Commuting in Smith 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, 7:36 下午
How much time do drivers in Smith County spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:36 下午
Commute Time Burden in Smith County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Smith 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 173 hours, about 7.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 9% less time on the road than the Texas average of 22.8 minutes each way, a difference of 2.0 minutes.
Smith County holds about 0.8% of Texas's population but accounts for roughly 0.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Smith County would save about 69 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,150 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)
Smith County
20.8 min
41.6 min
173 hrs/yr
$5,374
1,144
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
20.8
minutes to get to work in
Smith County.
That's 7% 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 9.2% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Smith County
Car:
87.4%
Worked at Home:
9.2%
Other:
1.5%
Walked:
1.2%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Public Transportation:
0.2%unusually low
Taxi:
0.1%
Bicycle:
< 0.1%
Public transit is unusually rare in Smith County: 4.2 times less than the Texas average (0.2% vs 0.9%).
Commute Mode Trends in Smith County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Smith 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
Walked
Public Transportation
Motorcycle
Taxi
Bicycle
2009
89.9%
5.6%
2.2%
1.2%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
0.2%
2010
89.8%
5.6%
2.4%
1.2%
0.4%
0.3%
0.0%
0.2%
2011
90.6%
5.3%
2.2%
1.1%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2012
90.6%
5.3%
1.9%
1.4%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
0.2%
2013
92.0%
4.1%
1.8%
1.3%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
2014
92.7%
3.1%
2.1%
1.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
0.1%
2015
93.0%
3.1%
1.8%
1.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
2016
92.8%
3.6%
1.9%
1.1%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
2017
93.2%
3.4%
1.8%
1.0%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
0.3%
2018
93.2%
3.6%
1.6%
0.9%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
0.3%
2019
92.3%
4.8%
1.0%
0.9%
0.4%
0.1%
0.1%
0.4%
2020
91.4%
5.4%
1.2%
0.8%
0.5%
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
2021
90.5%
6.1%
1.4%
0.8%
0.5%
0.2%
0.2%
0.3%
2022
89.5%
7.0%
1.3%
1.2%
0.5%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
2023
87.5%
8.9%
1.5%
1.3%
0.3%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
2024
87.4%
9.2%
1.5%
1.2%
0.2%
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 2017 at 93.2%. Overall it fell from 89.9% in 2009 to 87.4% in 2024, down 2.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Smith County: its share of workers rose from 5.6% in 2009 to 9.2% in 2024, up 3.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 4.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Commute Start Times in Smith County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Smith County?
The bars show when commuters in Smith 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 AMSmith County6.0%Texas5.5%
6.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSmith County4.1%Texas4.4%
4.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSmith County3.8%Texas5.1%
3.8%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSmith County9.1%Texas9.3%
9.1%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSmith County8.9%Texas9.3%
8.9%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSmith County15.6%Texas15.3%
15.6%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSmith County13.6%Texas11.8%
13.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSmith County10.9%Texas11.5%
10.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSmith County4.2%Texas4.8%
4.2%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSmith County5.7%Texas6.7%
5.7%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSmith County2.6%Texas3.1%
2.6%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSmith County1.4%Texas1.3%
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSmith County6.5%Texas5.8%
6.5%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSmith County7.8%Texas6.2%
7.8%
Smith CountyTexasSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Smith County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Texas. Early starts are less common than in Texas: 13.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Texas's: 49.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.9% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.9%) 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 Smith 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 Smith 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 Smith 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
Smith County
Texas
United States
2009
7:39 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:38 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:35 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:35 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:37 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:34 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:31 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:31 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:29 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:29 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:32 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:35 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:32 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:35 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:34 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:36 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Smith County were on the road by 7:36 AM, 3 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:39 AM). That goes against the trend across Texas, where the typical commuter now leaves 1 minute later than in 2009. Commuters in Smith County now leave 2 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 Smith County has moved 4 minutes later.
How does Smith County's commute time compare?
Metric
Smith County
Texas
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
20.8 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
9.2%
14.4%
15.0%
Walked
1.2%
1.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Smith County is 20.8 minutes, shorter than the 22.8 minutes in Texas.
0.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 0.9% in Texas. 1.2% commute by walking, lower than the 1.5% in Texas.
Smith County, TX Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Smith County, TX is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 241,737 residents against a local median of 51,885. Where Smith County, TX breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 19% above the local median of 7.8% at 9.2%.
The counties themselves spread 6.3% on work from home, so Smith County, TX sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Smith County, TX has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Smith County, Texas.
Is living in Smith County, Texas good for avoiding long commute costs?
Commuters here spend an estimated 173 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,374 at a typical national wage. That's 9% less than the typical Texas commuter spends.
When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Smith County, Texas?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Smith 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.
How common is public transit use in Smith County, Texas?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.2% of commuters use it versus 0.9% in Texas, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Which counties in Texas have the fastest and slowest commutes?
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).