As we are house hunting in a major metropolitan area, a poll about commute times:
1) How long is your current commute?
2) Do you commute by car or PT?
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect?
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural?
1) Pre-covid when I commuted into NYC, roughly 75 mins 2) public transportation 3) looking to move probably and will not go past the 75 mins as it’s already tough. Luckily I am wfh for the foreseeable future. 4) live in the suburbs, commute to the city.
We are having trouble finding what we want in a house so I may consider adding another 10-15 mins on to my commute if the house/location was truly perfect. I feel like 60-90 mins is a typical suburb to nyc commute for most people I know.
1 - 10 min 2 - car 3 - 20? I grew up in rural NE. We were always in the car just to get somewhere. I hated it. I felt like I wasted my life driving. 4 - Little city
1) How long is your current commute? 40 mins or so.
2) Do you commute by car or PT? PT.
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? 1 hour.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? We live in NYC but in a hood that has suburban elements. There are actual houses here in addition to apartments.
Post by Jalapeñomel on Aug 25, 2020 20:48:13 GMT -5
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We are having trouble finding what we want in a house so I may consider adding another 10-15 mins on to my commute if the house/location was truly perfect. I feel like 60-90 mins is a typical suburb to nyc commute for most people I know.
I agree with this. The closer to the city, the more outlandish prices get, and I do not have $1mil to spend on a house with $35k in taxes that’s for sure!
Post by snipsnsnails on Aug 25, 2020 21:09:06 GMT -5
NYC Metro (CT)
1) DH commutes 25 minutes, but opposite of traffic-so a straight, easy parkway drive.
I commuted 65 minutes, door-to-door for 10 years, via PT.
2) See above. My only addition was having such a long commute at the mercy of Metro North was a blessing and a curse. Blessing that I wasn’t sitting in bumper-to-bumper, but curse in that you’re truly at the many whims of Metro North. And there are many.
3) DH doesn’t mind his commute at all. I actually didn’t mind my commute at all, but when you coupled it with an industry that had late hours, it made for loooooong days. Leave at 8:30, home at 8:30/9 on a good day.
4) I forgot what 4 was, but move to CT! Oh wait, I remember-I live in a small city, immediately surrounded by lots of suburbia.
Post by Patsy Baloney on Aug 25, 2020 21:34:41 GMT -5
1) How long is your current commute? 15-20 minutes
2) Do you commute by car or PT? Car
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? 30. I used to do 60 minutes on the interstate, mostly rural, and I was so tired all the time. 60 minutes in. 60 minutes out. If we had to go anywhere on the weekend, I’d be furious and miserable. I did it for 2 years. I’m done. We’re central IL, and I think I’ve seen you say you have family here, so you get it. Big old drive of nothing sucking the life out of me.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? Burbs commute to a little city.
Post by underwaterrhymes on Aug 25, 2020 21:45:22 GMT -5
1) pre-COVID, about 35-45 minutes down from 60-80 minutes at my last job. Currently I’m working remotely and will be for at least another six months, if not longer.
2) Car. You can’t get to my job via PT unless you took a really lengthy circuitous route that would make no sense at all to do.
3) Honestly, at this point no longer than 45 minutes. I did a 60-minute+ commute every day for three years and while I liked my job, the commute was stressful and I felt like I was missing out on time with my family or time I could use to exercise or get fresh air or read or really do anything other than be behind the wheel in traffic that makes me yell.
4) Far north suburbs between two metropolitan areas (Chicago and Milwaukee)
Post by seeyalater52 on Aug 25, 2020 21:46:13 GMT -5
1) How long is your current commute? About an hour
2) Do you commute by car or PT? It’s a 5ish min drive to the train (carpool with my wife for that part), 50 min train ride, and 5 min walk to my office.
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? No more than the hour I currently have and I strongly prefer not having to drive because I get to use my commute to do things (podcast, read, check work emails, fuck around online) and it’s not stressful. Part of the selling point for me is that I could easily live geographically MUCH closer to the city where I work in a much more expensive, less nice house with much less space and still have a comparable commute. We can’t afford to live closer and have a decent living space (renting or buying) so it’s essentially a wash.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? Urbanish suburb close to a mid-size city and a bit further from a larger city which is where I work.
