Stillwater County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 10/22/26, 12:27 AM

What does a typical morning commute look like in Stillwater County?

Map AI 10/22/26, 12:27 AM

Commute Time Burden in Stillwater County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Stillwater County spend about 56 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 232 hours, about 9.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 74% more time on the road than the Montana average of 16.0 minutes each way, a difference of 11.8 minutes.

Stillwater County holds about 0.8% of Montana's population but accounts for roughly 1.4% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Stillwater County would save about 93 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,876 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)
Stillwater County	27.8 min	55.7 min	232 hrs/yr	$7,190	405
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

Treasure County (7.2 min)
Rosebud County (8.2 min)
Fallon County (8.4 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Montana

Broadwater County (30.3 min)
Stillwater County (27.8 min)
Granite County (23.3 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Stillwater County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 27.8 minutes to get to work in Stillwater County. That's 24% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the 3 slowest 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 9.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Stillwater County

Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Stillwater County: 1411.7 times less than the Montana average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Public transit is unusually common in Stillwater County: 3.9 times more than the Montana average (2.5% vs 0.6%).

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

Biking is unusually rare in Stillwater County: 4.4 times less than the Montana average (0.2% vs 1.0%).

Commute Mode Trends in Stillwater County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Stillwater 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	Public Transportation	Other	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	76.7%	10.1%	5.6%	6.1%	1.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2010	77.0%	9.3%	5.3%	6.6%	1.4%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
2011	78.0%	7.9%	6.0%	5.7%	2.1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2012	78.0%	7.2%	6.4%	5.8%	2.0%	0.4%	0.0%	0.3%
2013	76.6%	8.1%	6.9%	4.7%	2.9%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2014	77.8%	7.5%	6.7%	4.7%	2.4%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2015	78.1%	7.4%	8.2%	3.2%	2.6%	0.1%	0.0%	0.4%
2016	78.5%	7.7%	8.3%	2.7%	2.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2017	78.6%	8.3%	7.7%	1.8%	3.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%
2018	80.7%	7.4%	7.3%	2.0%	2.5%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
2019	82.3%	6.3%	6.5%	2.2%	2.5%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	85.6%	5.8%	4.2%	2.6%	1.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	83.6%	7.1%	5.0%	2.7%	1.5%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	81.7%	7.1%	5.2%	3.9%	1.9%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	83.2%	7.9%	4.1%	3.3%	1.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	82.8%	9.8%	3.7%	2.5%	1.0%	0.2%	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 2020 at 85.6% and lowest in 2013 at 76.6%. Overall it rose from 76.7% in 2009 to 82.8% in 2024, up 6.1 percentage points.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 6.1% to 2.5% of workers (down 3.6 percentage points).

Walking overtook public transit to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2011 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 8.3% in 2016 and has since fallen back to 3.7%.

Commute Start Times in Stillwater County

Rush-Hour DodgersThe 2nd-lowest share of rush-hour departures among Montana's 56 counties: only 43.1% of commuters leave between 6:30 and 8:29 AM.
Dawn PatrolThe 3rd-highest share of pre-6 AM departures among Montana's 56 counties: 22.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Stillwater County?

The bars show when commuters in Stillwater 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		6.4%
5:00-5:29 AM		8.2%
5:30-5:59 AM		7.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		8.4%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.2%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.9%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.6%
8:30-8:59 AM		3.2%
9:00-9:59 AM		5.0%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.3%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.3%

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

The busiest time to head out in Stillwater County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 12.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 19.2% across Montana. Early starts are more common than in Montana: 22.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.7% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Montana: 43.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 55.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.6%) 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 Stillwater 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 Stillwater 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 Stillwater 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	Stillwater County	Montana	United States
2009	7:18 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:15 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:13 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:14 AM	7:45 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:16 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:15 AM	7:45 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:18 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:21 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:21 AM	7:44 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:24 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:25 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:17 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:20 AM	7:45 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:25 AM	7:44 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:18 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:23 AM	7:43 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Stillwater County were on the road by 7:23 AM, 6 minutes later than in 2009 (7:18 AM). That goes against the trend across Montana, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Stillwater County now leave 14 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 Stillwater County has moved 2 minutes earlier.

How does Stillwater County's commute time compare?

Metric	Stillwater County	Montana	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	27.8 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	9.8%	12.5%	15.0%
Walked	3.7%	3.9%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.5%	0.6%	3.2%

The average commute time in Stillwater County is 27.8 minutes, longer than the 16.0 minutes in Montana.

2.5% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.6% in Montana. 3.7% commute by walking, lower than the 3.9% in Montana.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Stillwater County, MT Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Stillwater County, MT is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 9,183 residents against a local median of 3,720. Stillwater County, MT's one-way commute, at 27.8 min, runs 77% above the 15.7 min typical of the counties around it. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 9.8% against a local median of 16.0%, 39% below it. The counties themselves sit within 5.8 min of each other on one-way commute, a tighter band than the gap between any of them and Stillwater County, MT, which makes it a genuine outlier here rather than one end of a wide local spread. Stillwater 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
Stillwater County, MT	9,183	27.8 min #6/6	9.8% #6/6	7:23 AM #3/6
Sweet Grass County, MT	3,720	15.4 min	16.0%	7:25 AM
Carbon County, MT	11,116	17.7 min	11.0%	7:31 AM
Golden Valley County, MT	897	15.7 min	14.1%	7:15 AM
Wheatland County, MT	2,056	11.8 min	23.3%	7:22 AM
Park County, MT	17,710	17.2 min	17.0%	7:44 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Stillwater County, Montana.

Is commuting expensive in Stillwater County, Montana?

Commuters here spend an estimated 232 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,190 at a typical national wage. That's 74% more than the typical Montana commuter spends.

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

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Stillwater 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 Stillwater County, Montana?

Public transit usage is notably higher here than typical: about 2.5% of commuters use it versus 0.6% in Montana, making it a realistic option for many workers.

Which counties in Montana have the fastest and slowest commutes?

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).