Commuting in Virginia: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 11:43 AM
How much time do drivers in Virginia spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Commute Time Burden in Virginia: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Virginia spend about 46 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 193 hours, about 8.0 full days, spent commuting. That is 3% more time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 0.8 minutes.
Virginia holds about 2.6% of US's population but accounts for roughly 2.7% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Virginia would save about 77 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,394 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)
Virginia
23.2 min
46.3 min
193 hrs/yr
$5,986
1,531
US
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
23.2
minutes to get to work in
Virginia.
That's 3% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Slower than 80% of states in US
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 18.3% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Virginia
Car:
75.6%
Worked at Home:
18.3%
Public Transportation:
2.3%
Walked:
2.1%
Other:
1.1%
Bicycle:
0.3%
Taxi:
0.2%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Commute Mode Trends in Virginia, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Virginia 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
Public Transportation
Walked
Other
Bicycle
Taxi
Motorcycle
2009
88.0%
4.2%
4.2%
2.3%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.2%
2010
87.8%
4.2%
4.3%
2.4%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2011
87.6%
4.4%
4.3%
2.3%
0.8%
0.3%
0.1%
0.2%
2012
87.4%
4.5%
4.4%
2.3%
0.8%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2013
87.2%
4.5%
4.4%
2.4%
0.8%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2014
87.0%
4.6%
4.5%
2.4%
0.9%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2015
87.0%
4.6%
4.6%
2.3%
0.9%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2016
86.9%
4.7%
4.5%
2.4%
0.9%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2017
86.6%
4.8%
4.4%
2.4%
1.0%
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
2018
86.4%
5.0%
4.4%
2.4%
1.0%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2019
86.1%
5.3%
4.4%
2.4%
1.0%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
83.8%
8.1%
4.0%
2.4%
1.0%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2021
81.2%
11.4%
3.4%
2.2%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2022
79.3%
14.0%
3.0%
2.1%
1.0%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2023
77.4%
16.2%
2.6%
2.1%
1.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
75.6%
18.3%
2.3%
2.1%
1.1%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 88.0% in 2009 to 75.6% in 2024, down 12.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 9 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Virginia: its share of workers rose from 4.2% in 2009 to 18.3% in 2024, up 14.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 13.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 4.2% to 2.3% of workers (down 1.9 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Virginia
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Virginia?
The bars show when commuters in Virginia 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 the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMVirginia5.0%The U.S.5.5%
5.0%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMVirginia4.0%The U.S.4.0%
4.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMVirginia5.0%The U.S.4.9%
5.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMVirginia8.7%The U.S.8.7%
8.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMVirginia9.2%The U.S.9.4%
9.2%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMVirginia14.2%The U.S.14.4%
14.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMVirginia12.1%The U.S.11.9%
12.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMVirginia12.1%The U.S.11.5%
12.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMVirginia6.4%The U.S.5.5%
6.4%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMVirginia7.2%The U.S.6.8%
7.2%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMVirginia3.0%The U.S.3.1%
3.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMVirginia1.4%The U.S.1.5%
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMVirginia6.0%The U.S.6.8%
6.0%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMVirginia5.7%The U.S.6.1%
5.7%
VirginiaThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Virginia is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.4% across the U.S.. Early starts are about as common as in the U.S.: 14.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush looks much like the U.S.'s: 47.5% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (23.3%) 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 Virginia, 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 Virginia 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 Virginia next to 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
Virginia
United States
2009
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:38 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:38 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Virginia were on the road by 7:40 AM, 3 minutes later than in 2009 (7:37 AM). Commuters in Virginia now leave 2 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 Virginia has moved 2 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Virginia in the whole series.
How does Virginia's commute time compare?
Metric
Virginia
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
23.2 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
18.3%
15.0%
Walked
2.1%
2.4%
Public Transit
2.3%
3.2%
The average commute time in Virginia is 23.2 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in US.
2.3% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.2% in US. 2.1% commute by walking, lower than the 2.4% in US.
Virginia is the 3rd largest of the 6 states compared here, 8,702,460 residents against a local median of 6,204,886. There is no headline here. Every measure below sits within 15% of the median across the nearest states, which makes Virginia an unremarkable member of its own neighbourhood rather than an outlier in it.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 12% above the local median at 18.3% against 16.3%. Virginia has the 3rd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Commuters here spend an estimated 193 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,986 at a typical national wage. That's 3% more than the typical US commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Virginia?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Virginia. 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.
How do commute times compare across counties in Virginia?
Among counties in Virginia, the shortest average commutes are in Lexington city (10.6 min), Covington city (12.2 min), Norton city (13.1 min). The longest are in Amelia County (43.7 min), Craig County (41.3 min), Buckingham County (41.3 min).