Average for workers who did not work from home.
PLACE · IA · GEOID 19210002024 5-YEAR
COMMUTE PROFILE
Des Moines, Iowa
According to the 2024 ACS five-year estimates, residents here averaged 19.5 min one way; 13.1% worked from home, 70.9% drove alone, and 3.3% of commuters traveled 60 minutes or more.
Mean one-way trip19.5 min±0.7 min MOE
Worked from home13.1%±1.0 pp MOE
Drove alone70.9%±1.0 pp MOE
60+ minute trip3.3%among commuters
U.S. Census Bureau ACS estimates for residents age 16+ who work. Commute time excludes people working from home.
01 / THE SHIFT
What changed in Des Moines city's published commute estimate?
From the 2021 to 2024 overlapping ACS periods, mean commute changed +0.3 minutes and the work-from-home share changed +4.9 percentage points.
These periods overlap: 2021 covers 2017–2021 and 2024 covers 2020–2024. Changes are directional comparisons, not independent annual measurements.
Share of workers age 16+ who usually worked from home.
Public transportation excluding taxi.
Car, truck, or van—drove alone.
02 / MODE SHARE
How Des Moines city residents usually get to work
Driving alone was the largest listed mode at 70.9%; 0.8% used public transit and 13.1% worked from home.
Each share uses 111,255 estimated workers as its denominator. Categories shown here do not include every ACS mode.
03 / PEER CONTEXT
How Des Moines city compares with similar-size places
This place's mean commute is at the 15th percentile among covered 100k–500k places; each percentile describes one metric only.
Percentiles are single-metric context, never a “good commute” score.
Mean commute time is lower than about 85% of covered places in the 100k–500k population band.
The work-from-home share is lower than about 52% of covered places in the 100k–500k population band.
The public-transit share is lower than about 62% of covered places in the 100k–500k population band.
The 60+ minute share is lower than about 85% of covered places in the 100k–500k population band.
04 / ESTIMATE BASE
The counts behind Des Moines city's commute shares
The 2024 estimates cover 111,255 workers age 16+, including 96,669 workers with reported travel time and 14,586 home workers.
Population estimate212,421± 197 MOE
Workers age 16+111,255± 1,866 MOE
Workers with travel time96,669± 1,806 MOE
Estimated home workers14,586± 1,109 MOE
Why the ± matters
ACS values are survey estimates. The margin of error is the 90% confidence interval published by the Census Bureau or calculated for a share from published component margins. Small differences can be sampling noise.
05 / SAME STATE
All Iowa reports →Comparable Iowa commute records for Des Moines city
These 2 same-state records are the closest population peers available in the published dataset, not recommendations or a composite ranking.