Commuting in Chelan County, Washington: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 8:19 PM
How many minutes is the average drive to work in Chelan County?
Map AI9/24/26, 8:19 PM
Commute Time Burden in Chelan County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Chelan County spend about 33 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 136 hours, about 5.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 27% less time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 6.1 minutes.
Chelan County 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 Chelan County would save about 54 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,683 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)
Chelan County
16.3 min
32.6 min
136 hrs/yr
$4,209
1,189
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.
On average, it takes
16.3
minutes to get to work in
Chelan County.
That's 27% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 76% of counties in Washington
The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 9.6% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Chelan County
Car:
82.4%
Worked at Home:
9.6%
Walked:
3.5%
Public Transportation:
2.1%
Other:
1.7%
Bicycle:
0.7%
Motorcycle:
0.1%
Taxi:
< 0.1%unusually low
Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Chelan County, versus 0.1% in Washington.
Commute Mode Trends in Chelan County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Chelan 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
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
85.8%
6.0%
3.8%
1.9%
1.2%
0.5%
0.7%
0.0%
2010
86.3%
5.0%
4.2%
1.7%
1.5%
0.7%
0.6%
0.0%
2011
87.0%
4.9%
4.1%
1.5%
1.5%
0.7%
0.4%
0.0%
2012
87.5%
4.7%
4.0%
1.4%
1.1%
1.0%
0.4%
0.0%
2013
87.0%
5.5%
3.7%
1.4%
1.2%
0.7%
0.5%
0.0%
2014
87.9%
4.5%
3.9%
1.3%
1.2%
0.8%
0.4%
0.0%
2015
86.4%
5.3%
4.4%
1.5%
1.5%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
2016
85.9%
6.2%
4.3%
1.2%
1.5%
0.6%
0.4%
0.0%
2017
85.5%
6.8%
3.7%
1.2%
1.6%
0.7%
0.4%
0.0%
2018
85.2%
6.4%
4.5%
1.2%
2.0%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2019
84.5%
6.6%
4.3%
1.0%
2.8%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2020
85.9%
6.4%
3.8%
0.9%
2.4%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2021
84.9%
7.3%
3.8%
1.0%
2.2%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
2022
84.2%
8.1%
4.0%
0.7%
2.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2023
82.3%
8.6%
4.3%
1.5%
2.4%
0.7%
0.2%
0.0%
2024
82.4%
9.6%
3.5%
2.1%
1.7%
0.7%
0.1%
0.0%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2014 at 87.9% and lowest in 2023 at 82.3%. Overall it fell from 85.8% in 2009 to 82.4% in 2024, down 3.4 percentage points.
Working from home gained the most ground in Chelan County: its share of workers rose from 6.0% in 2009 to 9.6% in 2024, up 3.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.0 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Riding a motorcycle lost the most ground, falling from 0.7% to 0.1% of workers (down 0.6 percentage points).
Biking overtook riding a motorcycle to become the 6th most common choice in the 2010 release and has stayed ahead since.
Commute Start Times in Chelan County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Chelan County?
The bars show when commuters in Chelan 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 Washington for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMChelan County6.5%Washington7.1%
6.5%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMChelan County4.2%Washington4.7%
4.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMChelan County6.0%Washington5.8%
6.0%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMChelan County8.7%Washington8.6%
8.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMChelan County13.0%Washington9.5%
13.0%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMChelan County15.4%Washington12.4%
15.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMChelan County12.3%Washington11.0%
12.3%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMChelan County8.1%Washington10.2%
8.1%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMChelan County3.0%Washington5.5%
3.0%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMChelan County5.8%Washington7.5%
5.8%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMChelan County4.1%Washington3.5%
4.1%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMChelan County1.5%Washington1.7%
1.5%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMChelan County7.2%Washington6.9%
7.2%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMChelan County4.3%Washington5.6%
4.3%
Chelan CountyWashingtonSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Chelan County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.4% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.4% across Washington. Early starts are about as common as in Washington: 16.7% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Washington: 48.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.8%) 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 Chelan 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 Chelan 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 Chelan County 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
Chelan County
Washington
United States
2009
7:27 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:29 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:29 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:31 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:30 AM
7:35 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:28 AM
7:35 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:26 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:25 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:25 AM
7:33 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:24 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:25 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:25 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:27 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:26 AM
7:33 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:25 AM
7:34 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:23 AM
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Chelan County were on the road by 7:23 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:27 AM). That goes against the trend across Washington, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Chelan County now leave 15 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Chelan County has moved 3 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for Chelan County in the whole series.
How does Chelan County's commute time compare?
Metric
Chelan County
Washington
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
16.3 min
22.4 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
06:30 AM – 06:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
9.6%
19.8%
15.0%
Walked
3.5%
3.0%
2.4%
Public Transit
2.1%
3.4%
3.2%
The average commute time in Chelan County is 16.3 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.
2.1% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.4% in Washington. 3.5% commute by walking, higher than the 3.0% in Washington.
Chelan County, WA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Chelan County, WA is the 3rd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 80,140 residents against a local median of 47,168. Chelan County, WA's work from home, at 9.6%, runs 41% below the 16.2% typical of the counties around it.
The counties themselves spread 20.6% on work from home, so Chelan County, WA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Chelan County, WA has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Chelan County, Washington.
Is commuting expensive in Chelan County, Washington?
Commuters here spend an estimated 136 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,209 at a typical national wage. That's 27% less than the typical Washington commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in Chelan County, Washington?
Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Chelan County, Washington. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 06:30 AM – 06:59 AM also sees a secondary bump.
How do commute times compare across counties in Washington?
Among counties in Washington, the shortest average commutes are in Walla Walla County (12.2 min), San Juan County (12.3 min), Asotin County (13.2 min). The longest are in Mason County (32.0 min), Garfield County (28.4 min), Snohomish County (28.3 min).