Post by notsopicky on Aug 25, 2020 22:13:15 GMT -5
Pre-COVID 1) How long is your current commute? 20 minutes, about 8 miles
2) Do you commute by car or PT? car
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? 35 miles (shortest commute time--37 minutes, mostly highway driving; longest--5 hours in the snow). I did it for 12 years.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? Suburbs outside a major metro city.
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? 35 min sounds about right. I love my commute. A few years ago I had a commute of 1.5 to 2 hrs and was miserable.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? Right in the heart of Los Angeles
Post by Captain Serious on Aug 26, 2020 0:21:58 GMT -5
1) How long is your current commute? Pre-COVID, 40 minutes
2) Do you commute by car or PT? Car
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? 1 hour on a good day
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? See below
Having lived in both a suburban and now rural community, I believe there's a big difference in commuting times. In a rural community my commute is 45 minutes at most in 40 minutes at least, based on weather conditions. In a suburban community outside NYC, my commute was 40 minutes at least, and two plus hours at most, based on traffic conditions. They really aren't remotely comparable.
In the rural community, if things are bad, I just have to worry about natural/weather impacts. In the suburban situation, I had to worry about other drivers, the wear the long commute was having on them and their patience, and my own tiring. It was way more stressful!
Current commute by car is about 15 minutes in the opposite direction of traffic. Prior to this job, my commute was about 35 minutes in the morning and 1.25 hours in the evening.
Old commute was manageable, but did start to take its toll after 6+ years.
We live in the suburbs just outside the city, so not the far burbs, but not in the city. I’m in Denver, so big-ish?
At this point, and after having changed jobs to a shorter commute, I won’t go back to a job that is more than 20 minutes with or without traffic. I might do 30 minutes if I really felt like it was worth it. So, same applies to house hunting. I’d specifically look in areas that wouldn’t require more than an hour of commuting a day to current/potential jobs.
Post by mrsukyankee on Aug 26, 2020 4:27:50 GMT -5
1) How long is your current commute? Nothing at the moment, but pre-Covid, it was 35 to 40 minutes
2) Do you commute by car or PT? bus & tube - walk 2 min to bus, 15-20 min bus ride, 15 min tube ride, 2 min walk to work
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? I commuted 1 hr on public transportation with one bus and three tube lines once a week for a job. I didn't pick our neighbourhood for the commute as I changed jobs while living in the area. I've since moved both neighbourhood and job. I picked the neighbourhood for the joy of being here. My H commutes about an hour for his job due to it moving to a new location (pre-Covid). I'd probably consider commuting up to an hour on public transport for a job from here. It's very normal in London for it to be that long. I wouldn't consider driving anywhere at this point as driving here sucks.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? I live in London, so big city.
Post by wesleycrusher on Aug 26, 2020 5:27:15 GMT -5
1) How long is your current commute? 10 min by car (DH and I carpool- his work is 5 minutes past mine with free parking), 30 minutes by bus (we live on a bus line) or an hour walk (it's 2.5 miles and I'm a slow walker)
2) Do you commute by car or PT? Usually car, but use the bus if DH and I happen to have a different schedules for the day. I try to walk home if the weather's good and we don't have any evening plans
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? Maybe 20 min....they replaced the bridge we use a few years ago and it increased it commute to almost 30 min in traffic to detour and it was awful.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? Medium city in a city neighborhood
1) How long is your current commute? About an hour 2) Do you commute by car or PT? My DH drops me off at PT and I have about a 10 minute walk from PT to my office.
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? No longer than an hour. This is my max.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? Suburb of city.
I’ve been mostly WFH since March and hope to continue indefinitely. The daily commute was killing me.
1. 5 minutes, DH has a 5 (morning) - 10 (afternoon) minute drive 2. I walk, DH drives 3. 15 minute drive (with traffic) was the most I would have considered 4. little city
Post by somersault72 on Aug 26, 2020 7:15:14 GMT -5
1) How long is your current commute? I work at 3 different offices, 2 are 30-35 minutes away, 1 is 45ish minute away.
