Spokane County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Spokane 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, 8:13 PM

What does a typical morning commute look like in Spokane County?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:13 PM

Commute Time Burden in Spokane County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Spokane County spend about 41 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 171 hours, about 7.1 full days, spent commuting. That is 8% less time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 1.9 minutes.

Spokane County holds about 7.0% of Washington's population but accounts for roughly 6.5% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Spokane County would save about 68 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,123 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)
Spokane County	20.5 min	41.1 min	171 hrs/yr	$5,306	1,937
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

Spokane County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 20.5 minutes to get to work in Spokane County. That's 8% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

The most common departure window is 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM, followed by 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 15.5% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Spokane County

Commute Mode Trends in Spokane County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Spokane 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	87.7%	5.1%	2.8%	2.8%	0.7%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%
2010	87.2%	5.2%	2.9%	2.9%	0.7%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%
2011	86.9%	5.5%	2.8%	3.0%	0.7%	0.7%	0.4%	0.0%
2012	86.7%	5.8%	2.8%	2.9%	0.7%	0.8%	0.4%	0.0%
2013	87.1%	5.5%	3.0%	2.7%	0.6%	0.7%	0.3%	0.0%
2014	87.3%	5.3%	3.0%	2.7%	0.7%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%
2015	87.5%	5.4%	2.9%	2.6%	0.7%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%
2016	87.6%	5.1%	2.9%	2.6%	0.7%	0.6%	0.4%	0.0%
2017	87.9%	5.2%	2.8%	2.5%	0.8%	0.5%	0.3%	0.0%
2018	87.2%	5.6%	2.7%	2.7%	0.8%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%
2019	86.9%	6.1%	2.8%	2.7%	0.7%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%
2020	85.3%	8.1%	2.7%	2.5%	0.8%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%
2021	83.1%	10.6%	2.7%	2.2%	0.8%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%
2022	81.1%	12.3%	2.8%	2.2%	0.8%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%
2023	79.6%	14.2%	2.7%	1.9%	0.9%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%
2024	78.3%	15.5%	2.7%	1.8%	1.0%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2017 at 87.9%. Overall it fell from 87.7% in 2009 to 78.3% in 2024, down 9.4 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 7 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Spokane County: its share of workers rose from 5.1% in 2009 to 15.5% in 2024, up 10.4 percentage points. Most of that increase, 9.4 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 2.8% to 1.8% of workers (down 1.0 percentage points).

Commute Start Times in Spokane County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Spokane County?

The bars show when commuters in Spokane 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		5.1%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.8%
5:30-5:59 AM		5.3%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.2%
6:30-6:59 AM		11.3%
7:00-7:29 AM		14.0%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.3%
8:00-8:29 AM		9.5%
8:30-8:59 AM		5.1%
9:00-9:59 AM		6.1%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.1%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.7%
4:00-11:59 PM		6.6%

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

The busiest time to head out in Spokane County is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 14.0% of commuters leave home, compared with 12.4% across Washington. Early starts are less common than in Washington: 14.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in Washington: 47.2% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.3%) 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 Spokane 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 Spokane 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 Spokane 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	Spokane County	Washington	United States
2009	7:36 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:36 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:37 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:38 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:37 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:36 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:36 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:33 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:32 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:31 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:31 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:33 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:34 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:35 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:36 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:35 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Spokane County were on the road by 7:35 AM, almost exactly the same as in 2009. Across Washington, meanwhile, the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Spokane County now leave 3 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 Spokane County has moved 4 minutes later.

How does Spokane County's commute time compare?

Metric	Spokane County	Washington	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	20.5 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	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM	07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home	15.5%	19.8%	15.0%
Walked	2.7%	3.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	1.8%	3.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Spokane County is 20.5 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.

1.8% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.4% in Washington. 2.7% commute by walking, lower than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Spokane County, WA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Spokane County, WA is the largest of the 6 counties compared here, 548,846 residents against a local median of 47,000. Spokane County, WA's work from home, at 15.5%, runs 39% above the 11.1% typical of the counties around it.

The counties themselves spread 7.2% on work from home, so Spokane County, WA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Spokane County, WA has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Spokane County, WA	548,846	20.5 min #4/6	15.5% #1/6	7:35 AM #5/6
Kootenai County, ID	181,718	18.6 min	15.1%	7:27 AM
Whitman County, WA	47,000	13.5 min	10.3%	7:57 AM
Benewah County, ID	10,141	16.8 min	8.0%	7:24 AM
Stevens County, WA	48,063	23.2 min	11.1%	7:10 AM
Pend Oreille County, WA	14,050	21.8 min	13.4%	7:20 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Spokane County, Washington.

How much does the average commute cost workers in Spokane County, Washington?

Commuters here spend an estimated 171 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,306 at a typical national wage. That's 8% less than the typical Washington commuter spends.

When is rush hour worst in Spokane County, Washington?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in Spokane County, Washington. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:30 AM – 07:59 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).