Commuting in Houston County, Texas: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
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How much time do drivers in Houston County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:02 PM
Commute Time Burden in Houston County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Houston County spend about 37 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 154 hours, about 6.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 19% less time on the road than the Texas average of 22.8 minutes each way, a difference of 4.3 minutes.
Houston County holds about 0.1% of Texas's population and accounts for roughly 0.1% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Houston County would save about 62 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,910 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)
Houston County
18.5 min
37.0 min
154 hrs/yr
$4,774
264
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
18.5
minutes to get to work in
Houston County.
That's 18% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 5.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Houston County
Car:
90.8%
Worked at Home:
5.6%
Walked:
1.9%
Taxi:
0.5%
Bicycle:
0.5%
Other:
0.4%
Motorcycle:
0.4%unusually high
Public Transportation:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in Houston County: 3.5 times more than the Texas average (0.4% vs 0.1%).
Public transit is unusually rare in Houston County: 65.4 times less than the Texas average (0.0% vs 0.9%).
Commute Mode Trends in Houston County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Houston 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
Taxi
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Other
Public Transportation
2009
85.5%
5.6%
5.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
3.0%
0.6%
2010
86.7%
6.2%
3.6%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
3.1%
0.3%
2011
86.6%
6.2%
4.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2.6%
0.1%
2012
88.5%
6.1%
3.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.8%
0.0%
2013
89.5%
7.3%
1.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.5%
0.1%
2014
92.2%
4.8%
1.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.3%
0.1%
2015
92.4%
5.0%
1.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
1.0%
0.0%
2016
92.9%
4.6%
1.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.2%
0.1%
2017
93.9%
3.8%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.3%
0.0%
2018
95.1%
3.4%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.5%
0.0%
2019
93.1%
5.3%
1.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.6%
0.0%
2020
94.6%
4.0%
1.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
0.0%
2021
94.4%
4.0%
1.4%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.2%
0.0%
2022
92.1%
5.0%
2.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
90.1%
5.6%
2.6%
0.0%
0.8%
0.3%
0.5%
0.0%
2024
90.8%
5.6%
1.9%
0.5%
0.5%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2018 at 95.1%. Overall it rose from 85.5% in 2009 to 90.8% in 2024, up 5.3 percentage points. It has risen in the latest release.
Taking a taxi gained the most ground in Houston County: its share of workers rose from 0.0% in 2009 to 0.5% in 2024, up 0.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 0.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 5.4% to 1.9% of workers (down 3.5 percentage points).
Taking a taxi overtook public transit to become the 4th most common choice in the 2024 release and has stayed ahead since.
Working from home peaked at 7.3% in 2013 and has since fallen back to 5.6%.
Commute Start Times in Houston County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Houston County?
The bars show when commuters in Houston 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 AMHouston County13.1%Texas5.5%
13.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMHouston County1.9%Texas4.4%
1.9%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMHouston County6.0%Texas5.1%
6.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMHouston County8.3%Texas9.3%
8.3%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMHouston County12.8%Texas9.3%
12.8%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMHouston County19.3%Texas15.3%
19.3%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMHouston County13.0%Texas11.8%
13.0%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMHouston County5.9%Texas11.5%
5.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMHouston County3.4%Texas4.8%
3.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMHouston County3.0%Texas6.7%
3.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMHouston County0.9%Texas3.1%
0.9%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMHouston County0.2%Texas1.3%
0.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMHouston County7.0%Texas5.8%
7.0%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMHouston County5.2%Texas6.2%
5.2%
Houston CountyTexasSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Houston County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 19.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Texas. Early starts are more common than in Texas: 21.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Texas: 51.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.9% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (16.3%) 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 Houston 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 Houston 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 Houston 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
Houston County
Texas
United States
2009
7:15 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:26 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:25 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:24 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:23 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:23 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:20 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:22 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:20 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:18 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:20 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:23 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:17 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:15 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:15 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:12 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Houston County were on the road by 7:12 AM, 2 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:15 AM). That goes against the trend across Texas, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Houston County now leave 26 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 Houston County has moved 8 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Houston County in the whole series.
How does Houston County's commute time compare?
Metric
Houston County
Texas
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
18.5 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
12:00 AM – 04:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
5.6%
14.4%
15.0%
Walked
1.9%
1.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
< 0.1%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Houston County is 18.5 minutes, shorter than the 22.8 minutes in Texas.
0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Texas. 1.9% commute by walking, higher than the 1.5% in Texas.
Houston County, TX Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Houston County, TX is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 22,051 residents against a local median of 51,885. Where Houston County, TX breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 26% below the local median of 7.5% at 5.6%.
The counties themselves spread 6.4% on work from home, so Houston County, TX sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Houston County, TX has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Houston County, Texas.
Is commuting expensive in Houston County, Texas?
Commuters here spend an estimated 154 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,774 at a typical national wage. That's 19% less than the typical Texas commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Houston County, Texas?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Houston County, Texas. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 12:00 AM – 04:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Houston County, Texas?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 0.9% in Texas, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
How do commute times compare across 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).