Salt Lake City Commute Time Map & Patterns
HelpCommuting in Salt Lake City, Utah: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
Commute Time Burden in Salt Lake City: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Salt Lake City spend about 35 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 145 hours, about 6.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 8% less time on the road than the Utah average of 18.9 minutes each way, a difference of 1.5 minutes.
Salt Lake City holds about 6.3% of Utah's population but accounts for roughly 5.8% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Salt Lake City would save about 58 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,801 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City | 17.4 min | 34.8 min | 145 hrs/yr | $4,501 | 3,816 |
| Utah | 18.9 min | 37.8 min | 158 hrs/yr | $4,885 | 1,192 |
| 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.
Salt Lake City Commute Map
On average, it takes 17.4 minutes to get to work in Salt Lake City. That's 22% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
The most common departure window is 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 20.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Salt Lake City
- Car: 66.7%
- Worked at Home: 20.3%
- Walked: 4.9%
- Public Transportation: 4.7% unusually high
- Bicycle: 1.5%
- Other: 1.2%
- Taxi: 0.4% unusually high
- Motorcycle: 0.2%
Public transit is unusually common in Salt Lake City: 3.0 times more than the Utah average (4.7% vs 1.6%).
Taking a taxi is unusually common in Salt Lake City: 4.4 times more than the Utah average (0.4% vs 0.1%).
Commute Mode Trends in Salt Lake City, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Salt Lake City 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.
Show commute mode data by year
| Year | Car | Worked at Home | Walked | Public Transportation | Bicycle | Other | Taxi | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 81.9% | 4.1% | 4.9% | 5.9% | 2.0% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
| 2010 | 81.4% | 4.0% | 5.4% | 5.6% | 2.2% | 0.8% | 0.1% | 0.6% |
| 2011 | 81.2% | 4.0% | 5.3% | 5.8% | 2.2% | 0.8% | 0.1% | 0.6% |
| 2012 | 80.5% | 3.9% | 5.2% | 6.2% | 2.5% | 0.9% | 0.1% | 0.6% |
| 2013 | 80.1% | 3.7% | 5.4% | 6.1% | 2.7% | 1.2% | 0.1% | 0.6% |
| 2014 | 79.9% | 3.9% | 5.4% | 6.5% | 2.8% | 1.0% | 0.1% | 0.6% |
| 2015 | 80.0% | 4.0% | 5.2% | 6.7% | 2.7% | 0.8% | 0.0% | 0.4% |
| 2016 | 79.6% | 4.1% | 5.1% | 7.0% | 2.6% | 1.0% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
| 2017 | 79.5% | 4.6% | 5.3% | 6.5% | 2.5% | 0.9% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
| 2018 | 78.9% | 5.0% | 5.4% | 6.9% | 2.4% | 0.8% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
| 2019 | 78.8% | 5.4% | 5.0% | 7.1% | 2.4% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| 2020 | 76.0% | 9.0% | 4.8% | 6.7% | 2.0% | 0.9% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| 2021 | 72.6% | 13.0% | 4.7% | 6.2% | 2.1% | 1.0% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| 2022 | 70.8% | 15.6% | 4.9% | 5.4% | 1.9% | 0.9% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| 2023 | 68.9% | 18.2% | 4.7% | 5.0% | 1.6% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 0.2% |
| 2024 | 66.7% | 20.3% | 4.9% | 4.7% | 1.5% | 1.2% | 0.4% | 0.2% |
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 81.9% in 2009 to 66.7% in 2024, down 15.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 9 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Salt Lake City: its share of workers rose from 4.1% in 2009 to 20.3% in 2024, up 16.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 5.9% to 4.7% of workers (down 1.2 percentage points).
Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2019 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Salt Lake City
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Salt Lake City?
