South Valley Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in South Valley, New Mexico: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in South Valley: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in South Valley spend about 47 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 195 hours, about 8.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 24% more time on the road than the New Mexico average of 18.8 minutes each way, a difference of 4.5 minutes.
South Valley holds about 1.7% of New Mexico's population but accounts for roughly 2.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in South Valley would save about 78 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,416 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Valley | 23.4 min | 46.8 min | 195 hrs/yr | $6,041 | 2,548 |
| 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.
South Valley Commute Map
On average, it takes 23.4 minutes to get to work in South Valley. That's 4% longer 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 8.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in South Valley
- Car: 89.3%
- Worked at Home: 8.3%
- Walked: 1.0%
- Other: 0.6%
- Bicycle: 0.5%
- Public Transportation: 0.1% unusually low
- Taxi: < 0.1%
- Motorcycle: < 0.1%
Public transit is unusually rare in South Valley: 4.1 times less than the New Mexico average (0.1% vs 0.6%).
Commute Mode Trends in South Valley, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in South Valley 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Worked at Home | Walked | Other | Bicycle | Public Transportation | Taxi | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 93.8% | 3.0% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.3% |
| 2010 | 93.2% | 3.6% | 1.2% | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2011 | 92.3% | 4.0% | 1.6% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2012 | 91.8% | 4.4% | 1.5% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2013 | 91.7% | 4.5% | 1.4% | 1.2% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2014 | 90.6% | 5.0% | 1.5% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 0.9% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2015 | 91.1% | 4.4% | 1.5% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2016 | 91.3% | 4.5% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 0.1% | 1.3% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2017 | 92.3% | 4.5% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.2% | 1.3% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2018 | 91.3% | 5.4% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 1.6% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2019 | 92.1% | 4.7% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.3% | 1.4% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2020 | 92.1% | 5.1% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 1.4% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2021 | 91.4% | 6.5% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2022 | 89.9% | 7.6% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 2023 | 90.4% | 7.0% | 0.9% | 0.5% | 0.9% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2024 | 89.3% | 8.3% | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 93.8% in 2009 to 89.3% in 2024, down 4.5 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.
Working from home gained the most ground in South Valley: its share of workers rose from 3.0% in 2009 to 8.3% in 2024, up 5.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 0.7% to 0.1% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in South Valley
What Time Do People Leave for Work in South Valley?
The bars show when commuters in South Valley 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
South Valley2.3%
New Mexico4.6%
|
2.3% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
South Valley3.1%
New Mexico3.5%
|
3.1% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
South Valley6.7%
New Mexico5.1%
|
6.7% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
South Valley8.8%
New Mexico8.7%
|
8.8% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
South Valley10.9%
New Mexico10.1%
|
10.9% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
South Valley16.9%
New Mexico15.5%
|
16.9% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
South Valley14.3%
New Mexico14.8%
|
14.3% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
South Valley10.9%
New Mexico11.1%
|
10.9% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
South Valley4.4%
New Mexico4.5%
|
4.4% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
South Valley4.6%
New Mexico6.0%
|
4.6% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
South Valley4.8%
New Mexico3.1%
|
4.8% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
South Valley1.0%
New Mexico1.3%
|
1.0% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
South Valley5.4%
New Mexico6.3%
|
5.4% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
South Valley5.8%
New Mexico5.5%
|
5.8% |
South Valley New Mexico Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in South Valley is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 16.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.5% across New Mexico. Early starts are less common than in New Mexico: 12.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush looks much like New Mexico's: 53.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.5% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (21.7%) 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 South Valley, 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 South Valley 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 South Valley 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | South Valley | New Mexico | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7:22 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 7:24 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 7:28 AM | 7:36 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 7:32 AM | 7:36 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 7:33 AM | 7:36 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 7:29 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 7:27 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 7:25 AM | 7:37 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 7:23 AM | 7:36 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 7:23 AM | 7:36 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 7:23 AM | 7:36 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 7:24 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 7:24 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 7:27 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 7:29 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 7:33 AM | 7:35 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in South Valley were on the road by 7:33 AM, 11 minutes later than in 2009 (7:22 AM). That goes against the trend across New Mexico, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in South Valley now leave 5 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 South Valley has moved 9 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for South Valley in the whole series.
How does South Valley's commute time compare?
| Metric | South Valley | New Mexico | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 23.4 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 | 8.3% | 12.2% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 1.0% | 1.9% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 0.1% | 0.6% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in South Valley is 23.4 minutes, longer than the 18.8 minutes in New Mexico.
0.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in New Mexico. 1.0% commute by walking, lower than the 1.9% in New Mexico.
South Valley, NM Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
How South Valley, NM compares with the 1 cities closest to it.
| Area | Population | One-way commute | Work from home | Typical departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Valley, NM | 36,142 | 23.4 min #2/2 | 8.3% #2/2 | 7:33 AM #1/2 |
| Albuquerque, NM | 517,565 | 20.4 min | 15.0% | 7:45 AM |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in South Valley, New Mexico.
How much does the average commute cost workers in South Valley, New Mexico?
Commuters here spend an estimated 195 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,041 at a typical national wage. That's 24% more than the typical New Mexico commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in South Valley, New Mexico?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in South Valley, 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 South Valley, 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.