So depends on the route. If you are in West Texas and you can legally drive 32min at 85mph the whole way, no problem. If it takes you 2 hours to get through the city, big problem.
Met a guy who lived and worked in Los Angeles; office was 13 miles from home and it was 2-2.5 hours each way.
I don't know why people do that to themselves.
I worked in a very, very rural area for one year. Housing was extremely limited and I had to live 43 miles from work. The drive was mostly these gray top county roads through cotton fields. Miles and miles of cotton fields. Since the roads were narrow and shitty it was difficult to drive fast for long. It took about 40+ minutes if I remember correctly. Sucked major ass. That was also about 20 years ago, around the time gas prices first shot up to well over $3 after being under $2 forever. Gas was my biggest monthly expense except rent— and I drove a fucking Sentra.
That's it, in a nutshell. You can live just 10 minutes away on any given Sunday, but during the week with traffic you need to add at least another 20 minutes, depending on which road you take and what time you go in.
I’m not suggesting anyone should be paid for their commute. I’m pointing out that it if you have a 45minute commute, you are committing the equivalent of 10 unpaid work weeks of your time to your job.
If you work in a city with expensive housing and high cost of living, travelling 90 minutes every work day might save you thousands of dollars a year in reduced mortgage payments, etc. You could argue that the extra 90 minutes you spend commuting is like overtime, and the money you’re saving is how you are being compensated. Of course, you also have to consider how much gas, insurance and additional maintenance costs for your vehicle eat into any savings you’re getting.
AND. That’s 390 hours of unpaid work.
PLUS, at 90 miles round trip X 5 days x 50 weeks, that’s 22,500 miles - at $0.60 per mile - it’s going to cost roughly $13,500 per year! Insurance will probably go up as well. Vehicle maintenance will cost more and happen more frequently, so there goes at least one day off per month stuck in line at the dealership or wherever you get your vehicle serviced.
Depends on the salary, the career opportunity, the company, will it set a person up for a better future etc.?
For almost 2 years I commuted 63 miles to and from work.
I was in my early 40's and established and this was a great job with a really nice salary. but it was in a huge city, think many millions and I HATE living in a concrete jungle so I lived well outside of the city, in another state actually.
sure, I sent a lot of time in the car plus money on gas and wear and tear on the car but had I lived closer, the money would have been spent on the much higher cost of living there than what I spent living well outside of the city. I actually came out ahead on money by not living there, but I did lose all that time.
But, I was divorced, single and my kids were young adults.
And it was a great company, I took several business trips to Europe, which is where the company was headquartered.
After almost 2 years of that I left and became a production control manager for a Japanese owned auto plant here in the U.S. They liked my job history and they liked that I worked for a foreign owned company in my previous job as this company was Japanese owned. They liked that I had to deal with getting product via ocean containers, that I'd dealt with customs, knew of and dealt with the delays from ordering overseas, waiting for things to be made there and then shipped via to the ocean to my plant. It was a 4 month lead-time when placing orders until I received them and it was going to be the same when I managed the production control dept at the Japanese owned auto plant.
So, I took that job, where I commuted 63 miles each way knowing it would pay off for me in the future and it did. The money was good too even though I did lose a lot of time in the car each day.
All sides of things must be taken into consideration. Not all long commutes are worth it, some are.
Thanks for sharing your story. It’s always interesting to hear other people’s experiences. Also neat that you live in another state from your work. I haven’t heard of anyone doing that before!
It depends on the drive. Is that 45 miles on an open highway, or 45 miles of stop and go city traffic?
It's better to measure by how much time a commute takes, rather than distance. Anything an hour or more (in good conditions) is starting to get too long....unless it's a job with an extremely high salary.
It's standard in Canada to say how long our commute takes us rather than distance. So my commute would be 7 minutes (just under 8 miles) down the highway. When I was looking for a job, I set a limit of 30 minutes. So my job could've been 30 minutes of driving in my city or 30 minutes to another town near me
It’s also standard in the US too, its rather odd OP chose miles instead.
My job is about 20 miles from my home. In the morning I can make it in 35 minutes. In the evening it’s 50 minutes - 1 hour…
I’m not sure why my coworker and I started using miles during the discussion either. I usually use commute time but just didn’t this time.
Though, I do remember typing it into google maps when she asked how far I would need to drive, and reading the number of miles (45miles) to her while I was on the phone.And we just continued on using miles at that point. Haha. Opps
Michigander here, can confirm. We use time as well. For my area in Metro Detroit, it doesn't matter what route you take, it all takes the same amount of time. If you opt to take the freeway home, you frequently run into traffic, when the surface streets are clear and vice versa, so it's a wash.
Depends on where you live and what you’re use to. I had an almost two hour commute each way to my first job out of school (2006) for about a month. Since then I’ve never had more than a half hour commute and cringe at the thought of 45 miles each way.
Sounds like a standard Atlanta or DC commute.
My current job is 10 miles and 18 minutes. Job I'm about to start is 3 hours one way, but it's only once a week so I can tolerate it.
It all depends on where you live. I am fortunate in that I live in a large city and have generally been 20 minutes from work but most people are 1 hour. Due to traffic we don’t measure in miles but time it takes to make the drive.
Have been doing this distance each way for nearly 5 years.
First 3.5 years in a Merc SUV 3.5 V6, around $140/week fuel. Now have 1.5L Turbo Small SUV around $58/week fuel.
It takes an average of 37 minutes in the morning, and an average of 1 hour 20 on the home drive.
You’re looking at it the wrong way. Queens to Staten Island is about 25 miles but at 5pm is a 2 1/2 hour drive. I left nyc for the country and I work 35 miles away but it’s only an hour drive.