The bars show when commuters in Salt Lake City 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 Utah for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
| 12:00-4:59 AM |
12:00-4:59 AM
Salt Lake City3.3%
Utah4.8%
|
3.3% |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:29 AM |
5:00-5:29 AM
Salt Lake City3.3%
Utah3.6%
|
3.3% |
| 5:30-5:59 AM |
5:30-5:59 AM
Salt Lake City3.2%
Utah5.1%
|
3.2% |
| 6:00-6:29 AM |
6:00-6:29 AM
Salt Lake City5.8%
Utah7.4%
|
5.8% |
| 6:30-6:59 AM |
6:30-6:59 AM
Salt Lake City6.9%
Utah8.4%
|
6.9% |
| 7:00-7:29 AM |
7:00-7:29 AM
Salt Lake City10.5%
Utah12.3%
|
10.5% |
| 7:30-7:59 AM |
7:30-7:59 AM
Salt Lake City11.7%
Utah12.5%
|
11.7% |
| 8:00-8:29 AM |
8:00-8:29 AM
Salt Lake City13.8%
Utah12.1%
|
13.8% |
| 8:30-8:59 AM |
8:30-8:59 AM
Salt Lake City10.3%
Utah7.4%
|
10.3% |
| 9:00-9:59 AM |
9:00-9:59 AM
Salt Lake City10.4%
Utah7.7%
|
10.4% |
| 10:00-10:59 AM |
10:00-10:59 AM
Salt Lake City4.7%
Utah3.2%
|
4.7% |
| 11:00-11:59 AM |
11:00-11:59 AM
Salt Lake City1.9%
Utah1.5%
|
1.9% |
| 12:00-3:59 PM |
12:00-3:59 PM
Salt Lake City9.1%
Utah7.7%
|
9.1% |
| 4:00-11:59 PM |
4:00-11:59 PM
Salt Lake City4.9%
Utah6.3%
|
4.9% |
Salt Lake City Utah Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Salt Lake City is 8:00-8:29 AM, when 13.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.1% across Utah. Early starts are less common than in Utah: 9.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 13.5% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Utah: 43.0% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 45.3% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (31.0%) 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 Salt Lake City, 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 Salt Lake City 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 Salt Lake City next to Utah 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.
Show typical departure times by year
| Year | Salt Lake City | Utah | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 8:05 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2010 | 8:05 AM | 7:47 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2011 | 8:04 AM | 7:46 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2012 | 8:04 AM | 7:47 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2013 | 8:05 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2014 | 8:05 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:39 AM |
| 2015 | 8:04 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2016 | 8:05 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2017 | 8:04 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2018 | 8:06 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2019 | 8:06 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2020 | 8:05 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2021 | 8:05 AM | 7:48 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2022 | 8:07 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:37 AM |
| 2023 | 8:09 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
| 2024 | 8:11 AM | 7:50 AM | 7:38 AM |
In 2024, half of commuters in Salt Lake City were on the road by 8:11 AM, 7 minutes later than in 2009 (8:05 AM). The shift is sharper than across Utah, where the typical start moved 2 minutes later. Commuters in Salt Lake City now leave 33 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 Salt Lake City has moved 5 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Salt Lake City in the whole series.
How does Salt Lake City's commute time compare?
| Metric | Salt Lake City | Utah | US Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Commute Time | 17.4 min | 18.9 min | 22.4 min |
| Departure Window | 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM |
| Secondary Departure Window | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM | 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM | 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM |
| Work From Home | 20.3% | 17.6% | 15.0% |
| Walked | 4.9% | 2.0% | 2.4% |
| Public Transit | 4.7% | 1.6% | 3.2% |
The average commute time in Salt Lake City is 17.4 minutes, shorter than the 18.9 minutes in Utah.
4.7% commute by public transit, higher than the 1.6% in Utah. 4.9% commute by walking, higher than the 2.0% in Utah.
Salt Lake City, UT Commute Compared With Nearby Cities
Salt Lake City, UT is the largest of the 4 cities compared here, 213,141 residents against a local median of 40,929. The measure that sets Salt Lake City, UT apart most is work from home: 20.3%, 25% above the local median of 16.2%.
One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 17.4 min against a local median of 21.3 min, 18% below it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 18% below the local median it puts Salt Lake City, UT at the better end of the local range. The cities themselves spread 8.8% on work from home, so Salt Lake City, UT sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Salt Lake City, UT has the 2nd highest work from home of the 4 areas compared here.
| Area | Population | One-way commute | Work from home | Typical departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City, UT | 213,141 | 17.4 min #1/4 | 20.3% #2/4 | 8:11 AM #4/4 |
| South Salt Lake, UT | 27,794 | 18.3 min | 16.2% | 7:59 AM |
| Bountiful, UT | 40,929 | 21.7 min | 20.7% | 7:58 AM |
| West Valley City, UT | 133,435 | 21.3 min | 11.9% | 7:38 AM |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about commuting in Salt Lake City, Utah.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Salt Lake City, Utah?
Commuters here spend an estimated 145 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,501 at a typical national wage. That's 8% less than the typical Utah commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Salt Lake City, Utah?
Traffic peaks between 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM in Salt Lake City, Utah. 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 Salt Lake City, Utah?
Public transit usage is notably higher here than typical: about 4.7% of commuters use it versus 1.6% in Utah, making it a realistic option for many workers.