Des Moines Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Des Moines, 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, 4:29 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in Des Moines?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:29 PM

Commute Time Burden in Des Moines: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Des Moines spend about 57 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 237 hours, about 9.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 27% more time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 6.1 minutes.

Des Moines holds about 0.4% of Washington's population but accounts for roughly 0.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Des Moines would save about 95 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,939 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)
Des Moines	28.4 min	56.9 min	237 hrs/yr	$7,348	3,005
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.

Des Moines Commute Map

On average, it takes 28.4 minutes to get to work in Des Moines. That's 27% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

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 14.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Des Moines

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Des Moines, versus 0.2% in Washington.

Taking a taxi is unusually rare in Des Moines: 270.3 times less than the Washington average (0.0% vs 0.1%).

Biking is unusually rare in Des Moines: 3.4 times less than the Washington average (0.2% vs 0.6%).

Commute Mode Trends in Des Moines, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Des Moines 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	85.6%	3.5%	7.7%	2.0%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%
2010	87.1%	3.3%	6.7%	1.7%	0.4%	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%
2011	87.3%	2.8%	6.5%	2.4%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.5%
2012	88.1%	2.1%	6.3%	2.5%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.5%
2013	88.2%	2.2%	6.9%	2.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%
2014	85.4%	2.8%	8.6%	2.0%	0.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2015	85.3%	4.2%	7.8%	1.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.1%	0.3%
2016	84.6%	5.4%	8.1%	0.8%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%
2017	84.0%	5.6%	8.6%	0.8%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%	0.3%
2018	85.4%	5.2%	7.7%	0.7%	0.3%	0.5%	0.0%	0.3%
2019	86.4%	5.5%	6.4%	0.8%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2020	86.4%	5.8%	6.3%	0.7%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%	0.4%
2021	84.1%	7.7%	6.5%	0.7%	0.5%	0.1%	0.0%	0.4%
2022	82.6%	11.1%	5.2%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
2023	79.2%	12.4%	5.8%	1.9%	0.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%
2024	77.9%	14.6%	4.7%	2.2%	0.4%	0.2%	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 2013 at 88.2%. Overall it fell from 85.6% in 2009 to 77.9% in 2024, down 7.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 4 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Des Moines: its share of workers rose from 3.5% in 2009 to 14.6% in 2024, up 11.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 7.7% to 4.7% of workers (down 3.0 percentage points).

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Des Moines

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Des Moines?

The bars show when commuters in Des Moines 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		8.0%
5:00-5:29 AM		5.0%
5:30-5:59 AM		5.9%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.3%
6:30-6:59 AM		7.5%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.6%
7:30-7:59 AM		8.6%
8:00-8:29 AM		10.6%
8:30-8:59 AM		6.3%
9:00-9:59 AM		6.6%
10:00-10:59 AM		4.9%
11:00-11:59 AM		3.0%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.8%
4:00-11:59 PM		4.9%

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

The busiest time to head out in Des Moines is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 12.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.4% across Washington. Early starts are more common than in Washington: 19.0% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Washington: 39.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (27.2%) 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 Des Moines, 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 Des Moines 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 Des Moines 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	Des Moines	Washington	United States
2009	7:27 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:25 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:25 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:23 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:23 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:16 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:21 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:24 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:30 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:27 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:27 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:27 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:21 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:25 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:38 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:39 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Des Moines were on the road by 7:39 AM, 13 minutes later than in 2009 (7:27 AM). The shift is sharper than across Washington, where the typical start moved 2 minutes later. Commuters in Des Moines now leave 1 minute 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 Des Moines has moved 12 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Des Moines in the whole series.

How does Des Moines's commute time compare?

Metric	Des Moines	Washington	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	28.4 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	08:00 AM – 08:29 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	14.6%	19.8%	15.0%
Walked	2.2%	3.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	4.7%	3.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Des Moines is 28.4 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.

4.7% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.4% in Washington. 2.2% commute by walking, lower than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Des Moines, WA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

Des Moines, WA is the smallest of the 4 cities compared here, 30,822 residents against a local median of 47,382. Des Moines, WA's one-way commute, at 28.4 min, runs 20% above the 23.7 min typical of the cities around it. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

The cities themselves spread 7.4 min on one-way commute, so Des Moines, WA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Des Moines, WA has the 3rd lowest one-way commute of the 4 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Des Moines, WA	30,822	28.4 min #3/4	14.6% #2/4	7:39 AM #3/4
SeaTac, WA	36,350	22.9 min	11.6%	7:44 AM
Federal Way, WA	99,921	30.3 min	13.9%	7:29 AM
Burien, WA	47,382	23.7 min	18.9%	7:28 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Des Moines, Washington.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Des Moines, Washington?

Commuters here spend an estimated 237 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,348 at a typical national wage. That's 27% more than the typical Washington commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Des Moines, Washington?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Des Moines, 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.