Thurston County Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Thurston 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, 8:39 PM

How much time do drivers in Thurston County spend on the road daily?

Map AI 9/24/26, 8:39 PM

Commute Time Burden in Thurston County: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Thurston County spend about 44 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 184 hours, about 7.7 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% less time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 0.3 minutes.

Thurston County holds about 3.8% of Washington's population and accounts for roughly 3.8% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Thurston County would save about 74 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $2,286 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)
Thurston County	22.1 min	44.2 min	184 hrs/yr	$5,715	2,120
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

Thurston County

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Average commute time

On average, it takes 22.1 minutes to get to work in Thurston County. That's 1% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

Slower than 76% of counties in Washington

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 20.5% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Thurston County

Public transit is unusually rare in Thurston County: 3.5 times less than the Washington average (1.0% vs 3.4%).

Commute Mode Trends in Thurston County, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Thurston 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	Other	Public Transportation	Bicycle	Taxi	Motorcycle
2009	88.9%	4.3%	2.1%	0.7%	2.4%	1.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2010	88.9%	4.0%	2.2%	0.8%	2.3%	1.4%	0.0%	0.4%
2011	88.8%	4.5%	2.0%	1.0%	2.1%	1.4%	0.0%	0.3%
2012	88.7%	4.3%	2.2%	0.8%	2.3%	1.3%	0.0%	0.4%
2013	88.7%	4.2%	2.5%	1.0%	2.1%	1.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2014	88.9%	4.4%	2.4%	0.8%	1.9%	1.2%	0.0%	0.3%
2015	88.9%	4.7%	2.2%	0.9%	1.9%	1.1%	0.0%	0.4%
2016	88.6%	4.8%	2.4%	0.8%	2.0%	1.1%	0.0%	0.3%
2017	88.9%	4.8%	2.2%	1.0%	1.8%	1.0%	0.0%	0.3%
2018	89.0%	5.3%	2.0%	0.8%	1.7%	0.8%	0.0%	0.4%
2019	88.6%	5.6%	1.8%	0.9%	2.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.3%
2020	86.3%	8.0%	1.9%	1.0%	1.8%	0.6%	0.0%	0.3%
2021	83.2%	11.4%	1.8%	1.1%	1.6%	0.4%	0.0%	0.3%
2022	80.4%	14.5%	2.1%	1.0%	1.5%	0.4%	0.0%	0.2%
2023	77.4%	17.3%	2.2%	1.1%	1.4%	0.5%	0.1%	0.2%
2024	74.4%	20.5%	2.3%	1.2%	1.0%	0.4%	0.1%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2018 at 89.0%. Overall it fell from 88.9% in 2009 to 74.4% in 2024, down 14.5 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 6 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Thurston County: its share of workers rose from 4.3% in 2009 to 20.5% in 2024, up 16.2 percentage points. Most of that increase, 14.9 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 2.4% to 1.0% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).

Walking overtook public transit to become the 3rd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Commute Start Times in Thurston County

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Thurston County?

The bars show when commuters in Thurston 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		6.7%
5:00-5:29 AM		4.8%
5:30-5:59 AM		7.1%
6:00-6:29 AM		8.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		9.9%
7:00-7:29 AM		12.2%
7:30-7:59 AM		12.2%
8:00-8:29 AM		10.5%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.7%
9:00-9:59 AM		6.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.4%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.6%
12:00-3:59 PM		5.9%
4:00-11:59 PM		5.8%

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

The busiest time to head out in Thurston County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 12.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.0% across Washington. Early starts are more common than in Washington: 18.6% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush looks much like Washington's: 44.9% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (22.9%) 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 Thurston 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 Thurston 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 Thurston 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	Thurston County	Washington	United States
2009	7:35 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:32 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:32 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:31 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:31 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:31 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:32 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:31 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:30 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:30 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:28 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:29 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:28 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:27 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:30 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:31 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Thurston County were on the road by 7:31 AM, 4 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:35 AM). That goes against the trend across Washington, where the typical commuter now leaves 2 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Thurston County now leave 7 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 Thurston County has moved 3 minutes later.

How does Thurston County's commute time compare?

Metric	Thurston County	Washington	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	22.1 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	20.5%	19.8%	15.0%
Walked	2.3%	3.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	1.0%	3.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Thurston County is about the same as in Washington.

1.0% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.4% in Washington. 2.3% commute by walking, lower than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Thurston County, WA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties

Thurston County, WA is the 2nd largest of the 6 counties compared here, 299,046 residents against a local median of 112,357. Where Thurston County, WA breaks from the counties next to it is work from home, sitting 47% above the local median of 13.9% at 20.5%.

The counties themselves spread 7.8% on work from home, so Thurston County, WA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Thurston County, WA has the highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
Thurston County, WA	299,046	22.1 min #4/6	20.5% #1/6	7:31 AM #6/6
Mason County, WA	67,950	32.0 min	14.5%	7:09 AM
Lewis County, WA	85,146	21.7 min	9.7%	7:21 AM
Pierce County, WA	929,755	26.9 min	13.9%	7:20 AM
Kitsap County, WA	276,921	21.8 min	16.0%	7:10 AM
Cowlitz County, WA	112,357	18.9 min	8.2%	7:21 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Thurston County, Washington.

Is commuting expensive in Thurston County, Washington?

Commuters here spend an estimated 184 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $5,715 at a typical national wage. That's 1% less than the typical Washington commuter spends.

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

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

Do people use public transit in Thurston County, Washington?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 1.0% 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).