Snohomish County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Snohomish 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, 8:12 PM

How many minutes is the average drive to work in Snohomish County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:12 PM

Commute Time Burden in Snohomish County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Snohomish 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 235 hours, about 9.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 26% more time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 5.9 minutes.

Snohomish County holds about 10.8% of Washington's population but accounts for roughly 13.6% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Snohomish County would save about 94 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,920 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)
Snohomish County	28.3 min	56.5 min	235 hrs/yr	$7,299	2,492
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

Walla Walla County (12.2 min)
San Juan County (12.3 min)
Asotin County (13.2 min)

Slowest commutes among counties in Washington

Mason County (32.0 min)
Garfield County (28.4 min)
Snohomish County (28.3 min)

Compare commute times among different counties

Snohomish County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 28.3 minutes to get to work in Snohomish County. That's 26% longer than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Among the 3 slowest 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 20.0% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Snohomish County

Commute Mode Trends in Snohomish County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Snohomish 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	Public Transportation	Walked	Other	Bicycle	Motorcycle	Taxi
2009	87.5%	4.8%	4.7%	1.7%	0.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%
2010	87.2%	4.7%	5.2%	1.7%	0.5%	0.3%	0.4%	0.0%
2011	86.4%	5.0%	5.5%	1.8%	0.6%	0.3%	0.4%	0.0%
2012	86.4%	5.0%	5.6%	1.8%	0.6%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
2013	86.3%	5.1%	5.6%	1.8%	0.6%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
2014	86.3%	5.1%	5.5%	1.7%	0.7%	0.3%	0.4%	0.1%
2015	86.0%	5.2%	5.5%	1.8%	0.7%	0.4%	0.4%	0.1%
2016	86.2%	5.2%	5.3%	1.7%	0.7%	0.4%	0.4%	0.1%
2017	86.0%	5.3%	5.4%	1.7%	0.7%	0.5%	0.4%	0.1%
2018	85.7%	5.5%	5.4%	1.8%	0.7%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%
2019	85.6%	5.6%	5.5%	1.9%	0.7%	0.4%	0.3%	0.0%
2020	83.1%	8.7%	4.9%	1.9%	0.8%	0.4%	0.3%	0.1%
2021	79.9%	12.6%	4.3%	1.7%	0.8%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%
2022	77.2%	15.9%	3.8%	1.8%	0.8%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%
2023	75.8%	18.1%	3.1%	1.7%	0.9%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%
2024	74.1%	20.0%	2.8%	1.6%	0.9%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 87.5% in 2009 to 74.1% in 2024, down 13.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 8 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Snohomish County: its share of workers rose from 4.8% in 2009 to 20.0% in 2024, up 15.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 4.7% to 2.8% of workers (down 1.9 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Snohomish County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Snohomish County?

The bars show when commuters in Snohomish 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		8.2%
5:00-5:29 AM		6.1%
5:30-5:59 AM		6.6%
6:00-6:29 AM		9.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		10.0%
7:00-7:29 AM		11.6%
7:30-7:59 AM		9.1%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.5%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.9%
9:00-9:59 AM		7.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.3%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		6.8%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.0%

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

The busiest time to head out in Snohomish County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 11.6% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.4% across Washington. Early starts are more common than in Washington: 20.9% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Washington: 40.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (24.1%) 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 Snohomish 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 Snohomish 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 Snohomish 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	Snohomish County	Washington	United States
2009	7:21 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:22 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:23 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	7:22 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:21 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:20 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:19 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:18 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:19 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:19 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:21 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:22 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:23 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:24 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Snohomish County were on the road by 7:24 AM, 3 minutes later than in 2009 (7:21 AM). Washington followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes later. Commuters in Snohomish County now leave 14 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 Snohomish County has moved 5 minutes later. The 2024 release is the latest typical start for Snohomish County in the whole series.

How does Snohomish County's commute time compare?

Metric	Snohomish County	Washington	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	28.3 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	20.0%	19.8%	15.0%
Walked	1.6%	3.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.8%	3.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Snohomish County is 28.3 minutes, longer than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.

2.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.4% in Washington. 1.6% commute by walking, lower than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Snohomish County, WA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Snohomish County, WA is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 843,136 residents against a local median of 230,493. The measure that sets Snohomish County, WA apart most is work from home: 20.0%, 36% above the local median of 14.8%.

One-way commute tells the same story from another angle: 28.3 min against a local median of 21.1 min, 34% above it. The one measure here that carries a verdict is one-way commute, and at 34% above the local median it puts Snohomish County, WA at the weaker end of the local range. The counties themselves spread 16.9% on work from home, so Snohomish County, WA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Snohomish County, WA has the 2nd highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Snohomish County, WA	843,136	28.3 min #6/6	20.0% #2/6	7:24 AM #2/6
Skagit County, WA	131,328	21.1 min	12.2%	7:27 AM
King County, WA	2,275,758	25.4 min	29.1%	8:00 AM
Whatcom County, WA	230,493	17.9 min	14.8%	7:49 AM
Island County, WA	86,836	17.5 min	14.1%	7:34 AM
Kitsap County, WA	276,921	21.8 min	16.0%	7:10 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Snohomish County, Washington.

Is living in Snohomish County, Washington good for avoiding long commute costs?

Commuters here spend an estimated 235 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $7,299 at a typical national wage. That's 26% more than the typical Washington commuter spends.

When is peak congestion during the morning commute in Snohomish County, Washington?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Snohomish 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).