West Allis Commute Time Map & Patterns

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Commuting in West Allis, Wisconsin: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.

You 9/24/26, 4:30 PM

How much time do drivers in West Allis spend on the road daily?

Map AI 9/24/26, 4:30 PM

Commute Time Burden in West Allis: Annual Hours and Cost

Commuters in West Allis spend about 38 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 158 hours, about 6.6 full days, spent commuting. That is 1% more time on the road than the Wisconsin average of 18.8 minutes each way, a difference of 0.2 minutes.

West Allis holds about 1.0% of Wisconsin's population and accounts for roughly 1.0% of its total commuting time.

Working from home just 2 days a week in West Allis would save about 63 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,961 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)
West Allis	19.0 min	38.0 min	158 hrs/yr	$4,903	2,883
Wisconsin	18.8 min	37.5 min	156 hrs/yr	$4,846	811
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.

West Allis Commute Map

On average, it takes 19.0 minutes to get to work in West Allis. That's 15% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.

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 10.1% work from home.

How People Get to Work in West Allis

Commute Mode Trends in West Allis, 2009-2024

This chart shows how workers in West Allis 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	Taxi	Bicycle	Motorcycle
2009	93.6%	1.5%	2.7%	1.4%	0.3%	0.1%	0.2%	0.3%
2010	93.4%	1.4%	3.0%	1.4%	0.4%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
2011	92.5%	1.9%	3.0%	1.5%	0.5%	0.1%	0.2%	0.3%
2012	92.1%	1.9%	3.4%	1.5%	0.3%	0.1%	0.2%	0.5%
2013	91.5%	1.9%	3.8%	1.5%	0.4%	0.1%	0.3%	0.5%
2014	90.4%	2.2%	4.2%	1.6%	0.7%	0.1%	0.3%	0.4%
2015	90.9%	2.2%	3.8%	1.7%	0.5%	0.0%	0.3%	0.4%
2016	92.0%	1.8%	3.3%	1.5%	0.6%	0.0%	0.4%	0.4%
2017	91.3%	2.5%	3.2%	1.7%	0.6%	0.1%	0.3%	0.4%
2018	91.7%	2.9%	2.9%	1.3%	0.6%	0.0%	0.3%	0.2%
2019	92.0%	2.9%	3.0%	1.3%	0.3%	0.1%	0.3%	0.2%
2020	90.2%	3.8%	3.4%	1.4%	0.5%	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%
2021	88.4%	5.5%	3.4%	1.6%	0.4%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%
2022	87.1%	7.1%	3.3%	1.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.1%
2023	85.3%	8.6%	3.6%	1.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.1%
2024	84.8%	10.1%	2.8%	1.3%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.1%

Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Overall its share fell from 93.6% in 2009 to 84.8% in 2024, down 8.8 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.

Working from home gained the most ground in West Allis: its share of workers rose from 1.5% in 2009 to 10.1% in 2024, up 8.6 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.2 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.

Working from home overtook public transit to become the 2nd most common choice in the 2020 release and has stayed ahead since.

Public transit peaked at 4.2% in 2014 and has since fallen back to 2.8%.

Commute Start Times in West Allis

What Time Do People Leave for Work in West Allis?

The bars show when commuters in West Allis 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 Wisconsin for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.

12:00-4:59 AM		5.3%
5:00-5:29 AM		3.7%
5:30-5:59 AM		5.2%
6:00-6:29 AM		7.9%
6:30-6:59 AM		13.2%
7:00-7:29 AM		15.2%
7:30-7:59 AM		10.1%
8:00-8:29 AM		7.9%
8:30-8:59 AM		5.9%
9:00-9:59 AM		5.7%
10:00-10:59 AM		2.8%
11:00-11:59 AM		1.8%
12:00-3:59 PM		8.2%
4:00-11:59 PM		7.2%

West Allis Wisconsin Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates

The busiest time to head out in West Allis is 7:00-7:29 AM, when 15.2% of commuters leave home, compared with 14.7% across Wisconsin. Early starts are less common than in Wisconsin: 14.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 17.7% there. The morning rush looks much like Wisconsin's: 46.4% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 46.8% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.7%) 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 West Allis, 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 West Allis 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 West Allis next to Wisconsin 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	West Allis	Wisconsin	United States
2009	7:28 AM	7:30 AM	7:37 AM
2010	7:31 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2011	7:32 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2012	7:33 AM	7:31 AM	7:38 AM
2013	7:36 AM	7:31 AM	7:39 AM
2014	7:35 AM	7:30 AM	7:39 AM
2015	7:33 AM	7:30 AM	7:38 AM
2016	7:35 AM	7:29 AM	7:38 AM
2017	7:33 AM	7:29 AM	7:38 AM
2018	7:34 AM	7:28 AM	7:37 AM
2019	7:32 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2020	7:30 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2021	7:30 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2022	7:29 AM	7:27 AM	7:37 AM
2023	7:26 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM
2024	7:29 AM	7:27 AM	7:38 AM

In 2024, half of commuters in West Allis were on the road by 7:29 AM, 1 minute later than in 2009 (7:28 AM). That goes against the trend across Wisconsin, where the typical commuter now leaves 3 minutes earlier than in 2009. Commuters in West Allis now leave 9 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 West Allis has moved 3 minutes earlier.

How does West Allis's commute time compare?

Metric	West Allis	Wisconsin	US Average
Avg. Commute Time	19.0 min	18.8 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	10.1%	13.1%	15.0%
Walked	1.3%	2.6%	2.4%
Public Transit	2.8%	1.1%	3.2%

The average commute time in West Allis is about the same as in Wisconsin.

2.8% commute by public transit, higher than the 1.1% in Wisconsin. 1.3% commute by walking, lower than the 2.6% in Wisconsin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

West Allis, WI Commute Compared With Nearby Cities

How West Allis, WI compares with the 2 cities closest to it.

Area	Population	One-way commute	Work from home	Typical departure
West Allis, WI	59,584	19.0 min #2/3	10.1% #3/3	7:29 AM #2/3
Greenfield, WI	37,199	21.4 min	14.4%	7:26 AM
Wauwatosa, WI	48,477	18.3 min	22.4%	7:46 AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about commuting in West Allis, Wisconsin.

Is commuting expensive in West Allis, Wisconsin?

Commuters here spend an estimated 158 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,903 at a typical national wage. That's 1% more than the typical Wisconsin commuter spends.

What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in West Allis, Wisconsin?

Traffic peaks between 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM in West Allis, Wisconsin. 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.