Commuting in Chaves County, New Mexico: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:30 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Chaves County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:30 PM
Commute Time Burden in Chaves County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Chaves County spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 130 hours, about 5.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 17% less time on the road than the New Mexico average of 18.8 minutes each way, a difference of 3.3 minutes.
Chaves County holds about 3.0% of New Mexico's population but accounts for roughly 2.5% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Chaves County would save about 52 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,606 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)
Chaves County
15.5 min
31.1 min
130 hrs/yr
$4,015
473
New Mexico
18.8 min
37.7 min
157 hrs/yr
$4,866
619
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
15.5
minutes to get to work in
Chaves County.
That's 31% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
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 working from home. About 5.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Chaves County
Car:
91.2%
Worked at Home:
5.4%
Walked:
1.4%
Other:
0.7%
Bicycle:
0.6%
Motorcycle:
0.4%
Taxi:
0.2%
Public Transportation:
0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Chaves County: 3.8 times less than the New Mexico average (0.1% vs 0.6%).
Commute Mode Trends in Chaves County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Chaves 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
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Taxi
Public Transportation
2009
92.9%
3.7%
2.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.3%
2010
93.1%
3.6%
2.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.3%
2011
92.6%
3.9%
2.1%
0.5%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
0.3%
2012
92.8%
3.4%
2.0%
0.7%
0.2%
0.5%
0.0%
0.4%
2013
92.3%
3.9%
2.1%
0.6%
0.3%
0.4%
0.0%
0.4%
2014
91.3%
4.4%
2.1%
0.8%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
0.5%
2015
91.8%
3.8%
2.2%
1.0%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
0.4%
2016
91.6%
3.6%
2.1%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
1.2%
2017
92.2%
3.9%
1.8%
0.7%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.9%
2018
93.3%
3.0%
1.5%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
1.1%
2019
93.8%
2.2%
1.8%
0.8%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
1.1%
2020
94.1%
2.3%
1.2%
0.7%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
1.4%
2021
93.5%
2.9%
1.3%
0.8%
0.4%
0.3%
0.3%
0.5%
2022
92.8%
3.5%
1.6%
0.9%
0.3%
0.2%
0.2%
0.5%
2023
91.4%
5.0%
2.0%
0.7%
0.3%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
91.2%
5.4%
1.4%
0.7%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2020 at 94.1%. Overall it fell from 92.9% in 2009 to 91.2% in 2024, down 1.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Chaves County: its share of workers rose from 3.7% in 2009 to 5.4% in 2024, up 1.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 2.4% to 1.4% of workers (down 1.0 percentage points).
Biking overtook public transit to become the 5th most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.
Public transit peaked at 1.4% in 2020 and has since fallen back to 0.1%.
Commute Start Times in Chaves County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Chaves County?
The bars show when commuters in Chaves 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 New Mexico for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMChaves County7.3%New Mexico4.6%
7.3%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMChaves County3.8%New Mexico3.5%
3.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMChaves County3.9%New Mexico5.1%
3.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMChaves County10.4%New Mexico8.7%
10.4%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMChaves County7.0%New Mexico10.1%
7.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMChaves County15.8%New Mexico15.5%
15.8%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMChaves County13.8%New Mexico14.8%
13.8%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMChaves County10.2%New Mexico11.1%
10.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMChaves County5.4%New Mexico4.5%
5.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMChaves County5.3%New Mexico6.0%
5.3%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMChaves County2.0%New Mexico3.1%
2.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMChaves County3.1%New Mexico1.3%
3.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMChaves County4.5%New Mexico6.3%
4.5%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMChaves County7.6%New Mexico5.5%
7.6%
Chaves CountyNew MexicoSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Chaves County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.5% across New Mexico. Early starts are more common than in New Mexico: 15.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in New Mexico: 46.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.5% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.5%) 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 Chaves 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 Chaves 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 Chaves County next to New Mexico 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
Chaves County
New Mexico
United States
2009
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:36 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:35 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:36 AM
7:36 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:34 AM
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:35 AM
7:36 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:35 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:37 AM
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:37 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:36 AM
7:35 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:34 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:34 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Chaves County were on the road by 7:34 AM, 1 minute earlier than in 2009 (7:35 AM). New Mexico followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes earlier. Commuters in Chaves County now leave 4 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 Chaves County has moved 3 minutes earlier.
How does Chaves County's commute time compare?
Metric
Chaves County
New Mexico
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
15.5 min
18.8 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
5.4%
12.2%
15.0%
Walked
1.4%
1.9%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.1%
0.6%
3.2%
The average commute time in Chaves County is 15.5 minutes, shorter than the 18.8 minutes in New Mexico.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in New Mexico. 1.4% commute by walking, lower than the 1.9% in New Mexico.
Chaves County, NM Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Chaves County, NM is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 64,216 residents against a local median of 20,223. Chaves County, NM's work from home, at 5.4%, runs 17% above the 4.6% typical of the counties around it.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 15.5 min against a local median of 13.5 min, 15% above it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 15% above the local median it puts Chaves County, NM at the weaker end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 7.6% on work from home, so Chaves County, NM sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Chaves County, NM has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Chaves County, New Mexico.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Chaves County, New Mexico?
Commuters here spend an estimated 130 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,015 at a typical national wage. That's 17% less than the typical New Mexico commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Chaves County, New Mexico?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Chaves County, New Mexico. 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 Chaves County, New Mexico?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.1% of commuters use it versus 0.6% in New Mexico, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in New Mexico?
Among counties in New Mexico, the shortest average commutes are in De Baca County (7.9 min), Quay County (8.0 min), Union County (8.3 min). The longest are in Torrance County (36.5 min), Mora County (30.1 min), Valencia County (30.1 min).