Walla Walla Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in Walla Walla, 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

Is the commute in Walla Walla longer than the national average?

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

Commute Time Burden in Walla Walla: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in Walla Walla spend about 22 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 90 hours, about 3.8 full days, spent commuting. That is 52% less time on the road than the Washington average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 11.5 minutes.

Walla Walla holds about 0.4% of Washington's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in Walla Walla would save about 36 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,122 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)
Walla Walla	10.9 min	21.7 min	90 hrs/yr	$2,804	1,529
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.

Walla Walla Commute Map

On average, it takes 10.9 minutes to get to work in Walla Walla. That's 52% shorter 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 11.6% work from home.

How People Get to Work in Walla Walla

Walking is unusually common in Walla Walla: 3.1 times more than the Washington average (9.5% vs 3.0%).

Public transit is unusually rare in Walla Walla: 9.6 times less than the Washington average (0.4% vs 3.4%).

Biking is unusually common in Walla Walla: 4.3 times more than the Washington average (2.7% vs 0.6%).

Walla Walla stands out for active commuting: 12.3% of workers walk or bike to work, 3.3 times the Washington average of 3.7%.

Commute Mode Trends in Walla Walla, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in Walla Walla 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	Other	Public Transportation	Motorcycle	Taxi
2009	83.0%	3.5%	8.0%	3.0%	0.4%	1.5%	0.5%	0.0%
2010	83.4%	3.6%	7.7%	2.9%	0.5%	1.1%	0.8%	0.0%
2011	83.1%	3.5%	7.8%	2.9%	0.2%	1.7%	0.7%	0.0%
2012	80.6%	4.0%	9.5%	3.4%	0.2%	1.8%	0.5%	0.0%
2013	80.4%	3.8%	9.1%	4.0%	0.4%	1.9%	0.3%	0.0%
2014	81.3%	3.9%	9.0%	3.4%	0.3%	1.6%	0.4%	0.1%
2015	81.4%	3.3%	10.5%	2.9%	0.2%	1.2%	0.5%	0.1%
2016	78.5%	4.7%	11.6%	3.0%	0.4%	1.4%	0.3%	0.1%
2017	80.9%	4.5%	10.6%	1.9%	0.3%	1.4%	0.3%	0.1%
2018	80.0%	4.7%	11.4%	2.0%	0.3%	1.1%	0.4%	0.1%
2019	80.1%	5.0%	11.2%	1.5%	0.2%	1.5%	0.5%	0.1%
2020	76.2%	8.5%	10.3%	1.9%	1.2%	1.6%	0.3%	0.1%
2021	75.8%	10.3%	9.4%	2.0%	0.9%	1.2%	0.3%	0.2%
2022	75.7%	10.4%	9.1%	2.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.3%	0.1%
2023	75.0%	11.2%	9.2%	2.4%	1.2%	0.7%	0.2%	0.0%
2024	74.3%	11.6%	9.5%	2.7%	1.4%	0.4%	0.1%	0.0%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2010 at 83.4%. Overall it fell from 83.0% in 2009 to 74.3% in 2024, down 8.7 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in Walla Walla: its share of workers rose from 3.5% in 2009 to 11.6% in 2024, up 8.1 percentage points. Most of that increase, 6.6 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 1.5% to 0.4% of workers (down 1.1 percentage points).

Working from home overtook walking to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2021 release and has stayed ahead since.

Walking peaked at 11.6% in 2016 and has since fallen back to 9.5%.

Commute Start Times in Walla Walla

What Time Do People Leave for Work in Walla Walla?

The bars show when commuters in Walla Walla 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		4.1%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.6%
5:30-5:59 AM		9.6%
6:00-6:29 AM		7.1%
6:30-6:59 AM		4.4%
7:00-7:29 AM		10.2%
7:30-7:59 AM		14.1%
8:00-8:29 AM		10.1%
8:30-8:59 AM		4.1%
9:00-9:59 AM		9.2%
10:00-10:59 AM		3.0%
11:00-11:59 AM		4.0%
12:00-3:59 PM		7.9%
4:00-11:59 PM		8.6%

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

The busiest time to head out in Walla Walla is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 14.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.0% across Washington. Early starts are about as common as in Washington: 17.3% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.6% there. The morning rush is more spread out than in Washington: 38.8% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.1% there. About 1 in 3 commuters (32.6%) 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 Walla Walla, 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 Walla Walla 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 Walla Walla 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	Walla Walla	Washington	United States
2009	7:50 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:50 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:51 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:47 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:50 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:51 AM	7:35 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:49 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:49 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:49 AM	7:33 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:50 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:50 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:45 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:49 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:54 AM	7:33 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:53 AM	7:34 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:53 AM	7:35 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in Walla Walla were on the road by 7:53 AM, 3 minutes later than in 2009 (7:50 AM). Washington followed the same path, with the typical start moving 2 minutes later. Commuters in Walla Walla now leave 15 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 Walla Walla has moved 4 minutes later.

How does Walla Walla's commute time compare?

Metric	Walla Walla	Washington	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	10.9 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	11.6%	19.8%	15.0%
Walked	9.5%	3.0%	2.4%
Public Transit	0.4%	3.4%	3.2%

The average commute time in Walla Walla is 10.9 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in Washington.

0.4% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.4% in Washington. 9.5% commute by walking, higher than the 3.0% in Washington.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in Walla Walla, Washington.

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

Commuters here spend an estimated 90 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $2,804 at a typical national wage. That's 52% less than the typical Washington commuter spends.

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

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

Is public transportation a realistic commute option in Walla Walla, Washington?

Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.4% of commuters use it versus 3.4% in Washington, meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.