Background: Optimal timing for surgical treatment of localized renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains undefined. We sought to determine the survival impact of time to definitive surgical treatment for Stage 1 RCC and elucidate factors associated with a delay in surgical care utilizing the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Methods: The NCDB was queried for Stage 1 RCC cases (cT1N0M0) from 2004-2013 treated with partial or radical nephrectomy. Quartiles were formed from the range of time to surgery of the entire cohort in days: early defined as the first two quartiles and delayed as the fourth. Descriptive analyses were conducted between early and delayed groups. Overall survival (OS) between early and delayed groups was calculated with Kaplan-Meier analysis. Multivariable analysis was performed to determine factors associated with delay in surgical care. Results: 38,859 patients were analyzed. Median time to treatment was 40 days (IQR 22-68). Early (≤40 days, n = 23,712) and delayed ( > 68 days, n = 15,147) groups had a median follow-up of 44.8 and 41 months, respectively (p < 0.001). Delayed surgery was more frequent with African-Americans (14.8% vs. 9.1%, p < 0.001), patients with government or no insurance (53.7% vs. 45.1%, p < 0.001), males (60.7% vs. 58.3%, p = 0.001), and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) ≥2 (9.7% vs. 6.7%, p < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated survival benefit to the earlier treatment group, with 5 year OS of 85.5% and 80.9% (p < 0.001; Figure). On multivariable analysis, increasing age (OR = 1.001, p = 0.015), African-American race (OR = 1.5, p < 0.001), increasing distance from treatment center (OR = 1.005, p = 0.001), residence in areas with low high school graduation rates (OR = 1.42, p < 0.001), residence in an area of > 1 million population (OR = 1.6, p < 0.001), and CCI ≥2 (OR = 1.4, p < 0.001) were independently associated with increasing time to surgery. Conclusions: Surgery of T1 RCC carried out beyond 9 weeks after diagnosis is associated with reduced overall survival compared to patients treated within 6 weeks. Time to definitive surgical treatment should be a quality of care metric, with special attention given to populations most at risk for delays in care.