Commuting in Dallas County, Texas: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 2:14 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Dallas County?
Map AI9/24/26, 2:14 PM
Commute Time Burden in Dallas County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Dallas County spend about 48 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 199 hours, about 8.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 5% more time on the road than the Texas average of 22.8 minutes each way, a difference of 1.1 minutes.
Dallas County holds about 8.7% of Texas's population but accounts for roughly 9.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Dallas County would save about 80 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,468 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)
Dallas County
23.9 min
47.8 min
199 hrs/yr
$6,171
3,450
Texas
22.8 min
45.6 min
190 hrs/yr
$5,888
1,441
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
23.9
minutes to get to work in
Dallas County.
That's 7% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 79% of counties in Texas
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 15.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Dallas County
Car:
79.9%
Worked at Home:
15.7%
Walked:
1.5%
Public Transportation:
1.4%
Other:
1.1%
Taxi:
0.2%
Bicycle:
0.1%
Motorcycle:
< 0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Dallas County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Dallas 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
Other
Taxi
Motorcycle
Bicycle
2009
90.7%
3.3%
1.7%
3.0%
1.0%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2010
90.8%
3.3%
1.6%
3.0%
1.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2011
90.7%
3.5%
1.5%
2.9%
1.0%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
2012
90.5%
3.7%
1.5%
2.8%
1.1%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
2013
90.2%
3.9%
1.5%
2.7%
1.3%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2014
89.8%
3.9%
1.5%
2.8%
1.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.2%
2015
89.4%
4.1%
1.5%
2.9%
1.6%
0.1%
0.2%
0.2%
2016
89.3%
4.1%
1.5%
2.9%
1.8%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2017
89.4%
4.3%
1.5%
2.8%
1.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2018
89.5%
4.4%
1.5%
2.8%
1.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2019
89.5%
4.7%
1.6%
2.6%
1.2%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2020
87.5%
7.2%
1.6%
2.3%
1.0%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2021
85.4%
9.5%
1.6%
2.1%
1.0%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
2022
83.4%
11.6%
1.6%
1.9%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2023
81.5%
13.9%
1.6%
1.6%
1.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2024
79.9%
15.7%
1.5%
1.4%
1.1%
0.2%
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 2010 at 90.8%. Overall it fell from 90.7% in 2009 to 79.9% in 2024, down 10.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Dallas County: its share of workers rose from 3.3% in 2009 to 15.7% in 2024, up 12.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 11.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 3.0% to 1.4% of workers (down 1.6 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Dallas County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Dallas County?
The bars show when commuters in Dallas 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 Texas for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMDallas County5.0%Texas5.5%
5.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMDallas County4.9%Texas4.4%
4.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMDallas County4.8%Texas5.1%
4.8%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMDallas County9.2%Texas9.3%
9.2%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMDallas County8.0%Texas9.3%
8.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMDallas County14.4%Texas15.3%
14.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMDallas County10.2%Texas11.8%
10.2%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMDallas County13.1%Texas11.5%
13.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMDallas County6.1%Texas4.8%
6.1%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMDallas County7.6%Texas6.7%
7.6%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMDallas County3.3%Texas3.1%
3.3%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMDallas County1.2%Texas1.3%
1.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMDallas County6.2%Texas5.8%
6.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMDallas County6.3%Texas6.2%
6.3%
Dallas CountyTexasSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Dallas County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Texas. Early starts are about as common as in Texas: 14.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Texas: 45.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.9% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.5%) 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 Dallas 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 Dallas 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 Dallas County next to Texas 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
Dallas County
Texas
United States
2009
7:37 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:38 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:39 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:39 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:39 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:40 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:39 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:38 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:37 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:37 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:36 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:39 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:41 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:40 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:41 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Dallas County were on the road by 7:41 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:37 AM). The shift is sharper than across Texas, where the typical start moved 1 minute later. Commuters in Dallas County now leave 3 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 Dallas County has moved 5 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Dallas County in the whole series.
How does Dallas County's commute time compare?
Metric
Dallas County
Texas
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.9 min
22.8 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
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
15.7%
14.4%
15.0%
Walked
1.5%
1.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.4%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Dallas County is 23.9 minutes, longer than the 22.8 minutes in Texas.
1.4% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.9% in Texas. The share of commuters using walking is about the same as Texas.
Dallas County, TX Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Dallas County, TX is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 2,620,115 residents against a local median of 213,271. The measure that sets Dallas County, TX apart most is one-way commute: 23.9 min, 17% below the local median of 28.9 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 8.6 min on one-way commute, so Dallas County, TX sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Dallas County, TX has the 2nd lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Dallas County, Texas.
Is living in Dallas County, Texas good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 199 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,171 at a typical national wage. That's 5% more than the typical Texas commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Dallas County, Texas?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Dallas County, Texas. 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 Texas?
Among counties in Texas, the shortest average commutes are in Loving County (3.3 min), King County (5.8 min), Terrell County (6.5 min). The longest are in Bandera County (38.6 min), San Jacinto County (35.9 min), Liberty County (33.6 min).