Commuting in Rhode Island: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 11:43 AM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Rhode Island?
Map AI9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Commute Time Burden in Rhode Island: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Rhode Island 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 2% less time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 0.5 minutes.
Rhode Island holds about 0.3% of US's population and accounts for roughly 0.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Rhode Island would save about 73 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,267 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)
Rhode Island
21.9 min
43.9 min
183 hrs/yr
$5,668
2,085
US
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
21.9
minutes to get to work in
Rhode Island.
That's 2% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 13.0% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Rhode Island
Car:
80.2%
Worked at Home:
13.0%
Walked:
2.8%
Public Transportation:
1.7%
Other:
1.5%
Bicycle:
0.4%
Taxi:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Rhode Island, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Rhode Island 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
Public Transportation
Other
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
89.6%
3.2%
3.1%
2.7%
1.0%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2010
89.1%
3.3%
3.5%
2.7%
0.9%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
88.9%
3.4%
3.5%
2.8%
0.8%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
2012
88.6%
3.5%
3.5%
2.9%
0.9%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
2013
88.4%
3.5%
3.7%
2.9%
0.9%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2014
88.3%
3.5%
3.7%
2.9%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
2015
88.4%
3.5%
3.7%
2.9%
1.0%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
2016
88.3%
3.6%
3.8%
2.7%
0.9%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
2017
88.4%
3.9%
3.8%
2.6%
0.8%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
2018
88.7%
4.0%
3.6%
2.5%
0.7%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
88.9%
4.1%
3.4%
2.5%
0.7%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
87.8%
5.5%
3.1%
2.2%
0.8%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2021
85.5%
8.0%
3.0%
2.0%
0.9%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
2022
83.9%
9.6%
2.9%
1.9%
1.1%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
81.9%
11.4%
2.9%
1.9%
1.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.1%
2024
80.2%
13.0%
2.8%
1.7%
1.5%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 89.6% in 2009 to 80.2% in 2024, down 9.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Rhode Island: its share of workers rose from 3.2% in 2009 to 13.0% in 2024, up 9.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 8.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 2.7% to 1.7% of workers (down 1.0 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Rhode Island
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Rhode Island?
The bars show when commuters in Rhode Island 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 the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMRhode Island4.3%The U.S.5.5%
4.3%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMRhode Island2.9%The U.S.4.0%
2.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMRhode Island4.0%The U.S.4.9%
4.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMRhode Island8.4%The U.S.8.7%
8.4%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMRhode Island9.4%The U.S.9.4%
9.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMRhode Island14.9%The U.S.14.4%
14.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMRhode Island11.7%The U.S.11.9%
11.7%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMRhode Island13.4%The U.S.11.5%
13.4%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMRhode Island6.6%The U.S.5.5%
6.6%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMRhode Island7.5%The U.S.6.8%
7.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMRhode Island2.8%The U.S.3.1%
2.8%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMRhode Island1.7%The U.S.1.5%
1.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMRhode Island7.3%The U.S.6.8%
7.3%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMRhode Island5.1%The U.S.6.1%
5.1%
Rhode IslandThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Rhode Island is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.4% across the U.S.. Early starts are less common than in the U.S.: 11.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in the U.S.: 49.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.4%) 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 Rhode Island, 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 Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island next to 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
Rhode Island
United States
2009
7:46 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:47 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:47 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:49 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:49 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:49 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:48 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:47 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Rhode Island were on the road by 7:46 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Commuters in Rhode Island now leave 8 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Rhode Island's commute time compare?
Metric
Rhode Island
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.9 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
13.0%
15.0%
Walked
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in Rhode Island is about the same as in US.
1.7% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.2% in US. 2.8% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in US.
Rhode Island is the 5th largest of the 6 states compared here, 1,100,398 residents against a local median of 3,347,044. Where Rhode Island breaks from the states next to it is work from home, sitting 23% below the local median of 16.8% at 13.0%.
The states themselves sit within 2.5% of each other on work from home, a tighter band than the gap between any of them and Rhode Island, which makes it a genuine outlier here rather than one end of a wide local spread. Rhode Island has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
How much does the average commute cost workers in Rhode Island?
Commuters here spend an estimated 183 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,668 at a typical national wage. That's 2% less than the typical US commuter spends.
When is rush hour worst in Rhode Island?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Rhode Island. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How do commute times compare across counties in Rhode Island?
Among counties in Rhode Island, the shortest average commutes are in Newport County (17.9 min), Providence County (21.8 min), Kent County (22.5 min). The longest are in Bristol County (23.2 min), Washington County (22.8 min), Kent County (22.5 min).