Interested to hear from some anonymous strangers, what is your commute to work like? Do you drive, take the train, something else? How long is your commute? What do you consider to be reasonable and when does it become unreasonable?
Relatedly, when choosing where you live and work, how did you balance between the commute and where to buy a house? The work I do is limited to very specific geographic areas, so finding similar work is highly unlikely.
My reason for asking is that after some life plan derailment, I’m getting back on my feet and taking a new job. I’m also hoping to buy a house this year, which did not work out last year. My commute to work from where I live now, is about 42 minutes, by train, each way. Housing here is on the more expensive side, at around $230-$260/sq. ft; houses are mostly from the 1950-70s and on small lots around 8k – 9k sq. ft.
I could move further out, get a newer house, on a bigger lot (0.3 to 1+ acre) for $140-$160/sq. ft. However, it would add 20 minutes each way to my commute. 20 minutes doesn’t sound like much, but that’s an extra 3.3 hours per week on the train. On the other hand, the houses are less expensive, nicer, newer, and I’d be able to sit on my patio without watching my neighbor in his kitchen. Additionally, a major sports franchise is relocating to my (already busy and congested) current town and I’m not certain I want to buy here, having some idea of how much busier it’s going to get.
I guess I’m just curious to see what people’s commutes are like, what’s common, if I’m making a mountain out of a molehill on 20 extra minutes, and the thought processes other people went through when deciding where to live in relation to work.
7 comments
I worked remotely since before it was cool. I have a way better setup at home than my company has at the office.
This isn’t possible for most people but I also used to live in a LCOL area but then my wife wanted to move so I moved to a bigger city.
Prioritized housing.
Schools are awful where I work.
Commute is about 25-46 minutes in the morning, and 45-100+ minutes on the way home.
I prefer to work the traveling jobs to avoid the commute every day.
Baton Rouge traffic is soooo bad.
My commute is about 40-45 minutes in the car. I have come to value that time as a crucial part of my day.
I spend the morning drive listening to the news, some light music, or just sorting my thoughts ahead of the day. I spend the afternoon commute mostly decompressing from the workday and refocusing on what my family’s needs will be when I get home.
My “commute” used to be less than five minutes. I’d get in the door and still be trying to process the stress of my workday in front of my family. I’ll never live that close to my work again.
The distance also provides a built-in excuse to prevent you from being the person they call to come into the office when somebody needs something on a weekend/holiday.
Commutes are underrated. I love music. That’s my time to just drive without any responsibilities.
I prioritize commute. Because I live close to work, I can bike there every day. That’s 20-30 minutes of free exercise per day, and way more fun and relaxing than sitting in traffic and having to find parking. Also, it’s pollution-free and saves me a fortune on wear-and-tear and gas (my car is 20 years old with under 100k miles–mostly road trips–and will probably last another 10 years at this rate).
There was one week years ago when I was house-sitting that I had to do a 20-minute one-way car commute and I despised every minute of it, and swore never again. My bike commute, on the other hand, is a pleasure, and I actually wouldn’t mind living a little farther away to ride 25 minutes instead of 15.
If I lived farther away, I could probably afford a bigger and newer place (less than would appear due to the increased cost of getting anywhere). But a bigger place means more cleaning, more furniture, more maintenance, more utility expenses, more stress. A bigger yard would mean more mowing and raking, and more having to listen to your neighbors mow and leaf-blow. Bigger is not always better. If you need privacy, arborvitaes or fences work well.
So for me it’s an absolute no-brainer: living close to work means better health and less stress, saves money, and lets you get where you need to go with less glacier-melting and asthma-inducing tailpipe pollution.
I commute in 3 ways. By bus it takes me 45min from door to door, this includes a nice 15min walk along a nice small river. By bike it takes me about an hour (27km/18miles), I really love the route, but I don’tcommute by bike if the weather is very poor. Or I ask if I can use my parents car, which doesn’t happen very often, maybe once per 3 months. And that will take me a total of 50min. There is no really difference in the morning or afternoon. I work 2 days at the office 3 days from home.
6/7 minute car ride, 30 minute walk. I prioritised housing over commute but I’m in the uk in a very LCOL area by comparison. I also work from home 50% of the time so my commute is from my bed to my dining table