Treasure Valley Commute Times are Lowest in Boise
If you spend a little more than 15 minutes in the car on the way to work, you're an average driver in Boise.
Drivers in Nampa and Meridian are sitting on the road a smidge longer.
A new study from Carmax says that drivers in Boise are spending 17 minutes on average on the daily commute.
Drivers in other spots around the Treasure Valley are spending longer times in the car on the way to work or school, with a 22-minute commute on average in Nampa, and 21 minutes in Meridian. (This isn't counting the stop for donuts or lattes on the way in -- just the drive time.) The average commute in Idaho is 19 minutes.
Not bad I suppose, considering those poor folks in California who sit on the freeway for an hour or two every day just to get to work. Anything under 30 minutes these days seems tolerable, until someone cuts you off or squeezes in where there isn't space, or forgets to use that dang blinker. Then 20 minutes feels like forever. The national average commute is 25 minutes.
Almost 80 percent of the working population in Idaho commutes with only one person in the vehicle. That can be the ultimate "me time" when you own the radio and you can crank up the songs YOU like and sing at the top of your lungs. No kids in the car and no hubby to ruin your big moment with Pink. (But imagine how much less traffic we'd have if we all rode together.) Only 2.2 percent walk to work.
For more on the state-by-state commute times check out the Carmax report, and be thankful that we don't spend 38 minutes in the car morning and another 38 minutes in the afternoon like some East Coast states. We can use that time saved for a bike ride or some pumpkin carvin' with the kids. It's all in the perspective.