The Cost of Commuting -- Balancing Time Versus Money

Here's a piece from Business Week that says in 15 top U.S. cities, the more you make, the more time you probably spend commuting to work. In other words, the high earners generally don't live in an urban area, they live in the suburbs and need to take a car, train or some other form of transportation to get into work each day. Here's a summary of the situation:

The study also suggests that there is a link between salaries and the time people spend in a car, bus, or train each morning. The poorest people in these urban metro areas have the shortest commutes. In the Boston metro area, for example, people earning less than $20,000 a year commute typically commute 17.3 minutes each way compared with people earning $50,000 to $60,000, who commute 30.8 minutes. Commute times in the city of Boston don't rise much for people earning more than $60,000. Similarly, in New York City commute times climb steadily as annual salaries rise before peaking for employees earning $110,000 a year. The commute time peak in Los Angeles is $60,000; it's $70,000 in Detroit; and it's $30,000 in the vast Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area, where the typical commute time for wealthy workers is just 26.4 minutes.

This obviously brings up an interesting time-for-money sort of discussion (not to mention the "quality of life by living outside the city" discussion, but we'll table that one for now. For illustration purposes, here are a couple personal stories -- one from a friend and one from me:

• A friend of mine used to live in New Jersey and had a job in New York City. He would commute two hours each way into work and then back home for five days a week. Yep, you read that right -- four hours a day commuting (or 20 hours a week.) He got up at 4 am so he could leave home at 5 am (to "minimize" traffic), getting to work at 7 am. He then left at 6:30 pm (again trying to limit the traffic he had to fight) and got home each night at 8:30 pm. In other words, he was gone each day from 5 am through 8:30 pm. His family life was almost non-existent. He slept much of the weekends because he was exhausted. His health was a mess. Sure, his family had a nice home and he made $150,000 a year, but he didn't really have a life. He moved to a smaller city a few years ago and had a 15-minute commute, a bigger house in the suburbs, still made close to the same amount, and his quality of life went way up (BTW, his finances probably improved dramatically because his living costs likely dropped big-time.)

• You all have seen the cities I've lived in, so you know that I've never had a huge commute. My worst was actually in Pittsburgh where I had a 30-minute one-way commute -- much worse when the weather was bad. Even in DC I took the metro and made it to work in under 20 minutes (of course I was a student then, and probably would not have lived where I did if I'd had a family.) My commute now is under 15 minutes in good weather but can be as much as 30 minutes if we get hammered with snow and ice the night before. In other words, it's a GREAT commute for the most part -- not much time at all.

We've talked about the fact that some people want to be paid more if they have a long commute, and I can see where they're coming from. If I had to switch to a longer commute (let's say 30 minutes each way), there would certainly need to be a compelling reason (like much more money, better job satisfaction, etc.) before I would move. My time is just too valuable to give up for a few thousand dollars more a year.

How about you? How do you balance the time/money issue?

Comments

[savvy]

I used to live in CA and had a horrible commute (one hour each way, if I was lucky). I said never again. Not just the time but the stress and strain (road rage, anyone).

I value my time and well-being over money. Now I live 10 miles from work (used to be 6) and it takes 15-30 minutes depending on the time of day and time of year. I won't ever go back to having a long commute.

[Frank]

I am in Philly and have a 15 mile/30-40 minute commute. My job is out of center city in the NE (towards the burbs). I am in the NW, also out of center city (and towards the burbs, too!).

I am considering moving to the city now. The price would be about the same if I rent, and my commute would be 15 miles/20 minutes. But I would also be $1.35 subway ride away from everything in the city... as opposed to a $6 regional rail ride.

Now I just need to decide if I should rent or buy, and when.

[Miss M]

I live in Los Angeles, make over $100k and commute 6 miles each way. I can go home for lunch if I want. Part of keeping your sanity in this town is minimizing your time in traffic, I've always kept my commute to 30 minutes or less (short by LA standards). I definitely pay more for housing, but I don't care, I'd rather have a life. Plus what's the point of living in a big city if you buy in the far flung suburbs, you're too far away to take advantage of the theater and restaurants and other benefits of the big town and still paying inflated prices.

