Bellevue Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Bellevue, Washington: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 4:28 PM

How much time do drivers in Bellevue spend on the road daily?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:28 PM

Commute Time Burden in Bellevue: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Bellevue spend about 42 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 175 hours, about 7.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 6% less time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 1.4 minutes.

Bellevue holds about 1.9% of Washington's population but accounts for roughly 1.8% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Bellevue would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,170 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)
Bellevue	21.0 min	42.0 min	175 hrs/yr	$5,425	3,791
Washington	22.4 min	44.8 min	187 hrs/yr	$5,785	1,525
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.

Bellevue Commute Map

On average, it takes 21.0 minutes to get to work in Bellevue. That's 6% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 09:00 AM – 09:59 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 35.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Bellevue

Driving is 26% less common in Bellevue than the Washington average (53.2% vs 71.9%).

Commute Mode Trends in Bellevue, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Bellevue 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	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	78.3%	6.1%	9.7%	4.3%	0.6%	0.0%	0.5%	0.5%
2010	77.7%	6.2%	9.7%	4.6%	0.6%	0.1%	0.6%	0.5%
2011	77.0%	6.5%	10.2%	4.5%	0.7%	0.1%	0.6%	0.4%
2012	76.4%	6.6%	10.9%	4.4%	0.6%	0.1%	0.5%	0.4%
2013	75.0%	6.6%	12.1%	4.7%	0.7%	0.1%	0.5%	0.3%
2014	74.7%	6.6%	12.1%	5.1%	0.7%	0.1%	0.4%	0.2%
2015	74.9%	6.9%	11.7%	5.2%	0.7%	0.1%	0.3%	0.2%
2016	74.2%	6.6%	12.5%	5.4%	0.6%	0.0%	0.4%	0.2%
2017	73.9%	6.4%	12.8%	5.5%	0.7%	0.0%	0.5%	0.2%
2018	72.9%	7.7%	12.5%	5.5%	0.6%	0.1%	0.5%	0.2%
2019	71.4%	8.7%	12.4%	5.7%	0.7%	0.2%	0.7%	0.2%
2020	67.4%	14.6%	11.0%	5.2%	0.8%	0.2%	0.6%	0.1%
2021	61.1%	23.2%	8.9%	5.0%	0.9%	0.2%	0.5%	0.2%
2022	55.8%	29.6%	7.5%	5.0%	1.2%	0.3%	0.5%	0.2%
2023	54.3%	32.5%	6.1%	4.9%	1.3%	0.3%	0.5%	0.1%
2024	53.2%	35.0%	5.3%	4.6%	1.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 78.3% in 2009 to 53.2% in 2024, down 25.1 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 9 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Bellevue: its share of workers rose from 6.1% in 2009 to 35.0% in 2024, up 28.9 percentage points. Most of that increase, 26.3 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 9.7% to 5.3% of workers (down 4.4 percentage points).

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 5.7% in 2019 and has since fallen back to 4.6%.

Commute Start Times in Bellevue

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Bellevue?

The bars show when commuters in Bellevue 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 Washington for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		2.1%
5:00-5:29 AM		1.0%
5:30-5:59 AM		2.2%
6:00-6:29 AM		4.5%
6:30-6:59 AM		5.4%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.3%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.1%
8:00-8:29 AM		16.4%
8:30-8:59 AM		10.7%
9:00-9:59 AM		17.3%
10:00-10:59 AM		6.9%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.2%
4:00-11:59 PM		2.4%

Bellevue Washington Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in Bellevue is 9:00-9:59 AM, when 17.3% of commuters leave home, compared with 7.5% across Washington. Early starts are less common than in Washington: 5.4% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Washington: 46.1% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (33.3%) 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 Bellevue, 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 Bellevue 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 Bellevue next to Washington 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	Bellevue	Washington	United States
2009	8:05 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2010	8:07 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	8:09 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2012	8:11 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	8:14 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	8:14 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	8:16 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2016	8:17 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	8:16 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	8:15 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	8:15 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:16 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:13 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:13 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:14 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:19 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Bellevue were on the road by 8:19 AM, 14 minutes later than in 2009 (8:05 AM). The shift is sharper than across Washington, where the typical start moved 2 minutes later. Commuters in Bellevue now leave 41 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 Bellevue has moved 4 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Bellevue in the whole series.

How does Bellevue's commute time compare?

Metric	Bellevue	Washington	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	21.0 min	22.4 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	09:00 AM – 09:59 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	35.0%	19.8%	15.0%
Walked	4.6%	3.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	5.3%	3.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Bellevue is 21.0 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.

5.3% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.4% in Washington. 4.6% commute by walking, higher than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Bellevue, WA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Bellevue, WA compares with the 1 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Bellevue, WA	149,047	21.0 min #1/2	35.0% #2/2	8:19 AM #2/2
Mercer Island, WA	25,053	22.6 min	38.7%	8:01 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Bellevue, Washington.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Bellevue, Washington?

Commuters here spend an estimated 175 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,425 at a typical national wage. That's 6% less than the typical Washington commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Bellevue, Washington?

Traffic peaks between 09:00 AM – 09:59 AM in Bellevue, Washington. 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 Bellevue, Washington a good location for remote and hybrid workers?

About 35.0% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Bellevue would save about 70 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,170 at the same national wage assumption used above.