Portland Commute Time Map & Patterns

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

You 9/24/26, 4:17 PM

Is the commute in Portland longer than the national average?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:17 PM

Commute Time Burden in Portland: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Portland spend about 44 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 183 hours, about 7.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 9% more time on the road than the Oregon average of 20.1 minutes each way, a difference of 1.9 minutes.

Portland holds about 14.9% of Oregon's population but accounts for roughly 16.3% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Portland would save about 73 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,275 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)
Portland	22.0 min	44.0 min	183 hrs/yr	$5,688	3,089
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.

Portland Commute Map

On average, it takes 22.0 minutes to get to work in Portland. That's 2% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 28.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Portland

Driving is 23% less common in Portland than the Oregon average (56.1% vs 72.9%).

Commute Mode Trends in Portland, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Portland 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	Public Transportation	Walked	Bicycle	Other	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	70.4%	6.0%	12.5%	5.1%	5.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.3%
2010	69.6%	6.5%	12.1%	5.4%	5.5%	0.5%	0.0%	0.4%
2011	69.2%	6.8%	12.1%	5.1%	5.9%	0.5%	0.0%	0.4%
2012	68.1%	7.1%	12.0%	5.7%	6.2%	0.5%	0.0%	0.4%
2013	68.0%	7.3%	11.7%	5.8%	6.1%	0.7%	0.1%	0.4%
2014	67.3%	7.6%	11.9%	5.7%	6.3%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%
2015	66.9%	7.4%	12.2%	5.8%	6.4%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%
2016	66.6%	7.5%	12.2%	6.0%	6.5%	0.8%	0.1%	0.4%
2017	66.5%	7.6%	12.4%	5.7%	6.5%	0.8%	0.1%	0.4%
2018	66.1%	8.2%	12.6%	5.6%	6.3%	0.7%	0.2%	0.4%
2019	65.5%	8.5%	13.0%	5.8%	6.0%	0.7%	0.2%	0.3%
2020	63.5%	12.7%	11.4%	5.5%	5.4%	1.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2021	61.1%	18.0%	9.7%	5.1%	4.8%	1.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2022	59.0%	22.1%	8.5%	4.9%	4.2%	1.0%	0.2%	0.2%
2023	57.3%	25.3%	7.3%	4.8%	3.7%	1.2%	0.2%	0.2%
2024	56.1%	28.6%	6.1%	4.4%	3.4%	1.1%	0.2%	0.2%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 70.4% in 2009 to 56.1% in 2024, down 14.3 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 15 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Portland: its share of workers rose from 6.0% in 2009 to 28.6% in 2024, up 22.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 20.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 12.5% to 6.1% of workers (down 6.4 percentage points).

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Biking peaked at 6.5% in 2016 and has since fallen back to 3.4%.

Commute Start Times in Portland

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Portland?

The bars show when commuters in Portland 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		4.6%
5:00-5:29 AM		2.8%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.5%
6:00-6:29 AM		5.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.7%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.1%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.0%
8:00-8:29 AM		12.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		8.2%
9:00-9:59 AM		9.6%
10:00-10:59 AM		4.8%
11:00-11:59 AM		2.3%
12:00-3:59 PM		8.2%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.4%

Portland Oregon Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Portland is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 12.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 10.6% across Oregon. Early starts are less common than in Oregon: 10.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.7% there. The morning rush looks much like Oregon's: 44.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.3% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (30.3%) 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 Portland, 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 Portland 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 Portland 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	Portland	Oregon	United States
2009	7:53 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:56 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:55 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:57 AM	7:42 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:58 AM	7:42 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:59 AM	7:42 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:59 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:58 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:57 AM	7:40 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:56 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:55 AM	7:38 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:56 AM	7:39 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:57 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:59 AM	7:40 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:02 AM	7:41 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:03 AM	7:42 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Portland were on the road by 8:03 AM, 11 minutes later than in 2009 (7:53 AM). The shift is sharper than across Oregon, where the typical start moved 2 minutes later. Commuters in Portland now leave 25 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Portland has moved 8 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Portland in the whole series.

How does Portland's commute time compare?

Metric	Portland	Oregon	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	22.0 min	20.1 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	08:00 AM – 08:29 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	28.6%	19.0%	15.0%
Walked	4.4%	3.3%	2.4%
Public Transit	6.1%	2.2%	3.2%

The average commute time in Portland is 22.0 minutes, longer than the 20.1 minutes in Oregon.

6.1% commute by public transit, higher than the 2.2% in Oregon. 4.4% commute by walking, higher than the 3.3% in Oregon.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Portland, OR Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Portland, OR compares with the 2 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Portland, OR	635,220	22.0 min #2/3	28.6% #1/3	8:03 AM #3/3
Milwaukie, OR	21,281	25.3 min	23.6%	7:33 AM
Vancouver, WA	192,630	20.2 min	17.9%	7:37 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Portland, Oregon.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Portland, Oregon?

Commuters here spend an estimated 183 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,688 at a typical national wage. That's 9% more than the typical Oregon commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Portland, Oregon?

Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Portland, 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.

How much money can remote workers save in Portland, Oregon?

About 28.6% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Portland would save about 73 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,275 at the same national wage assumption used above.