2) Do you commute by car or PT? car
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? 45 minutes is pushing it because (@@@@) I also have to drop off and pick up DD at the sitter, so I feel like it takes up a considerable chunk of my day.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? I live 20 minutes from a medium sized city, our area looks rural though. I'm pretty much never going to have less than a 30 minute commute.
1) How long is your current commute? About 25 mins
2) Do you commute by car or PT? Car
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? MAYBE 45 mins. MAYBE. And it would have to be for a good JOB too, not just where I lived.
I used to do long commutes when I lived outside of DC. I swore I wouldn't do it my entire life and a goal of mine was to cut my commute down. I haven't commuted more than 30 mins (except in truly bad traffic - weather or accident related) in YEARS. I actually even walked to and from work for a couple years when I lived downtown. It was awesome.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? I live outside of Baltimore in the suburbs and commute into the city
Post by lightbulbsun on Aug 26, 2020 7:57:18 GMT -5
1) How long is your current commute? 7 minutes by car
2) Do you commute by car or PT? car or bike (but I'm a wimp and only bike if the weather is good), no PT options
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? I used to commute from PA to NYC, which was anywhere from 90-120 minutes each way, depending on what train I could catch. I'm not sure if I would go back to that full time, but now that telecommuting might be more of a thing I would consider a job in NYC if they let me WFH a couple of times a week. Depending on where in the city I worked the commute would be about 70-90 minutes each way with public transit. I will also add that I don't have kids, and H works 10 minutes from home, so if there are any emergencies with the dogs or house he would be close. I don't think I would go back to the 90+ minute commute full time. It was really draining, and I felt like I had no time to do anything on weeknights because I basically was home to eat, shower, and sleep.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? I currently live and work in the suburbs.
3) I'm at my max but TBH I'd only consider 100% remote from this point forward.
4) I live in the suburbs of a mid-sized city and commute further out to a rural area for work. My husband commutes downtown. We live right smack in the middle of our two jobs.
So my H, DS and I just moved out of the Seattle area two months ago.
When we did live in that area, H's commute was 1.5 hours each way. He got the job that caused the commute after we bought fwiw. He commuted by car to a park in ride and by bus the remainder of the way.
We moved in part because of the commute and in part because we want a SFH with a backyard and were never going to be able to afford that in the Seattle area.
1) How long is your current commute? 25 minutes without traffic. Up to about an hour depending on traffic/accidents.
2) Do you commute by car or PT? By car
3) What is the furthest commute you’d consider if the house, school, and neighborhood was perfect? I used to commute into the city by driving to metro and then metroing and it took 70 minutes on a good day and 120 minutes on a bad day each way. Honestly, it was mostly fine. I survived, but my quality of life did go up when I left that job. They let me WFH once a week and that helped a bit. Days I got a seat on the train were less soul sucking than the ones I didn't.
4) do you live in a big or little city? Suburbs or rural? Suburbs of a big city.
I think one thing to consider is that rush hour/traffic may be permanently made a little better thanks to COVID. I truly think a lot of the office jobs will go permanently to some sort of WFH situation. I think a lot of businesses will also give up office space so I may consider a house that might be a little further that I wouldn't have considered previously. This is all just my gut though. I might be totally wrong.
We are in the outer burbs of Philly. I actually tranferred to our Wilmington Office last fall, even though it's technically further than driving in to Philly, it's a shorter commute time-wise.
Pre-Transfer/Pre-Covid: When I first started that job, I attempted public transportation. That consisted of a 20-30 minute drive to the train station. Then a ride on the high speed line, then a transfer to the subway, and then ultimately a 10 minute walk to the office. That was way too stressful and I only did tat for like a month. Then I started driving which consisted of a 45-60 minute drive in the AM plus a 10+ minute walk from the parking garage to the office. Reverse that in the afternoon, except it took approximately 90 minutes of driving. I also had to pay to park in the garage, though we did get a small discount.
Post-Transfer/Pre-Covid: 45 minute drive in the AM and 60 minute drive in the PM. No walking involved, my new office has a parking lot.
During Covid: I work from home full time now.
My ideal commute time would be less than 45 min each way. I can tolerate an hour. 90 minutes was slowly killing me.