Commuting in Baker County, Oregon: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 7:58 PM
How much time do drivers in Baker County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:58 PM
Commute Time Burden in Baker County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Baker County spend about 18 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 74 hours, about 3.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 56% less time on the road than the Oregon average of 20.1 minutes each way, a difference of 11.3 minutes.
Baker County holds about 0.4% of Oregon's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Baker County would save about 30 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $916 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)
Baker County
8.9 min
17.7 min
74 hrs/yr
$2,289
92
Oregon
20.1 min
40.3 min
168 hrs/yr
$5,203
967
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
8.9
minutes to get to work in
Baker County.
That's 60% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the top 3 fastest counties in Oregon
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 9.8% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Baker County
Car:
81.8%
Worked at Home:
9.8%
Walked:
6.5%
Bicycle:
1.2%
Other:
0.6%
Public Transportation:
0.2%unusually low
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Baker County, versus 0.2% in Oregon.
Public transit is unusually rare in Baker County: 13.6 times less than the Oregon average (0.2% vs 2.2%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Baker County, versus 0.1% in Oregon.
Commute Mode Trends in Baker County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Baker 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
Bicycle
Other
Public Transportation
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
80.2%
8.5%
6.5%
2.9%
1.7%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2010
81.1%
8.6%
4.5%
3.8%
1.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
81.3%
8.5%
5.7%
2.8%
1.4%
0.3%
0.0%
0.1%
2012
82.4%
7.7%
5.5%
2.3%
1.5%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
2013
84.4%
8.2%
4.1%
1.8%
1.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2014
83.0%
9.1%
5.4%
1.4%
0.9%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
2015
83.5%
7.3%
5.9%
2.1%
0.8%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2016
83.4%
7.0%
5.8%
2.3%
1.1%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2017
84.4%
7.4%
5.3%
1.4%
1.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
2018
83.1%
7.3%
6.8%
1.0%
1.5%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
2019
83.4%
7.4%
6.4%
0.9%
1.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
84.3%
8.7%
5.3%
0.4%
1.0%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
82.7%
8.4%
6.9%
0.7%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
80.9%
8.8%
8.1%
1.0%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
83.1%
8.4%
6.6%
1.2%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
2024
81.8%
9.8%
6.5%
1.2%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2013 at 84.4%. Overall it rose from 80.2% in 2009 to 81.8% in 2024, up 1.6 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.
Working from home gained the most ground in Baker County: its share of workers rose from 8.5% in 2009 to 9.8% in 2024, up 1.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 2.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Biking lost the most ground, falling from 2.9% to 1.2% of workers (down 1.7 percentage points).
Walking peaked at 8.1% in 2022 and has since fallen back to 6.5%.
Commute Start Times in Baker County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Baker County?
The bars show when commuters in Baker 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 Oregon for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMBaker County9.9%Oregon5.9%
9.9%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMBaker County1.9%Oregon3.8%
1.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMBaker County6.7%Oregon5.0%
6.7%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMBaker County7.9%Oregon7.6%
7.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMBaker County7.2%Oregon9.7%
7.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMBaker County14.9%Oregon13.0%
14.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMBaker County18.7%Oregon13.0%
18.7%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMBaker County11.2%Oregon10.6%
11.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMBaker County4.5%Oregon5.8%
4.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMBaker County2.5%Oregon7.2%
2.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMBaker County3.6%Oregon3.7%
3.6%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMBaker County0.1%Oregon1.8%
0.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMBaker County6.7%Oregon7.1%
6.7%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMBaker County4.1%Oregon5.7%
4.1%
Baker CountyOregonSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Baker County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 18.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.0% across Oregon. Early starts are more common than in Oregon: 18.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Oregon: 52.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.3% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (17.0%) 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 Baker 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 Baker 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 Baker County next to Oregon 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
Baker County
Oregon
United States
2009
7:42 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:42 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:42 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:38 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:37 AM
7:42 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:34 AM
7:42 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:30 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:28 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:28 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:30 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:34 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:30 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:36 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:32 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:32 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Baker County were on the road by 7:32 AM, 9 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:42 AM). That goes against the trend across Oregon, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Baker County 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 Baker County has moved 2 minutes later.
How does Baker County's commute time compare?
Metric
Baker County
Oregon
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
8.9 min
20.1 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
9.8%
19.0%
15.0%
Walked
6.5%
3.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
2.2%
3.2%
The average commute time in Baker County is 8.9 minutes, shorter than the 20.1 minutes in Oregon.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.2% in Oregon. 6.5% commute by walking, higher than the 3.3% in Oregon.
Baker County, OR Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Baker County, OR is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 16,836 residents against a local median of 11,141. Baker County, OR's one-way commute, at 8.9 min, runs 31% below the 12.8 min typical of the counties around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 6.2 min on one-way commute, so Baker County, OR sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Baker County, OR has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Baker County, Oregon.
Is commuting expensive in Baker County, Oregon?
Commuters here spend an estimated 74 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $2,289 at a typical national wage. That's 56% less than the typical Oregon commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Baker County, Oregon?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Baker County, Oregon. 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.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Baker County, Oregon?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.2% of commuters use it versus 2.2% in Oregon, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in Oregon?
Among counties in Oregon, the shortest average commutes are in Lake County (7.7 min), Harney County (8.6 min), Baker County (8.9 min). The longest are in Columbia County (31.7 min), Clackamas County (23.9 min), Polk County (22.2 min).