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Torrance County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 5:09 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Torrance County?
Map AI 9/24/26, 5:09 PM

Commute Time Burden in Torrance County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Torrance County spend about 73 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 304 hours, about 12.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 94% more time on the road than the New Mexico average of 18.8 minutes each way, a difference of 17.6 minutes.

Torrance County holds about 0.7% of New Mexico's population but accounts for roughly 1.4% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Torrance County would save about 122 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $3,768 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)
Torrance County 36.5 min 72.9 min 304 hrs/yr $9,421 205
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

Fastest commutes among counties in New Mexico
  1. De Baca County (7.9 min)
  2. Quay County (8.0 min)
  3. Union County (8.3 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in New Mexico
  1. Torrance County (36.5 min)
  2. Mora County (30.1 min)
  3. Valencia County (30.1 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Torrance County
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Average commute time

On average, it takes 36.5 minutes to get to work in Torrance County. That's 63% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slowest county in New Mexico

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 8.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Torrance County

  • Car: 87.8%
  • Worked at Home: 8.6%
  • Walked: 0.9%
  • Motorcycle: 0.9% unusually high
  • Bicycle: 0.9%
  • Other: 0.8%
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low

Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Torrance County: 6.9 times more than the New Mexico average (0.9% vs 0.1%).

Public transit is essentially absent in Torrance County, versus 0.6% in New Mexico.

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

Commute Mode Trends in Torrance County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Torrance 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 Motorcycle Bicycle Walked Other Public Transportation Taxi
2009 92.9% 4.8% 0.1% 0.0% 1.4% 0.2% 0.6% 0.0%
2010 92.1% 5.9% 0.1% 0.0% 1.2% 0.4% 0.4% 0.0%
2011 89.6% 7.2% 0.1% 0.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.6% 0.0%
2012 86.2% 10.4% 0.1% 0.0% 2.2% 0.8% 0.4% 0.0%
2013 84.5% 11.6% 0.2% 0.2% 2.5% 0.8% 0.2% 0.0%
2014 84.6% 12.3% 0.1% 0.2% 2.2% 0.6% 0.1% 0.0%
2015 85.5% 11.6% 0.1% 0.1% 2.0% 0.7% 0.0% 0.0%
2016 84.2% 13.5% 0.0% 0.1% 1.8% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0%
2017 83.3% 14.4% 0.0% 0.1% 1.8% 0.4% 0.1% 0.0%
2018 86.0% 11.8% 0.0% 0.0% 1.7% 0.5% 0.1% 0.0%
2019 85.5% 11.6% 0.0% 0.0% 1.9% 1.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2020 82.5% 13.0% 0.0% 0.1% 2.6% 1.7% 0.1% 0.0%
2021 85.3% 10.9% 0.0% 0.8% 1.9% 1.2% 0.0% 0.0%
2022 85.9% 9.9% 0.0% 0.7% 1.7% 1.8% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 82.6% 11.5% 0.8% 0.8% 1.4% 2.8% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 87.8% 8.6% 0.9% 0.9% 0.9% 0.8% 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 2020 at 82.5%. Overall it fell from 92.9% in 2009 to 87.8% in 2024, down 5.1 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Torrance County: its share of workers rose from 4.8% in 2009 to 8.6% in 2024, up 3.8 percentage points.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 0.6% to 0.0% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).

Riding a motorcycle overtook public transit to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2023 release and has stayed ahead since.

Working from home peaked at 14.4% in 2017 and has since fallen back to 8.6%.

Commute Start Times in Torrance County

  • Rush-Hour DodgersThe 2nd-lowest share of rush-hour departures among New Mexico's 33 counties: only 40.3% of commuters leave between 6:30 and 8:29 AM.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Torrance County?

The bars show when commuters in Torrance 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
6.7%
5:00-5:29 AM
3.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
10.4%
6:00-6:29 AM
12.2%
6:30-6:59 AM
7.6%
7:00-7:29 AM
16.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
11.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
4.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
4.1%
9:00-9:59 AM
8.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
0.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
1.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
4.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
7.7%

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

The busiest time to head out in Torrance County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 16.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.5% across New Mexico. Early starts are more common than in New Mexico: 20.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.1% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in New Mexico: 40.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 51.5% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.6%) 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 Torrance 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 Torrance 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 Torrance 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 Torrance County New Mexico United States
2009 7:14 AM 7:37 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:17 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:21 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:11 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:13 AM 7:36 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:20 AM 7:37 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:22 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:12 AM 7:37 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:13 AM 7:36 AM 7:38 AM
2018 7:11 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:07 AM 7:36 AM 7:37 AM
2020 7:04 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:02 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2022 7:05 AM 7:35 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:06 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2024 7:17 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Torrance County were on the road by 7:17 AM, 2 minutes later than in 2009 (7:14 AM). That goes against the trend across New Mexico, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in Torrance County now leave 21 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 Torrance County has moved 10 minutes later.

How does Torrance County's commute time compare?

Metric Torrance County New Mexico US Average
Avg. Commute Time 36.5 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 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home 8.6% 12.2% 15.0%
Walked 0.9% 1.9% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 0.6% 3.2%

The average commute time in Torrance County is 36.5 minutes, longer than the 18.8 minutes in New Mexico.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.6% in New Mexico. 0.9% commute by walking, lower than the 1.9% in New Mexico.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Torrance County, NM Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Torrance County, NM is the 5th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 15,478 residents against a local median of 78,461. Torrance County, NM's one-way commute, at 36.5 min, runs 78% above the 20.5 min typical of the counties around it. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 8.6% against a local median of 11.1%, 22% below it. The counties themselves spread 16.5 min on one-way commute, so Torrance County, NM sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Torrance County, NM has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Torrance County, NM 15,478 36.5 min #6/6 8.6% #5/6 7:17 AM #1/6
Santa Fe County, NM 155,407 20.5 min 18.4% 7:52 AM
Bernalillo County, NM 672,163 20.9 min 14.9% 7:43 AM
Valencia County, NM 78,461 30.1 min 11.1% 7:17 AM
Lincoln County, NM 20,223 15.4 min 11.1% 7:50 AM
Guadalupe County, NM 4,381 13.5 min 2.9% 7:18 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Torrance County, New Mexico.

Is commuting expensive in Torrance County, New Mexico?

Commuters here spend an estimated 304 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $9,421 at a typical national wage. That's 94% more than the typical New Mexico commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Torrance County, New Mexico?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Torrance County, New Mexico. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.

Do people use public transit in Torrance County, New Mexico?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.6% in New Mexico, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

Which counties in New Mexico have the fastest and slowest commutes?

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).