Bowman County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 8:04 PM

How long is the round-trip commute in Bowman County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:04 PM

Commute Time Burden in Bowman County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Bowman County spend about 17 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 69 hours, about 2.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 40% less time on the road than the North Dakota average of 13.8 minutes each way, a difference of 5.5 minutes.

Bowman County holds about 0.4% of North Dakota's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Bowman County would save about 28 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $855 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)
Bowman County	8.3 min	16.5 min	69 hrs/yr	$2,137	107
North Dakota	13.8 min	27.6 min	115 hrs/yr	$3,567	360
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 Dakota Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in North Dakota

McIntosh County (6.9 min)
Foster County (7.7 min)
Pierce County (7.7 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in North Dakota

McHenry County (28.9 min)
Renville County (23.5 min)
Oliver County (22.8 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Bowman County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 8.3 minutes to get to work in Bowman County. That's 63% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Faster than 90% of counties in North Dakota

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 9.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Bowman County

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Bowman County, versus 0.2% in North Dakota.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Bowman County, versus 0.1% in North Dakota.

Commute Mode Trends in Bowman County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Bowman 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	Other	Public Transportation	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	80.7%	10.3%	7.3%	0.9%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.5%
2010	78.7%	8.7%	11.3%	0.8%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2011	82.4%	9.4%	6.1%	1.2%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.7%
2012	86.6%	8.0%	4.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.7%
2013	87.5%	7.2%	4.2%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.4%
2014	88.1%	6.2%	4.6%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2015	89.3%	4.8%	4.4%	0.9%	0.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.2%
2016	88.8%	5.0%	4.7%	0.7%	0.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	85.0%	8.1%	5.3%	0.9%	0.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	84.6%	8.3%	5.2%	1.0%	0.3%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
2019	84.3%	5.6%	8.1%	1.0%	0.4%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	83.3%	7.3%	7.7%	0.6%	0.5%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	83.9%	7.1%	7.9%	0.7%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	81.4%	6.2%	9.7%	1.6%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	80.4%	7.6%	9.5%	1.3%	0.8%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	80.9%	9.0%	7.2%	1.9%	0.8%	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 2015 at 89.3% and lowest in 2010 at 78.7%. Overall it held roughly steady, at 80.7% in 2009 and 80.9% in 2024. It has risen in the latest release.

Public transit gained the most ground in Bowman County: its share of workers rose from 0.0% in 2009 to 0.8% in 2024, up 0.8 percentage points.

Working from home lost the most ground, falling from 10.3% to 9.0% of workers (down 1.3 percentage points).

Public transit overtook biking to become the 5th most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 11.3% in 2010 and has since fallen back to 7.2%.

Commute Start Times in Bowman County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Bowman County?

The bars show when commuters in Bowman 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 Dakota for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		3.0%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.3%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.9%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.8%
6:30-6:59 AM		13.8%
7:00-7:29 AM		19.6%
7:30-7:59 AM		23.0%
8:00-8:29 AM		13.5%
8:30-8:59 AM		1.6%
9:00-9:59 AM		1.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		0.9%
11:00-11:59 AM		0.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		3.7%
4:00-11:59 PM		1.9%

Bowman County North Dakota Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Bowman County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 23.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 20.9% across North Dakota. Early starts are about as common as in North Dakota: 10.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 10.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in North Dakota: 70.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 57.9% there. About 1 in 12 commuters (8.4%) 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 Bowman 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 Bowman 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 Bowman County next to North Dakota 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	Bowman County	North Dakota	United States
2009	7:36 AM	7:42 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:41 AM	7:42 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:35 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:32 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:29 AM	7:40 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:24 AM	7:39 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:24 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:23 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:27 AM	7:38 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:24 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:22 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:24 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:23 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:20 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:28 AM	7:39 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:25 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Bowman County were on the road by 7:25 AM, 12 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:36 AM). The shift is sharper than across North Dakota, where the typical start moved 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Bowman County now leave 13 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 Bowman County has moved 3 minutes later.

How does Bowman County's commute time compare?

Metric	Bowman County	North Dakota	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	8.3 min	13.8 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	9.0%	8.1%	15.0%
Walked	7.2%	3.2%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.8%	0.3%	3.2%

The average commute time in Bowman County is 8.3 minutes, shorter than the 13.8 minutes in North Dakota.

0.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.3% in North Dakota. 7.2% commute by walking, higher than the 3.2% in North Dakota.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Bowman County, ND Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Bowman County, ND is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 2,906 residents against a local median of 1,148. Bowman County, ND's one-way commute, at 8.3 min, runs 38% below the 13.3 min typical of the counties around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.

Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 9.0% against a local median of 7.6%, 19% above it. The counties themselves spread 12.8 min on one-way commute, so Bowman County, ND sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Bowman County, ND has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Bowman County, ND	2,906	8.3 min #1/6	9.0% #3/6	7:25 AM #5/6
Slope County, ND	766	13.3 min	9.3%	7:06 AM
Harding County, SD	1,148	11.5 min	16.4%	7:07 AM
Golden Valley County, ND	1,653	13.6 min	0.5%	7:41 AM
Billings County, ND	1,023	21.2 min	7.6%	7:11 AM
Fallon County, MT	2,760	8.4 min	6.2%	7:21 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Bowman County, North Dakota.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Bowman County, North Dakota?

Commuters here spend an estimated 69 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $2,137 at a typical national wage. That's 40% less than the typical North Dakota commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Bowman County, North Dakota?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Bowman County, North Dakota. 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.

How do commute times compare across counties in North Dakota?

Among counties in North Dakota, the shortest average commutes are in McIntosh County (6.9 min), Foster County (7.7 min), Pierce County (7.7 min). The longest are in McHenry County (28.9 min), Renville County (23.5 min), Oliver County (22.8 min).