If you have a longer commute, how long does it take you to get to work?

[ourbabygirl]

How long is just long enough before you'd consider changing jobs to work somewhere closer?

Right now I drive 20 minutes, but I'm trying to think through how long I'd be willing to commute, especially for an early morning job, and one that would be out of the way of where my kids go to school.

Thanks for your feedback! :)

[smiles33]

This answer is going to vary so much depending on where people live and how much house you can get for your money. I drive 35 miles to my office, which takes 1 hour when I leave my home at 6 am (so I get in at 7 am) and 2 hours when I leave the office at 4 pm. But I live in a super HCOL area and living 20 minutes from my office would mean paying for a $5 million house. Keep in mind that $5M buys you a 50-60 year old house that's been lightly remodeled, maybe 3-4 bedrooms, 2,000 sq ft, on a small 8,000 sq ft lot. Or I could pay $4,000/month to rent a 2 bedroom apartment. So yeah, we live farther away so we have that same kind of small old house but with a far larger lot and for less than $2 Million.

[AnnieW625]

Currently my commute is 30-45 minutes in the AM if I drive by myself or 30 minutes max if I am in my vanpool because we can use the carpool lane. If I drive by myself in the afternoon it is just about 30 minutes. I am 22 miles from my office.

When we move to our new area next year I will be just about 40 miles from my office so I will be taking the train a few days a week. If I didn’t take the train I would be commuting for at least an hour and a half each way. I am also hoping that I can work in the office in my new city a few days a week as well. I can apply for a job in the office in my new city, but I would have to interview like everyone else and I just can’t request a transfer. If I get a job in my new city I will be no more than 20 minutes and I won’t have to take the freeway.


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[niccig]

My commute is 14 miles and takes 30 mins in the morning and up to 45 mins on a Friday afternoon. I’m at work at 7:30 and leave at 4. DH has equally long commute in opposite direction. DS’s schools are 5 minutes from our house.

When I started working DS was in 5th grade, and he went to aftercare at elementary school. In middle school he gets home an hour before I do. DH drives car pool in the morning and another family picks DS up in afternoon. Other moms in our neighborhood have helped out with lifts too. Eg on a rainy day I got a text from a mom saying she was dropping all the walking kids home.


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[Mommy_Mea]

My office is 12 miles from home, and if I drove it takes 30 minutes to an hour and a half depending on traffic (pretty reliably an hour). I take the train instead, about a 20 minute drive, overall an hour door to door. Very standard commute for my HCOL area.

ETA: an hour on the train is my limit. I think driving 45 minutes would be my limit.

[klwa]

My commute is 30 minutes, BUT if I started an hour later it would be closer to 45.

I live 26 miles door to door from work and there are no real transit options from where I live.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

We moved 3 years ago for this precise reason - for us, a commute over 30 minutes was not worth it.

I currently commute 7 miles to work which is like 10 minutes before 6am but is 20 minutes after 7am, when I usually drive. On the way home after 5pm it almost always takes me 15-20 minutes ... a horrible day with accidents, construction is 25-30 min. Honestly that is pretty much my limit, given its just DH and me and we have no family to rely on for picking up kids and driving kids around. Also my job has more like 9-6 hours rather than 8-5. I could do 7-4 and just have 10 minute commute each way but I would miss a few things plus I like to exercise in the mornings.

In our old house It was a 14 mile drive and would take a solid 30 minutes drive to work with no traffic , and on the way home it was like 45 minutes to 1 hour to get home. That was horrible and I cannot believe I endured that for 2 years when my kids were little. We moved intentionally right before dc started school. For the first year it was just me doing it and DH worked from home but when we both had same commute it was rather wretched.

Yes the housing was a bit cheaper and Houses were bigger in our old neighborhood but nothing like California (where I grew up). We still were able to buy a decent sized new house. It has a tiny yard but it is no big deal to us. I personally hate the feeling of wasting so much time driving in traffic. I would not mind as much spending an hour on a train but where we used to live there were no such options.

[gymnbomb]

I am just over 30 minutes from my office. Probably 30 minutes actual driving time in no traffic, plus the getting out of the house and into the office time. It doesn’t bother me at all (though occasionally I choose to work from home to save the hour of driving time if Someone has an appointment that cuts into the time I have before picking my son up from school). I think more than about 40 minutes would start to bother me though. It would be extremely difficult for me to change jobs in my field. It would likely take more than a year of looking plus an out of state move. So if I were happy at work but hated my commute we would look into moving closer to my office.


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[doberbrat]

Over the years its varied for me

10 mi - 25 min by car if I wanted to pay $250/mo+ for parking or 1h by public transport or I could ride my bike for 45min - 1h - I usually biked! We had showers at work.

