Commuting in Kent County, 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, 8:40 PM
How much time do drivers in Kent County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:40 PM
Commute Time Burden in Kent County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Kent County spend about 45 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 188 hours, about 7.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 3% more time on the road than the Rhode Island average of 21.9 minutes each way, a difference of 0.6 minutes.
Kent County holds about 15.5% of Rhode Island's population but accounts for roughly 16.0% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Kent County would save about 75 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,329 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)
Kent County
22.5 min
45.1 min
188 hrs/yr
$5,821
2,148
Rhode Island
21.9 min
43.9 min
183 hrs/yr
$5,668
2,085
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
22.5
minutes to get to work in
Kent County.
That's 1% longer 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 11.9% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Kent County
Car:
85.4%
Worked at Home:
11.9%
Other:
0.9%
Public Transportation:
0.8%
Walked:
0.7%unusually low
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Walking is unusually rare in Kent County: 4.1 times less than the Rhode Island average (0.7% vs 2.8%).
Biking is unusually rare in Kent County: 10.7 times less than the Rhode Island average (0.0% vs 0.4%).
Few people walk or bike to work in Kent County: just 0.7%, 4.4 times below the Rhode Island average of 3.2%.
Commute Mode Trends in Kent County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Kent 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
Other
Public Transportation
Walked
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
94.0%
2.1%
1.4%
1.3%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2010
94.3%
2.2%
1.1%
1.2%
0.9%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2011
94.3%
2.6%
0.6%
1.2%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2012
94.0%
2.8%
0.5%
1.5%
1.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2013
94.3%
2.7%
0.4%
1.3%
1.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2014
94.3%
2.8%
0.3%
1.4%
1.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2015
94.6%
2.7%
0.3%
1.2%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2016
94.5%
2.8%
0.3%
1.2%
1.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2017
94.6%
2.9%
0.3%
1.1%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2018
94.3%
3.0%
0.4%
1.2%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
2019
93.8%
3.4%
0.3%
1.2%
1.0%
0.0%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
92.1%
5.0%
0.4%
1.2%
1.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2021
89.6%
7.3%
0.6%
1.1%
1.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2022
87.7%
9.1%
0.7%
1.1%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
86.3%
10.6%
0.7%
1.0%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
85.4%
11.9%
0.9%
0.8%
0.7%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2015 at 94.6%. Overall it fell from 94.0% in 2009 to 85.4% in 2024, down 8.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 7 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Kent County: its share of workers rose from 2.1% in 2009 to 11.9% in 2024, up 9.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 8.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.3% to 0.8% of workers (down 0.5 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Kent County
🐦Early BirdThe earliest start among Rhode Island's 5 counties: half of commuters are on the road by 7:44 AM.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Kent County?
The bars show when commuters in Kent 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 Rhode Island for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMKent County3.8%Rhode Island4.3%
3.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMKent County2.7%Rhode Island2.9%
2.7%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMKent County4.2%Rhode Island4.0%
4.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMKent County7.1%Rhode Island8.4%
7.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMKent County11.1%Rhode Island9.4%
11.1%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMKent County15.7%Rhode Island14.9%
15.7%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMKent County12.1%Rhode Island11.7%
12.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMKent County13.5%Rhode Island13.4%
13.5%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMKent County6.7%Rhode Island6.6%
6.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMKent County6.5%Rhode Island7.5%
6.5%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMKent County2.2%Rhode Island2.8%
2.2%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMKent County1.7%Rhode Island1.7%
1.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMKent County7.4%Rhode Island7.3%
7.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMKent County5.4%Rhode Island5.1%
5.4%
Kent CountyRhode IslandSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Kent County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.9% across Rhode Island. Early starts are about as common as in Rhode Island: 10.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 11.1% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Rhode Island: 52.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.4% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.2%) 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 Kent 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 Kent 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 Kent County next to Rhode Island 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
Kent County
Rhode Island
United States
2009
7:45 AM
7:46 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:43 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:45 AM
7:47 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:45 AM
7:47 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:47 AM
7:49 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:44 AM
7:49 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:46 AM
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:43 AM
7:49 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:41 AM
7:48 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:38 AM
7:47 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:38 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:37 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:38 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:41 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:44 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Kent County were on the road by 7:44 AM, 1 minute earlier than in 2009 (7:45 AM). Across Rhode Island, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Kent County now leave 6 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 Kent County has moved 6 minutes later.
How does Kent County's commute time compare?
Metric
Kent County
Rhode Island
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
22.5 min
21.9 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
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
11.9%
13.0%
15.0%
Walked
0.7%
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.8%
1.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in Kent County is 22.5 minutes, longer than the 21.9 minutes in Rhode Island.
0.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.7% in Rhode Island. 0.7% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Rhode Island.
Kent County, RI Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Kent County, RI is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 171,061 residents against a local median of 84,657. Where Kent County, RI breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 22% below the local median of 15.3% at 11.9%.
The counties themselves spread 3.4% on work from home, so Kent County, RI sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Kent County, RI has the 6th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Kent County, Rhode Island.
Is commuting expensive in Kent County, Rhode Island?
Commuters here spend an estimated 188 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,821 at a typical national wage. That's 3% more than the typical Rhode Island commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Kent County, Rhode Island?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Kent County, 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.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).