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Garfield County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Garfield County, 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, 8:22 PM
How long is the round-trip commute in Garfield County?
Map AI 9/24/26, 8:22 PM

Commute Time Burden in Garfield County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Garfield County spend about 57 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 236 hours, about 9.8 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 6.0 minutes.

Garfield County holds about 0.0% of Washington's population and accounts for roughly 0.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Garfield County would save about 95 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,930 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)
Garfield County 28.4 min 56.7 min 236 hrs/yr $7,326 147
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.

Commute Time Map: Washington Counties

Fastest commutes among counties in Washington
  1. Walla Walla County (12.2 min)
  2. San Juan County (12.3 min)
  3. Asotin County (13.2 min)
Slowest commutes among counties in Washington
  1. Mason County (32.0 min)
  2. Garfield County (28.4 min)
  3. Snohomish County (28.3 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Garfield County
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Average commute time

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

Among the 3 slowest counties in Washington

The most common departure window is 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM, followed by 08:00 AM – 08:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 16.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Garfield County

  • Car: 79.8%
  • Worked at Home: 16.8%
  • Walked: 2.1%
  • Bicycle: 1.4%
  • Motorcycle: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Public Transportation: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Taxi: < 0.1% unusually low
  • Other: < 0.1%

Riding a motorcycle is essentially absent in Garfield County, versus 0.2% in Washington.

Public transit is essentially absent in Garfield County, versus 3.4% in Washington.

Taking a taxi is essentially absent in Garfield County, versus 0.1% in Washington.

Commute Mode Trends in Garfield County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Garfield 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 Bicycle Public Transportation Taxi Motorcycle Other
2009 83.3% 5.3% 9.3% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.9%
2010 85.3% 7.0% 4.8% 0.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.2%
2011 83.4% 10.8% 5.5% 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2012 82.3% 10.5% 6.3% 0.7% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2013 81.1% 11.3% 6.8% 0.6% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2014 82.0% 10.7% 6.2% 0.9% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2015 83.9% 9.4% 5.7% 0.2% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.6%
2016 89.1% 5.2% 4.7% 0.2% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.6%
2017 90.3% 6.2% 2.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.7%
2018 89.7% 6.0% 3.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.7%
2019 88.4% 7.2% 3.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.7%
2020 82.6% 12.2% 4.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.3%
2021 75.4% 19.3% 3.6% 1.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.4%
2022 78.2% 16.1% 4.6% 1.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2023 80.9% 14.8% 3.1% 1.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
2024 79.8% 16.8% 2.1% 1.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share was highest in 2017 at 90.3% and lowest in 2021 at 75.4%. Overall it fell from 83.3% in 2009 to 79.8% in 2024, down 3.5 percentage points. It has fallen in the latest release.

Working from home gained the most ground in Garfield County: its share of workers rose from 5.3% in 2009 to 16.8% in 2024, up 11.5 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Walking lost the most ground, falling from 9.3% to 2.1% of workers (down 7.2 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2010 release and has stayed ahead since.

Working from home peaked at 19.3% in 2021 and has since fallen back to 16.8%.

Commute Start Times in Garfield County

  • Early BirdThe earliest start among Washington's 39 counties: half of commuters are on the road by 6:55 AM.
  • Earlier AlarmsThe 3rd-biggest shift to earlier mornings among Washington's 39 counties: the typical start is 21 minutes earlier than in 2009.

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Garfield County?

The bars show when commuters in Garfield 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
3.6%
5:00-5:29 AM
4.0%
5:30-5:59 AM
11.2%
6:00-6:29 AM
21.5%
6:30-6:59 AM
11.5%
7:00-7:29 AM
10.4%
7:30-7:59 AM
11.8%
8:00-8:29 AM
16.9%
8:30-8:59 AM
0.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
1.4%
10:00-10:59 AM
4.4%
11:00-11:59 AM
0.0%
12:00-3:59 PM
2.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
0.7%

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

The busiest time to head out in Garfield County is 6:00-6:29 AM, when 21.5% of commuters leave home, compared with 8.6% across Washington. Early starts are more common than in Washington: 18.8% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Washington: 50.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 12 commuters (8.5%) 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 Garfield 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 Garfield 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 Garfield 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 Garfield County Washington United States
2009 7:16 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2010 7:23 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2011 7:34 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2012 7:39 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM
2013 7:42 AM 7:35 AM 7:39 AM
2014 7:48 AM 7:35 AM 7:39 AM
2015 7:44 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2016 7:33 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2017 7:19 AM 7:33 AM 7:38 AM
2018 6:58 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2019 7:05 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2020 6:53 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2021 7:01 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2022 6:52 AM 7:33 AM 7:37 AM
2023 7:00 AM 7:34 AM 7:38 AM
2024 6:55 AM 7:35 AM 7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Garfield County were on the road by 6:55 AM, 21 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:16 AM). That goes against the trend across Washington, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Garfield County now leave 43 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 Garfield County has moved 10 minutes earlier.

How does Garfield County's commute time compare?

Metric Garfield County Washington US Average
Avg. Commute Time 28.4 min 22.4 min 22.4 min
Departure Window 06:00 AM – 06:29 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 16.8% 19.8% 15.0%
Walked 2.1% 3.0% 2.4%
Public Transit < 0.1% 3.4% 3.2%

The average commute time in Garfield County is 28.4 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.

0.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.4% in Washington. 2.1% commute by walking, lower than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Garfield County, WA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Garfield County, WA is the smallest of the 6 counties compared here, 2,351 residents against a local median of 41,044. Where Garfield County, WA breaks from the counties next to it is one-way commute, sitting 110% above the local median of 13.5 min at 28.4 min. That is the weaker end of the local range on this measure.

Work from home tells the same story from another angle: 16.8% against a local median of 10.3%, 63% above it. The counties themselves sit within 2.4 min of each other on one-way commute, a tighter band than the gap between any of them and Garfield County, WA, which makes it a genuine outlier here rather than one end of a wide local spread. Garfield County, WA has the 6th lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.

Area Population One-way commute Work from home Typical departure
Garfield County, WA 2,351 28.4 min #6/6 16.8% #1/6 6:55 AM #1/6
Columbia County, WA 4,012 13.6 min 11.9% 7:16 AM
Asotin County, WA 22,455 13.2 min 10.9% 7:35 AM
Whitman County, WA 47,000 13.5 min 10.3% 7:57 AM
Nez Perce County, ID 42,646 13.5 min 9.3% 7:33 AM
Latah County, ID 41,044 15.6 min 9.9% 7:48 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Garfield County, Washington.

What is the financial impact of commuting in Garfield County, Washington?

Commuters here spend an estimated 236 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,326 at a typical national wage. That's 27% more than the typical Washington commuter spends.

What are the busiest morning travel hours in Garfield County, Washington?

Traffic peaks between 06:00 AM – 06:29 AM in Garfield County, 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 public transportation a realistic commute option in Garfield County, Washington?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.0% of commuters use it versus 3.4% in Washington, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.

Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among 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).