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Lewis and Clark County, MT has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Lewis and Clark County, Montana.
Is living in Lewis and Clark County, Montana good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 135 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,191 at a typical national wage. That's 1% more than the typical Montana commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Lewis and Clark County, Montana?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Lewis and Clark County, Montana. 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.
Do people use public transit in Lewis and Clark County, Montana?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.2% of commuters use it versus 0.6% in Montana, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Montana?
Among counties in Montana, the shortest average commutes are in Treasure County (7.2 min), Rosebud County (8.2 min), Fallon County (8.4 min). The longest are in Broadwater County (30.3 min), Stillwater County (27.8 min), Granite County (23.3 min).