Bellingham Commute Time Map & Patterns

Help

Commuting in Bellingham, 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 long is the round-trip commute in Bellingham?

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

Commute Time Burden in Bellingham: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Bellingham spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 129 hours, about 5.4 full days, spent commuting. That is 31% less time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 6.9 minutes.

Bellingham holds about 1.0% of Washington's population but accounts for roughly 0.7% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Bellingham would save about 52 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,601 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)
Bellingham	15.5 min	31.0 min	129 hrs/yr	$4,003	2,747
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.

Bellingham Commute Map

On average, it takes 15.5 minutes to get to work in Bellingham. That's 31% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 13.7% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Bellingham

Riding a motorcycle is unusually rare in Bellingham: 7.4 times less than the Washington average (0.0% vs 0.2%).

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Bellingham: 11130.6 times less than the Washington average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Biking is unusually common in Bellingham: 6.5 times more than the Washington average (4.1% vs 0.6%).

Bellingham stands out for active commuting: 11.7% of workers walk or bike to work, 3.2 times the Washington average of 3.7%.

Commute Mode Trends in Bellingham, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Bellingham 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	Bicycle	Public Transportation	Other	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	75.3%	5.4%	8.7%	4.3%	5.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.5%
2010	75.8%	4.8%	8.3%	4.0%	5.8%	0.5%	0.1%	0.7%
2011	73.6%	5.1%	9.5%	4.4%	6.4%	0.4%	0.1%	0.5%
2012	74.0%	5.1%	9.6%	4.0%	6.3%	0.4%	0.1%	0.5%
2013	74.0%	5.3%	9.5%	3.4%	6.2%	1.0%	0.1%	0.4%
2014	74.3%	5.2%	9.5%	4.0%	5.5%	1.0%	0.1%	0.4%
2015	73.1%	6.3%	9.6%	4.1%	5.7%	0.8%	0.1%	0.3%
2016	74.3%	6.1%	8.7%	3.6%	6.1%	0.9%	0.0%	0.4%
2017	75.6%	5.7%	8.2%	3.7%	5.7%	0.8%	0.0%	0.3%
2018	76.9%	5.6%	7.3%	4.0%	5.7%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%
2019	76.7%	6.3%	6.4%	4.3%	5.7%	0.3%	0.0%	0.4%
2020	75.0%	7.3%	6.9%	5.1%	4.8%	0.6%	0.0%	0.3%
2021	74.9%	9.4%	5.9%	5.1%	3.9%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%
2022	73.2%	11.7%	6.0%	4.6%	3.6%	0.8%	0.0%	0.2%
2023	70.5%	13.6%	6.7%	4.4%	3.6%	1.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2024	69.9%	13.7%	7.6%	4.1%	3.8%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2018 at 76.9%. Overall it fell from 75.3% in 2009 to 69.9% in 2024, down 5.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Bellingham: its share of workers rose from 5.4% in 2009 to 13.7% in 2024, up 8.3 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 5.5% to 3.8% of workers (down 1.7 percentage points).

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

Commute Start Times in Bellingham

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Bellingham?

The bars show when commuters in Bellingham 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		3.3%
5:00-5:29 AM		1.9%
5:30-5:59 AM		3.8%
6:00-6:29 AM		4.7%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.4%
7:00-7:29 AM		11.6%
7:30-7:59 AM		15.8%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.5%
8:30-8:59 AM		7.6%
9:00-9:59 AM		7.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		6.4%
11:00-11:59 AM		3.3%
12:00-3:59 PM		11.1%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.4%

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

The busiest time to head out in Bellingham is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 15.8% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.0% across Washington. Early starts are less common than in Washington: 9.1% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush looks much like Washington's: 44.3% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (34.3%) 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 Bellingham, 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 Bellingham 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 Bellingham 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	Bellingham	Washington	United States
2009	8:14 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2010	8:11 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	8:14 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2012	8:12 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	8:10 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	8:10 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	8:13 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2016	8:12 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	8:11 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	8:08 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	8:08 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	8:04 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	8:05 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	8:04 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2023	8:07 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2024	8:05 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Bellingham were on the road by 8:05 AM, 9 minutes earlier than in 2009 (8:14 AM). That goes against the trend across Washington, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Bellingham now leave 27 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 Bellingham has moved 4 minutes earlier.

How does Bellingham's commute time compare?

Metric	Bellingham	Washington	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	15.5 min	22.4 min	22.4 min
Departure Window	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window	07:00 AM – 07:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	13.7%	19.8%	15.0%
Walked	7.6%	3.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	3.8%	3.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Bellingham is 15.5 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.

3.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.4% in Washington. 7.6% commute by walking, higher than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Bellingham, Washington.

Is commuting expensive in Bellingham, Washington?

Commuters here spend an estimated 129 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,003 at a typical national wage. That's 31% less than the typical Washington commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Bellingham, Washington?

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Bellingham, Washington. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.