Commuting in Washington County, Rhode Island: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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What does a typical morning commute look like in Washington County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:13 PM
Commute Time Burden in Washington County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Washington County spend about 46 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 190 hours, about 7.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 4% more time on the road than the Rhode Island average of 21.9 minutes each way, a difference of 0.9 minutes.
Washington County holds about 11.8% of Rhode Island's population but accounts for roughly 12.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Washington County would save about 76 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,360 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)
Washington County
22.8 min
45.7 min
190 hrs/yr
$5,901
1,431
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
22.8
minutes to get to work in
Washington County.
That's 2% longer 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 15.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Washington County
Car:
80.4%
Worked at Home:
15.3%
Walked:
2.5%
Public Transportation:
0.8%
Bicycle:
0.4%
Other:
0.4%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Washington County: 6.0 times less than the Rhode Island average (0.1% vs 0.3%).
Commute Mode Trends in Washington County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Washington 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
Public Transportation
Bicycle
Other
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
90.0%
4.5%
3.3%
1.2%
0.2%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
2010
89.6%
4.9%
3.2%
1.6%
0.2%
0.5%
0.0%
0.1%
2011
89.5%
5.4%
2.8%
1.7%
0.2%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
2012
89.6%
5.3%
2.6%
1.8%
0.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2013
89.8%
5.1%
2.6%
1.7%
0.3%
0.3%
0.0%
0.2%
2014
89.7%
5.2%
2.7%
1.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2015
90.6%
4.7%
2.5%
1.2%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
0.2%
2016
90.3%
4.9%
2.6%
1.2%
0.5%
0.4%
0.0%
0.2%
2017
90.3%
4.9%
2.7%
1.1%
0.3%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2018
90.2%
5.1%
2.7%
1.0%
0.4%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2019
90.1%
5.2%
2.4%
1.2%
0.4%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2020
88.0%
6.7%
2.7%
1.4%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
2021
85.4%
9.5%
2.5%
1.4%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
83.9%
11.1%
2.4%
1.3%
0.6%
0.7%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
82.3%
13.2%
2.4%
1.0%
0.5%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
80.4%
15.3%
2.5%
0.8%
0.4%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2015 at 90.6%. Overall it fell from 90.0% in 2009 to 80.4% in 2024, down 9.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 7 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Washington County: its share of workers rose from 4.5% in 2009 to 15.3% in 2024, up 10.8 percentage points. Most of that increase, 10.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.3% to 2.5% of workers (down 0.8 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Washington County
🚦Rush-Hour RegularsThe highest share of rush-hour departures among Rhode Island's 5 counties: 54.5% of commuters leave between 6:30 and 8:29 AM.
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Washington County?
The bars show when commuters in Washington 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.
Washington CountyRhode IslandSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Washington County is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 16.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 13.4% across Rhode Island. Early starts are less common than in Rhode Island: 9.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 11.1% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Rhode Island: 54.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 49.4% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.1%) 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 Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington 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
Washington County
Rhode Island
United States
2009
7:44 AM
7:46 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:46 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
7:48 AM
7:49 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:48 AM
7:50 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:47 AM
7:49 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:47 AM
7:48 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:46 AM
7:47 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:46 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:46 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:47 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:47 AM
7:44 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:46 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:48 AM
7:46 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Washington County were on the road by 7:48 AM, 3 minutes later than in 2009 (7:44 AM). Across Rhode Island, the typical start barely moved over the same years. Commuters in Washington County now leave 10 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM).
How does Washington County's commute time compare?
Metric
Washington County
Rhode Island
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
22.8 min
21.9 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
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
15.3%
13.0%
15.0%
Walked
2.5%
2.8%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.8%
1.7%
3.2%
The average commute time in Washington County is 22.8 minutes, longer than the 21.9 minutes in Rhode Island.
0.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 1.7% in Rhode Island. 2.5% commute by walking, lower than the 2.8% in Rhode Island.
Washington County, RI Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Washington County, RI is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 130,338 residents against a local median of 171,061. Washington County, RI's work from home, at 15.3%, runs 25% above the 12.3% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 3.9% on work from home, so Washington County, RI sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Washington County, RI has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Washington County, Rhode Island.
Is commuting expensive in Washington County, Rhode Island?
Commuters here spend an estimated 190 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,901 at a typical national wage. That's 4% more than the typical Rhode Island commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Washington County, Rhode Island?
Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Washington County, Rhode Island. 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.
Which counties in Rhode Island have the fastest and slowest commutes?
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).