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Washington County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 8:14 PM
How much time do drivers in Washington County spend on the road daily?
Map AI 9/24/26, 8:14 PM

Commute Time Burden in Washington County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Washington County spend about 43 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 178 hours, about 7.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 2% less time on the road than the North Carolina average of 21.9 minutes each way, a difference of 0.5 minutes.

Washington County holds about 0.1% of North Carolina's population and accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Washington County would save about 71 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,207 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 21.4 min 42.7 min 178 hrs/yr $5,517 468
North Carolina 21.9 min 43.7 min 182 hrs/yr $5,645 1,609
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: North Carolina Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in North Carolina
  1. Macon County (17.2 min)
  2. Watauga County (17.2 min)
  3. Dare County (17.4 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in North Carolina
  1. Gates County (35.9 min)
  2. Currituck County (33.9 min)
  3. Tyrrell County (33.6 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Washington County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 21.4 minutes to get to work in Washington County. That's 5% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 8.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Washington County

  • Car: 90.2%
  • Worked at Home: 8.1%
  • Other: 0.6%
  • Walked: 0.5%
  • Taxi: 0.3%
  • Bicycle: 0.3%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Washington County, versus 0.1% in North Carolina.

Public transit is essentially absent in Washington County, versus 0.7% in North Carolina.

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 Taxi Bicycle Public Transportation Motorcycle
2009 89.9% 4.1% 3.0% 1.9% 0.0% 0.6% 0.6% 0.0%
2010 90.0% 3.3% 3.8% 1.7% 0.0% 0.8% 0.6% 0.0%
2011 90.0% 3.5% 4.5% 1.8% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0%
2012 92.5% 3.7% 2.0% 1.7% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0%
2013 95.6% 1.9% 0.2% 2.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2014 96.8% 1.5% 0.2% 1.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2015 96.5% 1.5% 0.3% 1.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2016 96.3% 2.3% 0.3% 1.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2017 94.3% 1.8% 0.6% 1.6% 0.0% 1.7% 0.0% 0.0%
2018 94.3% 2.0% 0.4% 1.4% 0.0% 2.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2019 91.1% 3.0% 0.4% 2.1% 0.0% 2.4% 0.0% 1.0%
2020 88.9% 4.6% 0.4% 2.7% 0.0% 1.9% 0.0% 1.6%
2021 89.9% 3.2% 0.5% 2.3% 1.2% 1.4% 0.0% 1.6%
2022 90.8% 5.3% 0.2% 1.6% 1.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.9%
2023 90.9% 5.0% 0.3% 1.6% 1.5% 0.1% 0.0% 0.7%
2024 90.2% 8.1% 0.6% 0.5% 0.3% 0.3% 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 2014 at 96.8% and lowest in 2020 at 88.9%. Overall it held roughly steady, at 89.9% in 2009 and 90.2% in 2024. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Washington County: its share of workers rose from 4.1% in 2009 to 8.1% in 2024, up 4.0 percentage points. Most of that increase, 5.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 1.9% to 0.5% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).

Biking peaked at 2.4% in 2019 and has since fallen back to 0.3%.

Commute Start Times in Washington County

  • Dawn PatrolThe 2nd-highest share of pre-6 AM departures among North Carolina's 100 counties: 27.6% 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 North Carolina for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM
13.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
9.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
4.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
10.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
7.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
11.7%
8:00-8:29 AM
12.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
5.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
6.6%
10:00-10:59 AM
1.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
0.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
7.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
3.8%

Washington County North Carolina 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 13.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 4.4% across North Carolina. Early starts are more common than in North Carolina: 27.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 12.5% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in North Carolina: 42.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 50.0% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.3%) 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 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 North Carolina 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 North Carolina United States
2009 7:20 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:22 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:29 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:27 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:24 AM 7:38 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:34 AM 7:38 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:40 AM 7:38 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:48 AM 7:38 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:48 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:43 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:34 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:31 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:24 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:31 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:39 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:28 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Washington County were on the road by 7:28 AM, 9 minutes later than in 2009 (7:20 AM). The shift is sharper than across North Carolina, where the typical start moved 1 minute later. Commuters in Washington County now leave 9 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 5 minutes earlier.

How does Washington County's commute time compare?

Metric Washington County North Carolina US Average
Avg. Commute Time 21.4 min 21.9 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 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 8.1% 16.3% 15.0%
Walked 0.5% 1.6% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.7% 3.2%

The average commute time in Washington County is 21.4 minutes, shorter than the 21.9 minutes in North Carolina.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.7% in North Carolina. 0.5% commute by walking, lower than the 1.6% in North Carolina.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Washington County, NC Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Washington County, NC is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 10,812 residents against a local median of 13,836. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest counties, which makes Washington County, NC an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.

The largest of those small differences is one-way commute, 2% below the local median at 21.4 min against 21.7 min. Washington County, NC has the 3rd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Washington County, NC 10,812 21.4 min #3/6 8.1% #3/6 7:28 AM #4/6
Chowan County, NC 13,836 20.7 min 8.0% 7:26 AM
Perquimans County, NC 13,244 27.1 min 7.2% 7:07 AM
Tyrrell County, NC 3,423 33.6 min 8.5% 6:58 AM
Beaufort County, NC 44,493 20.0 min 8.9% 7:40 AM
Bertie County, NC 17,166 21.7 min 4.3% 7:40 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Washington County, North Carolina.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Washington County, North Carolina?

Commuters here spend an estimated 178 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,517 at a typical national wage. That's 2% less than the typical North Carolina commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Washington County, North Carolina?

Traffic peaks between 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM in Washington County, North Carolina. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.

Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Washington County, North Carolina?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.7% in North Carolina, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in North Carolina?

Among counties in North Carolina, the shortest average commutes are in Macon County (17.2 min), Watauga County (17.2 min), Dare County (17.4 min). The longest are in Gates County (35.9 min), Currituck County (33.9 min), Tyrrell County (33.6 min).