Shoreline Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Shoreline, 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

What does a typical morning commute look like in Shoreline?

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

Commute Time Burden in Shoreline: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Shoreline spend about 53 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 221 hours, about 9.2 full days, spent commuting. That is 19% more time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 4.2 minutes.

Shoreline holds about 0.8% of Washington's population but accounts for roughly 0.9% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Shoreline would save about 88 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,743 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)
Shoreline	26.5 min	53.1 min	221 hrs/yr	$6,858	2,786
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.

Shoreline Commute Map

On average, it takes 26.5 minutes to get to work in Shoreline. That's 18% longer 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 25.8% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Shoreline

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

Commute Mode Trends in Shoreline, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Shoreline 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	Bicycle	Other	Motorcycle	Taxi
2009	81.5%	5.4%	10.0%	1.5%	0.4%	0.3%	0.7%	0.2%
2010	80.6%	5.3%	10.9%	1.7%	0.6%	0.2%	0.7%	0.0%
2011	80.1%	5.4%	11.2%	1.7%	0.7%	0.3%	0.6%	0.0%
2012	79.7%	5.7%	10.9%	2.0%	0.8%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%
2013	78.4%	5.6%	12.0%	2.6%	0.7%	0.4%	0.3%	0.0%
2014	77.0%	6.4%	12.8%	2.3%	0.9%	0.5%	0.1%	0.0%
2015	75.7%	6.4%	13.7%	2.3%	1.2%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%
2016	74.8%	6.3%	15.0%	2.0%	1.0%	0.7%	0.1%	0.0%
2017	75.1%	6.3%	15.1%	2.1%	0.9%	0.5%	0.0%	0.0%
2018	75.3%	6.2%	14.9%	1.9%	1.1%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%
2019	75.8%	6.3%	14.5%	2.1%	0.6%	0.5%	0.2%	0.0%
2020	72.7%	11.2%	12.7%	1.9%	0.7%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%
2021	69.9%	16.0%	10.9%	2.0%	0.4%	0.6%	0.2%	0.0%
2022	67.5%	19.6%	9.6%	1.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.2%	0.0%
2023	66.5%	23.0%	7.0%	1.9%	0.8%	0.6%	0.1%	0.0%
2024	64.9%	25.8%	5.8%	1.7%	0.9%	0.9%	0.1%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 81.5% in 2009 to 64.9% in 2024, down 16.6 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Shoreline: its share of workers rose from 5.4% in 2009 to 25.8% in 2024, up 20.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 19.5 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 10.0% to 5.8% of workers (down 4.2 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 Shoreline

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Shoreline?

The bars show when commuters in Shoreline 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		2.3%
5:30-5:59 AM		5.7%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.5%
6:30-6:59 AM		8.4%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.0%
7:30-7:59 AM		13.9%
8:00-8:29 AM		10.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		7.9%
9:00-9:59 AM		11.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.9%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.8%
4:00-11:59 PM		3.9%

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

The busiest time to head out in Shoreline is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 13.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.0% across Washington. Early starts are less common than in Washington: 11.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Washington: 45.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (26.1%) 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 Shoreline, 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 Shoreline 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 Shoreline 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	Shoreline	Washington	United States
2009	7:46 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:43 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:40 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:42 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:40 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:41 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:41 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:44 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:42 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:45 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:44 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:43 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:45 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:48 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:51 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:49 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Shoreline were on the road by 7:49 AM, 4 minutes later than in 2009 (7:46 AM). Washington followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes later. Commuters in Shoreline now leave 11 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 Shoreline has moved 5 minutes later.

How does Shoreline's commute time compare?

Metric	Shoreline	Washington	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	26.5 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	25.8%	19.8%	15.0%
Walked	1.7%	3.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	5.8%	3.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Shoreline is 26.5 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.

5.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 3.4% in Washington. 1.7% commute by walking, lower than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Shoreline, WA Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How Shoreline, WA compares with the 2 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Shoreline, WA	59,587	26.5 min #3/3	25.8% #2/3	7:49 AM #3/3
Mountlake Terrace, WA	23,156	26.5 min	21.8%	7:35 AM
Edmonds, WA	42,432	25.5 min	27.6%	7:44 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Shoreline, Washington.

Is commuting expensive in Shoreline, Washington?

Commuters here spend an estimated 221 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $6,858 at a typical national wage. That's 19% more than the typical Washington commuter spends.

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

Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Shoreline, 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.

How much money can remote workers save in Shoreline, Washington?

About 25.8% of workers here already work from home. Working from home just 2 days a week in Shoreline would save about 88 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,743 at the same national wage assumption used above.