Commuting in San Patricio 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, 8:38 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in San Patricio County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:38 PM
Commute Time Burden in San Patricio County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in San Patricio County spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 176 hours, about 7.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 7% less time on the road than the Texas average of 22.8 minutes each way, a difference of 1.7 minutes.
San Patricio County holds about 0.2% of Texas's population and accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in San Patricio County would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,184 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)
San Patricio County
21.1 min
42.3 min
176 hrs/yr
$5,459
1,071
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
21.1
minutes to get to work in
San Patricio County.
That's 6% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 6.8% work from home.
How People Get to Work in San Patricio County
Car:
90.8%
Worked at Home:
6.8%
Walked:
0.7%
Other:
0.6%
Public Transportation:
0.5%
Motorcycle:
0.5%unusually high
Taxi:
0.1%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%unusually low
Riding a motorcycle is unusually common in San Patricio County: 4.2 times more than the Texas average (0.5% vs 0.1%).
Biking is unusually rare in San Patricio County: 8.9 times less than the Texas average (0.0% vs 0.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in San Patricio County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in San Patricio 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
Other
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
Bicycle
2009
89.1%
2.4%
3.1%
4.5%
0.2%
0.5%
0.1%
0.1%
2010
87.5%
2.9%
3.1%
5.3%
0.1%
0.9%
0.2%
0.1%
2011
88.2%
2.7%
1.5%
6.4%
0.1%
0.7%
0.1%
0.4%
2012
89.4%
3.4%
1.4%
4.4%
0.2%
0.7%
0.1%
0.5%
2013
90.9%
3.1%
1.3%
3.3%
0.2%
0.6%
0.1%
0.5%
2014
92.5%
3.0%
1.3%
2.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.0%
0.5%
2015
93.1%
3.6%
1.2%
1.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.5%
2016
93.8%
3.5%
1.4%
0.8%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2017
93.9%
3.2%
1.5%
0.9%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2018
94.4%
3.1%
1.6%
0.6%
0.1%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
2019
94.6%
3.2%
1.4%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2020
94.1%
4.1%
1.1%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2021
93.4%
4.7%
1.0%
0.6%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2022
93.1%
5.0%
1.0%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
2023
91.3%
6.1%
0.8%
0.8%
0.4%
0.5%
0.1%
0.0%
2024
90.8%
6.8%
0.7%
0.6%
0.5%
0.5%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2019 at 94.6% and lowest in 2010 at 87.5%. Overall it rose from 89.1% in 2009 to 90.8% in 2024, up 1.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in San Patricio County: its share of workers rose from 2.4% in 2009 to 6.8% in 2024, up 4.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 3.1% to 0.7% of workers (down 2.4 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2011 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in San Patricio County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in San Patricio County?
The bars show when commuters in San Patricio 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 AMSan Patricio County5.0%Texas5.5%
5.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSan Patricio County6.1%Texas4.4%
6.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSan Patricio County7.3%Texas5.1%
7.3%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSan Patricio County11.5%Texas9.3%
11.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSan Patricio County8.9%Texas9.3%
8.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSan Patricio County19.9%Texas15.3%
19.9%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSan Patricio County12.3%Texas11.8%
12.3%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSan Patricio County8.5%Texas11.5%
8.5%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSan Patricio County3.0%Texas4.8%
3.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSan Patricio County4.0%Texas6.7%
4.0%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSan Patricio County1.7%Texas3.1%
1.7%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSan Patricio County0.7%Texas1.3%
0.7%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSan Patricio County4.0%Texas5.8%
4.0%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSan Patricio County7.1%Texas6.2%
7.1%
San Patricio CountyTexasSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in San Patricio County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 19.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Texas. Early starts are more common than in Texas: 18.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Texas's: 49.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.9% there. About 1 in 6 commuters (17.4%) 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 San Patricio 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 San Patricio 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 San Patricio 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
San Patricio County
Texas
United States
2009
7:23 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:19 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:21 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:20 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:19 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:15 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:18 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:19 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:20 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:21 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:24 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:23 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:21 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:19 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:18 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:17 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in San Patricio County were on the road by 7:17 AM, 6 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:23 AM). That goes against the trend across Texas, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in San Patricio County now leave 21 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 San Patricio County has moved 7 minutes earlier.
How does San Patricio County's commute time compare?
Metric
San Patricio County
Texas
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
21.1 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
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
6.8%
14.4%
15.0%
Walked
0.7%
1.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in San Patricio County is 21.1 minutes, shorter than the 22.8 minutes in Texas.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Texas. 0.7% commute by walking, lower than the 1.5% in Texas.
San Patricio County, TX Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
San Patricio County, TX is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 69,985 residents against a local median of 30,579. Where San Patricio County, TX breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 54% above the local median of 13.8 min at 21.1 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.
Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 6.8% against a local median of 5.4%, 26% above it. The counties themselves spread 4.9 min on one-way commute, so San Patricio County, TX sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. San Patricio County, TX has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in San Patricio County, Texas.
Is living in San Patricio County, Texas good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 176 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,459 at a typical national wage. That's 7% less than the typical Texas commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in San Patricio County, Texas?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in San Patricio County, Texas. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 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).