San Miguel County Commute Time Map & Patterns

Commute Time Burden in San Miguel County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in San Miguel County spend about 30 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 127 hours, about 5.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 19% less time on the road than the New Mexico average of 18.8 minutes each way, a difference of 3.6 minutes.

San Miguel County holds about 1.3% of New Mexico's population but accounts for roughly 1.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in San Miguel County would save about 51 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,574 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)
San Miguel County	15.2 min	30.5 min	127 hrs/yr	$3,936	154
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.

Commute Time Map: New Mexico Counties

Compare commute times among different counties

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On average, it takes 15.2 minutes to get to work in San Miguel County. That's 32% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

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 11.2% work from home.

How People Get to Work in San Miguel County

• Car: 83.7%
• Worked at Home: 11.2%
• Other: 2.5%
• Walked: 2.2%
• Bicycle: 0.3%
• Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
• Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
• Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in San Miguel County, versus 0.1% in New Mexico.

Public transit is unusually rare in San Miguel County: 5.9 times less than the New Mexico average (0.1% vs 0.6%).

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in San Miguel County, versus 0.1% in New Mexico.

Commute Mode Trends in San Miguel County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in San Miguel 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.

• Car
• Worked at Home
• Other
• Walked
• Bicycle
• Public Transportation
• Taxi
• Motorcycle

Show commute mode data by year

Year	Car	Worked at Home	Other	Walked	Bicycle	Public Transportation	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	90.2%	4.1%	0.6%	4.3%	0.0%	0.8%	0.0%	0.1%
2010	89.4%	5.1%	0.8%	3.9%	0.2%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%
2011	89.5%	5.2%	0.8%	3.6%	0.3%	0.6%	0.0%	0.1%
2012	89.9%	4.5%	1.1%	3.4%	0.3%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%
2013	89.7%	5.1%	0.8%	3.2%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2014	88.3%	6.9%	0.9%	2.7%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2015	86.7%	7.7%	0.7%	3.2%	1.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2016	85.3%	9.2%	0.4%	3.3%	1.4%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%
2017	84.2%	9.6%	0.1%	3.6%	1.8%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	85.1%	9.4%	0.3%	3.9%	0.7%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2019	83.5%	7.9%	1.1%	5.4%	1.1%	1.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2020	83.2%	10.0%	0.9%	4.6%	0.3%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2021	84.3%	9.8%	0.9%	4.4%	0.2%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2022	83.3%	11.7%	1.0%	3.7%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2023	83.0%	12.0%	0.7%	3.8%	0.4%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
2024	83.7%	11.2%	2.5%	2.2%	0.3%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share bottomed out in 2023 at 83.0%. Overall it fell from 90.2% in 2009 to 83.7% in 2024, down 6.5 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in San Miguel County: its share of workers rose from 4.1% in 2009 to 11.2% in 2024, up 7.1 percentage points.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 4.3% to 2.2% of workers (down 2.1 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2010 release and has stayed ahead since.

Biking peaked at 1.8% in 2017 and has since fallen back to 0.3%.

Commute Start Times in San Miguel County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in San Miguel County?

The bars show when commuters in San Miguel 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 AM San Miguel County1.9% New Mexico4.6%	1.9%
5:00-5:29 AM	5:00-5:29 AM San Miguel County2.5% New Mexico3.5%	2.5%
5:30-5:59 AM	5:30-5:59 AM San Miguel County3.3% New Mexico5.1%	3.3%
6:00-6:29 AM	6:00-6:29 AM San Miguel County9.0% New Mexico8.7%	9.0%
6:30-6:59 AM	6:30-6:59 AM San Miguel County6.5% New Mexico10.1%	6.5%
7:00-7:29 AM	7:00-7:29 AM San Miguel County19.6% New Mexico15.5%	19.6%
7:30-7:59 AM	7:30-7:59 AM San Miguel County24.2% New Mexico14.8%	24.2%
8:00-8:29 AM	8:00-8:29 AM San Miguel County9.5% New Mexico11.1%	9.5%
8:30-8:59 AM	8:30-8:59 AM San Miguel County3.2% New Mexico4.5%	3.2%
9:00-9:59 AM	9:00-9:59 AM San Miguel County4.3% New Mexico6.0%	4.3%
10:00-10:59 AM	10:00-10:59 AM San Miguel County3.1% New Mexico3.1%	3.1%
11:00-11:59 AM	11:00-11:59 AM San Miguel County0.0% New Mexico1.3%	0.0%
12:00-3:59 PM	12:00-3:59 PM San Miguel County5.1% New Mexico6.3%	5.1%
4:00-11:59 PM	4:00-11:59 PM San Miguel County7.8% New Mexico5.5%	7.8%

San Miguel County New Mexico Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in San Miguel County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 24.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.8% across New Mexico. Early starts are less common than in New Mexico: 7.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in New Mexico: 59.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.5% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (20.4%) 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 San Miguel 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 San Miguel 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 San Miguel 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.

• San Miguel County
• New Mexico
• United States

Show typical departure times by year

Year	San Miguel County	New Mexico	United States
2009	7:39 AM	7:37 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:39 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:36 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:38 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:42 AM	7:36 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:41 AM	7:37 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:41 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:41 AM	7:37 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:39 AM	7:36 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:35 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:40 AM	7:36 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:40 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:39 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:40 AM	7:35 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:43 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:39 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in San Miguel County were on the road by 7:39 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across New Mexico, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in San Miguel County now leave 1 minute later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).

How does San Miguel County's commute time compare?

Metric	San Miguel County	New Mexico	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	15.2 min	18.8 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	11.2%	12.2%	15.0%
Walked	2.2%	1.9%	2.4%
Public Transit	< 0.1%	0.6%	3.2%

The average commute time in San Miguel County is 15.2 minutes, shorter than the 18.8 minutes in New Mexico.

0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in New Mexico. 2.2% commute by walking, higher than the 1.9% in New Mexico.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau