Commuting in Wasco 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, 8:24 PM
How much time do drivers in Wasco County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:24 PM
Commute Time Burden in Wasco County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Wasco County spend about 26 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 109 hours, about 4.5 full days, spent commuting. That is 35% less time on the road than the Oregon average of 20.1 minutes each way, a difference of 7.0 minutes.
Wasco County holds about 0.6% of Oregon's population but accounts for roughly 0.4% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Wasco County would save about 44 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,353 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)
Wasco County
13.1 min
26.2 min
109 hrs/yr
$3,383
383
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
13.1
minutes to get to work in
Wasco County.
That's 42% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 74% of 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 7.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Wasco County
Car:
83.3%
Worked at Home:
7.9%
Walked:
6.2%
Other:
1.6%
Public Transportation:
0.5%unusually low
Bicycle:
0.3%unusually low
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Public transit is unusually rare in Wasco County: 4.3 times less than the Oregon average (0.5% vs 2.2%).
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Wasco County, versus 0.1% in Oregon.
Biking is unusually rare in Wasco County: 4.5 times less than the Oregon average (0.3% vs 1.3%).
Commute Mode Trends in Wasco County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Wasco 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
Other
Public Transportation
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
83.8%
10.1%
4.4%
0.8%
0.2%
0.3%
0.5%
0.0%
2010
84.1%
10.1%
4.2%
0.6%
0.1%
0.5%
0.5%
0.0%
2011
75.3%
16.0%
4.9%
0.7%
2.3%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
2012
76.8%
15.0%
5.3%
0.6%
1.5%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
2013
78.9%
11.9%
6.0%
0.7%
1.6%
0.4%
0.5%
0.0%
2014
84.4%
7.8%
4.7%
0.6%
1.7%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
2015
84.9%
7.5%
4.5%
0.7%
1.5%
0.3%
0.3%
0.2%
2016
86.3%
8.0%
3.8%
0.4%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
2017
85.8%
7.9%
4.7%
0.3%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.2%
2018
86.1%
8.1%
4.2%
0.2%
0.4%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
2019
86.3%
7.5%
4.5%
0.2%
0.3%
0.5%
0.3%
0.4%
2020
86.1%
7.7%
4.5%
0.2%
0.2%
0.4%
0.5%
0.3%
2021
87.5%
6.6%
3.8%
0.5%
0.1%
0.4%
0.6%
0.4%
2022
87.1%
7.1%
3.2%
0.9%
0.1%
0.6%
0.5%
0.3%
2023
86.2%
6.9%
3.6%
1.4%
0.8%
0.4%
0.4%
0.4%
2024
83.3%
7.9%
6.2%
1.6%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2021 at 87.5% and lowest in 2011 at 75.3%. Overall it fell from 83.8% in 2009 to 83.3% in 2024, down 0.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 3 releases.
Walking gained the most ground in Wasco County: its share of workers rose from 4.4% in 2009 to 6.2% in 2024, up 1.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 1.7 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Working from home lost the most ground, falling from 10.1% to 7.9% of workers (down 2.2 percentage points).
Public transit peaked at 2.3% in 2011 and has since fallen back to 0.5%.
Commute Start Times in Wasco County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Wasco County?
The bars show when commuters in Wasco 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 AMWasco County5.3%Oregon5.9%
5.3%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMWasco County4.8%Oregon3.8%
4.8%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMWasco County8.9%Oregon5.0%
8.9%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMWasco County5.6%Oregon7.6%
5.6%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMWasco County10.0%Oregon9.7%
10.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMWasco County13.5%Oregon13.0%
13.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMWasco County15.2%Oregon13.0%
15.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMWasco County12.3%Oregon10.6%
12.3%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMWasco County4.3%Oregon5.8%
4.3%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMWasco County4.8%Oregon7.2%
4.8%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMWasco County2.3%Oregon3.7%
2.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMWasco County2.1%Oregon1.8%
2.1%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMWasco County6.1%Oregon7.1%
6.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMWasco County4.7%Oregon5.7%
4.7%
Wasco CountyOregonSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Wasco County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.0% across Oregon. Early starts are more common than in Oregon: 19.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.7% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Oregon: 50.9% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.3% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (20.1%) 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 Wasco 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 Wasco 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 Wasco 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
Wasco County
Oregon
United States
2009
7:28 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:30 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:28 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:30 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:31 AM
7:42 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:32 AM
7:42 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:31 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:28 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:31 AM
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:29 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:33 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:36 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:32 AM
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:36 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:34 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Wasco County were on the road by 7:34 AM, 6 minutes later than in 2009 (7:28 AM). The shift is sharper than across Oregon, where the typical start moved 2 minutes later. Commuters in Wasco County now leave 4 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 Wasco County has moved 4 minutes later.
How does Wasco County's commute time compare?
Metric
Wasco County
Oregon
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
13.1 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
7.9%
19.0%
15.0%
Walked
6.2%
3.3%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
2.2%
3.2%
The average commute time in Wasco County is 13.1 minutes, shorter than the 20.1 minutes in Oregon.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.2% in Oregon. 6.2% commute by walking, higher than the 3.3% in Oregon.
Wasco County, OR Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Wasco County, OR is typical in size for this group, 26,553 residents against a local median of 23,411, so the measures below are close to a like for like comparison. The measure that sets Wasco County, OR apart most is one-way commute: 13.1 min, 27% below the local median of 17.9 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 7.9% against a local median of 10.0%, 21% below it. The counties themselves spread 9.5 min on one-way commute, so Wasco County, OR sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Wasco County, OR has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Wasco County, Oregon.
Is commuting expensive in Wasco County, Oregon?
Commuters here spend an estimated 109 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,383 at a typical national wage. That's 35% less than the typical Oregon commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Wasco County, Oregon?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Wasco 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.
Do people use public transit in Wasco County, Oregon?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.5% 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).