[Wise Money Matters]

I used to have a 15 minute one way commute. Recently I doubled my income and now have a 45 minute one way commute. I'd prefer to live closer to work but my wife likes where we live so we're staying. And honestly, I'm ok with it. I go with some other employees in the company vehicle so I don't pay for gas at all. I also work 4 days a week so it's basically 4 really long days and then 3 days of bliss. Not too bad. Though, I probably wouldn't commute more than 45 minutes one way. In fact, if it weren't for the pay and the 4 day workweek, I'd either have passed by the job or been a bit more stubborn about my desire to move closer to work.

[Lauren]

I live in the DC area and work in a non-metro accessible part of Maryland. My commute is 15 minutes when there is no traffic. With traffic, it averages about 45 minutes to an hour. This is for a 12 mile stretch, mind you. I can't stand it.

We are moving soon, to semi-rural Pennsylvania, and we're specifically looking for a home that is within 10-20 minutes of the part of town we'll be working in. Even in inclement weather it still won't be as bad as DC. No more commuting. I am so tired of it.

[TStrump]

I could actually walk to work in 25 minutes, but I usually take the bus and I get there in 10 or 15 minutes.
The longest commute I'll do is 30 minutes, regardless of the salary that is being offered.

[Nikhila]

I don't mind the time spent commuting if it means I get to use an 'alternative' means. I use to travel 35 miles via vanpool which took about 45 minutes. Then I switched modes to a commuter rail which involved walking a mile to the train, a 45 minute train ride and then a 10 minute shuttle bus for a grand total of 1 hour 15 minutes to go 35 miles. I liked the longer commute better because I was polishing off a novel a week on the train and got about 30 minutes of exercise to boot. Now I live 2 miles from work and walk each way--and no question, that is the best commute I've ever had. Sadly, I'm not reading as many library books these days.

[guinness416]

Ironically, your friend in NJ probably lived there because he couldn't afford anything nice in NYC. It's been beaten to death over multiple threads, but $150k is peanuts in New York. When I lived there, between myself and my husband we made a fair bit more than that, and never even considered home ownership.

I make six figures and have a 15 minute (subway!) commute here in Toronto. My bosses, who obviously earn significantly more than I do, all live downtown too. For me, you couldn't pay me enough to live in the suburbs, or to have a job I had to drive to.

[plonkee]

I live more than 2 miles away from work and walk and it's a great commute - even though it takes me the best part of 50 minutes. Like guiness you couldn't pay me enough to have a job I had to drive to, and you wouldn't catch me living in the suburbs of a big (London sized) city.

On the other hand, there's a company that I'd really like to work for based in a small town about 40 minutes train ride from the centre of my city. If I worked there my commute would increase to around 1hr 20 and it would be all public transport. They'd have to pay me more to make up for that.

[reefinyateef]

As Nikhila said, it makes a huge difference when public transportation is involved. I'm in Philly, and my drive to work in the suburbs would be 1 - 1.5 hours in traffic (for about 20 miles). I take a 10 min trolley ride from my house, a 40 min train to the burbs, and a 5 min shuttle ride to work. Having the ability to read , catch up on email, and play DS / iPhone games is a godsend.

[Colin]

I wonder if most of the effect here is simply age. I'd imagine in most of these large cities, 20-somethings tend to rent downtown, whereas the 50-somethings buy and raise their families in the suburbs. Of course you'd expect the 50-somethings to earn more.

[Anitra Smith]

I live in the "greater Boston area".. my husband recently switched jobs and his commute went from 30 minutes one-way to roughly 75 minutes one-way. Of course, his salary almost doubled. He tolerates the commute because the increased income means I can stay home with our 3-month-old daughter.

[C]

We live in the DC area right now and though we're paying through the nose with a new mortgage, we love our house and our location. My husband has a short walk to work, and I am a short metro ride away to mine (while listening to books on cd). We walk to our grocery store, library, mall, kids' park/trails and metro station. You can't put a price on the quality of life you have living close to where you work and play. I lived in a place where the commute was 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on traffic and will NEVER do that again........

[Slinky]

I wouldn't consider working somewhere where I had to commute more than 30 minutes unless I had no choice or didn't mind moving closer. It's just not worth it.

[lana]

I used to work in the financial district of NYC while living in the suburbs, and I had an hour and a half commute each way. Even though it was mostly by train, I was miserable, and I hope I never have to do anything similar again. I moved, and can now walk to work, which had made my life so much more enjoyable.