9 mi with no shower options or parking on site so I drove 10min, paid for parking at the train station then took public transport for 20-60 min

23mi driving 35-40 min on a normal day but if there was a major accident, it could be bumped to over an hour.

and now, 3 min commute by bike but with a SIGNIFICANT pay cut. I need a new job. We cant make it on what I'm earning now. But I love my job, hours are perfect and that commute..... One of the things that really scares me about finding a new job. Being away from the kids so much while commuting.

[TwoBees]

More than an hour. If no traffic at all (like at an off time), 50 minutes. Morning is right around 1 hour if I leave on time. Afternoon is longer, especially factoring in pre-school pickup. I leave my office at 3:45 and get home about 5:20. I do park one block from my office. I love my job, or I wouldn’t keep doing the commute. I’ve been doing it for about 10 years (at one point is was longer). I hate spending so much time in the car but it is what it is.

[basil]

30 miles, 35 minutes at standard times (7 am, 4 pm). Can make it in 30 min at an off time. All highway, little traffic until very close to work (last 1-2 miles).

Would like for it to be less but not really possible because DHs job is in the opposite direction. It mostly bothers me when I am very late (have a meeting that ends at 7:30 or 8) or if there is some middle of the day activity at school (like 9:45 am concert) that I have to take the whole morning off for. Otherwise I use it as time to catch up on phone calls or podcasts.

[bisous]

Not me but DHs office is 55 miles away through some of the worst traffic in the US. He does ride the train, and then a bus into work. It is hard though. He works a regular 8 to 5 type of job but is gone 13 hours a day. The train makes it work for him. He does with in the morning, watched shows in the afternoon, and his employer pays a good portion of his train tab.

We really don’t want to move. We could find nothing for what we are currently paying. (We pay $1200 a month in So Cal in a good area for a compact 3 bedroom with yard and garage!). With a great deal more money we could probably find a nice place to live that is closer but even then it’s more congested and urban than where we live now. DH actually likes that vibe and although I really don’t I could do it to have that much more time with DH. But as my California ladies will attest anything close to our current rent price is likely to be unsafe almost anywhere in the state. (And it’s half-price where I live for comparison!)

We have talked about DH changing jobs but he’s really happy where he is and he’s growing in his position. We’re not ready to make that move yet!!

[mnj77]

I commute one hour each way. There's usually no traffic though, so I don't find it stressful. I take a vanpool sometimes.

[DualvansMommy]

I think it really depends on your lifestyle, goals and usual traffic patterns in your state. In my old job for 10 years, my commute was a solid hour in the AM on one of the most hated highways by the residents. The afternoon home could be anywhere from 50 mins to 90 mins, depending on weather, road works, etc. So I hated that commute and would have moved if I loved that job, but I left when DS1 was few months old.

Now in my new job I started last year, the amount of miles is same as my old job’s commute; 21 miles. But vastly different type of commute as it’s all back roads or many other different highway options, also the hours is much more flexible. I see the kids off to bus and drop ds2 at preschool at 8:45 then head off to work, by then bulk of rush hour died down. I also have ability to work from home 1-2x a week too, which was very important to me.

Now couple of changes is heading my way; my hours will increase this fall once DS2 is on full day kindergarten. My office is moving to new bigger office location, which adds 3 miles more to current 21. I don’t mind, cuz that’s how much I love my job, the great flexibility, and great team. It’s apples to oranges with my 2 jobs, yet the miles of driving is very similar and you wouldn’t pay me 1 million to return to my former job.

DH, on the other hand, is the rare breed in our state. It’s very rare to have a door to door commute of 15 mins and under. Yet that is his commute with just 4 miles, has great flexibility to work from home as many days he can or want, with very generous amount of vacation and sick time.


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[icunurse]

My commute is an hour door-to-door. That includes about 40 minutes of driving (27 miles), finding a parking spot, and walking a long way to actually get to my department and clock in. We live in the suburbs and I would have to work downtown to make similar or more money (and would have to pay for parking while having a similar or longer drive). But I’ve never worked more than 3 days per week (12 hour shifts have a silver lining), so it’s not bad.

DH has a 20 minute commute, flexible hours and can work from home sometimes.

[mom2binsd]

30 miles 2 or 3 days a week, takes 30 min. Almost all interstate and we don't have traffic here.

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[niccig]

Being away from the kids so much while commuting.

What’s helped me with this, has been reaching out to other parents who are closer. There’s a couple moms I could call to get DS if I was stuck at work. He’s also older now, so that makes it easier, he can get a lift home and be fine or a couple times he’s waited at a nearby Starbucks for me - bus from field trip was late getting back and he missed his ride home.


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