Commuting in Travis 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, 1:04 PM
Is the commute in Travis County longer than the national average?
Map AI9/24/26, 1:04 PM
Commute Time Burden in Travis County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Travis County spend about 45 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 189 hours, about 7.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% less time on the road than the Texas average of 22.8 minutes each way, a difference of 0.1 minutes.
Travis County holds about 4.4% of Texas's population but accounts for roughly 4.3% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Travis County would save about 76 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,341 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)
Travis County
22.7 min
45.3 min
189 hrs/yr
$5,853
3,325
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
22.7
minutes to get to work in
Travis County.
That's 1% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 73% 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 30.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Travis County
Car:
63.9%unusually low
Worked at Home:
30.3%
Walked:
2.1%
Public Transportation:
1.6%
Other:
1.2%
Bicycle:
0.6%
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Driving is 22% less common in Travis County than the Texas average (63.9% vs 81.5%).
Commute Mode Trends in Travis County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Travis 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
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
85.1%
5.7%
1.7%
4.0%
2.1%
0.9%
0.1%
0.3%
2010
84.6%
6.2%
1.9%
3.9%
2.1%
0.9%
0.1%
0.3%
2011
84.2%
6.5%
2.0%
3.8%
2.0%
1.0%
0.1%
0.3%
2012
83.7%
6.8%
2.2%
3.8%
1.9%
1.2%
0.1%
0.4%
2013
84.2%
6.9%
2.2%
3.6%
1.5%
1.2%
0.1%
0.4%
2014
84.3%
7.1%
2.2%
3.5%
1.2%
1.2%
0.1%
0.4%
2015
84.4%
7.4%
2.1%
3.5%
1.0%
1.2%
0.1%
0.4%
2016
84.2%
8.0%
2.0%
3.3%
0.9%
1.1%
0.1%
0.4%
2017
84.2%
8.4%
1.9%
3.2%
0.8%
1.1%
0.1%
0.4%
2018
83.8%
8.8%
2.0%
3.1%
0.8%
1.1%
0.1%
0.3%
2019
83.3%
9.5%
2.1%
2.9%
0.7%
1.1%
0.2%
0.3%
2020
79.2%
14.0%
2.2%
2.4%
0.8%
1.0%
0.2%
0.2%
2021
75.0%
18.6%
2.2%
2.2%
0.8%
0.8%
0.2%
0.2%
2022
70.9%
23.1%
2.2%
2.0%
0.9%
0.7%
0.2%
0.2%
2023
67.1%
27.2%
2.1%
1.7%
1.0%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
63.9%
30.3%
2.1%
1.6%
1.2%
0.6%
0.2%
0.2%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 85.1% in 2009 to 63.9% in 2024, down 21.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 7 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Travis County: its share of workers rose from 5.7% in 2009 to 30.3% in 2024, up 24.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 20.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 4.0% to 1.6% of workers (down 2.4 percentage points).
Walking overtook public transit to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2022 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Travis County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Travis County?
The bars show when commuters in Travis 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 AMTravis County3.0%Texas5.5%
3.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMTravis County2.6%Texas4.4%
2.6%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMTravis County3.5%Texas5.1%
3.5%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMTravis County7.4%Texas9.3%
7.4%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMTravis County7.8%Texas9.3%
7.8%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMTravis County14.7%Texas15.3%
14.7%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMTravis County11.6%Texas11.8%
11.6%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMTravis County13.8%Texas11.5%
13.8%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMTravis County7.9%Texas4.8%
7.9%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMTravis County10.6%Texas6.7%
10.6%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMTravis County4.5%Texas3.1%
4.5%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMTravis County1.8%Texas1.3%
1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMTravis County5.6%Texas5.8%
5.6%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMTravis County5.2%Texas6.2%
5.2%
Travis CountyTexasSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Travis County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.7% of commuters leave home, compared with 15.3% across Texas. Early starts are less common than in Texas: 9.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.9% there. The morning rush looks much like Texas's: 47.9% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.9% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.7%) 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 Travis 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 Travis 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 Travis 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
Travis County
Texas
United States
2009
7:50 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:51 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:53 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:55 AM
7:32 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:56 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:56 AM
7:32 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:56 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:55 AM
7:31 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:53 AM
7:30 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:52 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:52 AM
7:30 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:52 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:53 AM
7:31 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:56 AM
7:32 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:58 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:58 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Travis County were on the road by 7:58 AM, 9 minutes later than in 2009 (7:50 AM). The shift is sharper than across Texas, where the typical start moved 1 minute later. Commuters in Travis County now leave 21 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 Travis County has moved 6 minutes later.
How does Travis County's commute time compare?
Metric
Travis County
Texas
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
22.7 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
30.3%
14.4%
15.0%
Walked
2.1%
1.5%
2.4%
Public Transit
1.6%
0.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Travis County is about the same as in Texas.
1.6% commute by public transit, higher than the 0.9% in Texas. 2.1% commute by walking, higher than the 1.5% in Texas.
Travis County, TX Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Travis County, TX is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 1,315,315 residents against a local median of 106,582. Where Travis County, TX breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 93% above the local median of 15.7% at 30.3%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 22.7 min against a local median of 30.0 min, 25% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 25% below the local median it puts Travis County, TX at the better end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 15.5% on work from home, so Travis County, TX sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Travis County, TX has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Travis County, Texas.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Travis County, Texas?
Commuters here spend an estimated 189 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,853 at a typical national wage. That's 1% less than the typical Texas commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Travis County, Texas?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Travis 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.
Is Travis County, Texas a good location for remote and hybrid workers?
About 30.3% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Travis County would save about 76 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,341 at the same national wage assumption used above.
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).