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Richland County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 8:19 PM
Is the commute in Richland County longer than the national average?
Map AI 9/24/26, 8:19 PM

Commute Time Burden in Richland County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Richland County spend about 33 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 139 hours, about 5.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 4% more time on the road than the Montana average of 16.0 minutes each way, a difference of 0.6 minutes.

Richland County holds about 1.0% of Montana's population and accounts for roughly 1.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Richland County would save about 55 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,718 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)
Richland County 16.6 min 33.2 min 139 hrs/yr $4,294 189
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

Fastest commutes among counties in Montana
  1. Treasure County (7.2 min)
  2. Rosebud County (8.2 min)
  3. Fallon County (8.4 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Montana
  1. Broadwater County (30.3 min)
  2. Stillwater County (27.8 min)
  3. Granite County (23.3 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Richland County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 16.6 minutes to get to work in Richland County. That's 26% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 76% of counties in Montana

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 walking. About 5.4% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Richland County

  • Car: 84.7%
  • Walked: 8.9%
  • Worked at Home: 5.4%
  • Bicycle: 0.9%
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Other: < 0.1%
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Richland County: 6.3 times less than the Montana average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Public transit is unusually rare in Richland County: 36.7 times less than the Montana average (0.0% vs 0.6%).

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

Commute Mode Trends in Richland County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Richland 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 Walked Worked at Home Bicycle Public Transportation Taxi Motorcycle Other
2009 83.7% 6.5% 4.9% 0.8% 3.5% 0.0% 0.4% 0.2%
2010 82.6% 6.6% 6.1% 0.2% 3.8% 0.0% 0.4% 0.3%
2011 87.2% 4.5% 7.1% 0.0% 0.2% 0.0% 0.4% 0.5%
2012 88.2% 4.0% 6.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.3% 0.6%
2013 88.1% 4.6% 6.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.6%
2014 88.5% 4.6% 6.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.9%
2015 88.8% 5.7% 4.6% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.8%
2016 90.6% 5.0% 3.7% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.6%
2017 89.2% 5.0% 4.2% 0.4% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 1.0%
2018 89.2% 5.2% 3.9% 0.5% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 1.1%
2019 89.7% 5.7% 3.4% 0.4% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.7%
2020 88.9% 7.7% 2.3% 0.4% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.5%
2021 87.6% 7.4% 3.8% 0.4% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.6%
2022 84.2% 10.8% 4.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.2%
2023 85.7% 9.1% 5.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0%
2024 84.7% 8.9% 5.4% 0.9% 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 2016 at 90.6% and lowest in 2010 at 82.6%. Overall it rose from 83.7% in 2009 to 84.7% in 2024, up 1.0 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Walking gained the most ground in Richland County: its share of workers rose from 6.5% in 2009 to 8.9% in 2024, up 2.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 3.5% to 0.0% of workers (down 3.5 percentage points).

Biking overtook public transit to become the 4th most common choice in the 2024 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 10.8% in 2022 and has since fallen back to 8.9%.

Commute Start Times in Richland County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Richland County?

The bars show when commuters in Richland 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
6.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
4.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
5.5%
6:00-6:29 AM
9.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
9.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
17.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
15.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
10.7%
8:30-8:59 AM
4.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
7.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
1.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
1.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
4.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
3.4%

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

The busiest time to head out in Richland County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 17.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.7% across Montana. Early starts are more common than in Montana: 16.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.7% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Montana: 52.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 55.0% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (17.3%) 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 Richland 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 Richland 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 Richland 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 Richland County Montana United States
2009 7:25 AM 7:45 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:35 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:32 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:28 AM 7:45 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:27 AM 7:45 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:26 AM 7:45 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:23 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:16 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:20 AM 7:44 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:22 AM 7:44 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:16 AM 7:44 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:25 AM 7:45 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:31 AM 7:45 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:28 AM 7:44 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:29 AM 7:43 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:26 AM 7:43 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Richland County were on the road by 7:26 AM, 1 minute later than in 2009 (7:25 AM). That goes against the trend across Montana, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Richland County now leave 11 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 Richland County has moved 10 minutes later.

How does Richland County's commute time compare?

Metric Richland County Montana US Average
Avg. Commute Time 16.6 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 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 5.4% 12.5% 15.0%
Walked 8.9% 3.9% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.6% 3.2%

The average commute time in Richland County is 16.6 minutes, longer than the 16.0 minutes in Montana.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in Montana. 8.9% commute by walking, higher than the 3.9% in Montana.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Richland County, MT Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Richland County, MT is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 11,232 residents against a local median of 3,668. The measure that sets Richland County, MT apart most is one-way commute: 16.6 min, 23% above the local median of 13.5 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

The counties themselves spread 7.0 min on one-way commute, so Richland County, MT sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Richland County, MT has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Richland County, MT 11,232 16.6 min #6/6 5.4% #3/6 7:26 AM #1/6
Dawson County, MT 8,827 11.8 min 6.1% 7:29 AM
Roosevelt County, MT 10,526 13.5 min 3.9% 7:45 AM
Wibaux County, MT 1,193 16.0 min 18.6% 7:31 AM
Sheridan County, MT 3,668 9.0 min 5.2% 7:52 AM
Golden Valley County, ND 1,653 13.6 min 0.5% 7:41 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Richland County, Montana.

Is commuting expensive in Richland County, Montana?

Commuters here spend an estimated 139 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,294 at a typical national wage. That's 4% more than the typical Montana commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Richland County, Montana?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Richland County, Montana. 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 Richland County, Montana?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% 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).