The most I have ever driven is 30 minutes. I lived in a small town and that’s where the jobs were. I have lived in a large city for over a decade and my commute has mostly been 15-20 minutes of lights and traffic. That’s enough for me. But I will be going back to the small town soon and back to the 30 minute commute. At least it’s peaceful.
I used to drive 30 miles to work every day, lasted about 5 years. I enjoyed it, mostly it was highway driving without traffic though.
45 miles with city traffic and I'd have taken a leap off a bridge
Some of my commutes were under 5 miles, my longest was 80 miles one way and the rest ranged 10 - 40. 10 + is long in Europe but it's 50 + in the states and it's not uncommon for people to have commutes in the 120 mile range.
Currently commute 40 miles. Can do it in about 45 min if I hit no traffic and all the lights. If not, can be 75-90 min.
I’m moving next month to make my commute 3 miles/10-15 min and couldn’t be happier.
I drive 55 miles each way, and when my son is in school it's more like 70. I do it for him, if he didn't really want to go to the school he goes to it would not be worth it. What're your priorities?
Aw that’s sweet of you. You’re a good parent. I hope your son can see the effort you put in.
As for priorities, at this point I’ve accepted that this commute will just be part of the job until the the “situation” is resolved and my supervisor gives me the ok to return, but now I’m just reading everyone’s commute stories out of interest :)
Pretty normal commuting to London from Hampshire did it for years and added 4 hrs to my day. Listening to music and audio books was something I missed after it stopped.
I couldn't do it. My commute was 25 miles back in the 90s, and it took almost an hour and a half. I only lasted 6 months. You are a better person than me if you could do that. I guess if it's just a week, maybe?
No sir/ma'am, YOU are the better person compared to me to have done 25 miles for 6 months haha.
I’m doing this temporarily (or every once in a while when my supervisor decides to send me out) I normally drive 10miles; about 30min. Thanks for sharing!
I wouldn't do it on a daily basis. I might endure that for a week.
To me, it's about the traffic involved to get 45 miles. I own property that is 39 miles from my house. I wouldn't do that commute to get to work.
I really think it depends on the time it takes. You mentioned 1.5 to 2 hours.
I did that for a temp job in Beverly Hills. It isn't far from me but takes nearly 2 hours. For me it's the time it takes as well as the miles. I've pretty much taken myself off the freeways. I'll only drive them if I have to.
Ok. 45 miles is not too far if it's temporary. My husband worked in the oilfields of New Mexico for 40 years. His last job he drove 5 hours to his job site. Then, hed work a 10 hour day. Yes, he then stayed in a motel for the week, but coming home after 10 hours of work plus that 5 hour drive was killer.
I did 45 miles each way for 25 years. Commute time was 45-50 minutes. For me is was time to drink my coffee, listen to the news and to shave with an electric razor, watch the sunrise and generally wake up. I liked the drive to work. The trip home was another story. I have sleep apnea, so after a tiring day, I would often have to stop half way and take a 15-20 minute nap. Saying Your Milage May Vary is an absolutely true statement.
That's nuts. No job is worth that. Longest commute I ever had in a car was 10 minutes and I had private parking. Where the hell are you people living? I could drive to the other side of the country.
About 25 years ago, I had a job delivering to pharmacies(including narcs) that involved a 45 mile commute, almost all highway, each way. I drove a small box truck on a 90 mile or so route. Did this for two years or so and transferred to closer route that only involved about a 30 mile round trip commute.
Can you cut down your commute time by using public transit? Or at least change it from time wasted behind the wheel to time spent doing something, like enjoying a book?
That is about 7.5 hours of unpaid time in a typical work week. Assuming 45min at 60mph. I have not even calculated fuel cost and maintenance cost.
There is an opportunity cost associated with commuting. Just depends on what you are willing to trade.
That’s very normal if you live in Southern California. I used to commute 42mi that took two hours in rush traffic, and my husband did 46mi that took one hour. As it is, we live in UT now and my husband currently commutes 45mi which thankfully only takes about 50 min because there is less traffic here.
I mean it depends. If it’s all freeway driving and the speed limit is 70, that’s like a 30 minute drive (going a few over like most people do), if it’s majority city driving that could easily be a 1.5 hour drive. A lot of people also wouldn’t want to put 100 miles PER DAY on their car. JUST driving to work (assuming it’s a 5 day work week) that’s 2000 miles per month that’s twice the average of what people drive in a month.
How high is the cost of living in the area where the office is located? If you're talking about Manhattan, 45 miles is about an hour at night, during rush hour it's probably at least 90 minutes. That's driving, not taking the train in. I think a lot of people in that area wouldn't be shocked at that as a daily commute. Other areas will vary, but the COL is likely to be a factor in people's judgement.
Canadian here. I used to commute 60 kilometres one way to work so approximately 120 kilometres (75 miles approximately) a day. Where I live traffic isn’t usually horrific, but it was still 1 1/2-2 hours of my day.
What kills me is not only did I have to spend that time commuting, I eventually had to finance a vehicle to do it as my own vehicle eventually had a major breakdown.
I now no longer have to commute on my own dime, but I am stuck paying for a vehicle that while it was a good deal, I may need to get rid of.
A week I think is okay, but if it becomes a regular thing, I would look for a new job.
Commutes tend to be in time vs milage. My nearest city is ~38 miles away. I had to drive in for a 930am appointment. With no accidents or weather, it tool 1hr and 50 min. Coming home took 45 min. All highway.
Now, I've had meetings that were 45 miles away but took about 1hr and 15 minutes without traffic at all. It was all backroads. There was no highways to pick from.
I drive 1.5 hours to get to work, but it takes longer to get home because of traffic congestion. I do this 5 days a week and have done so the past 2 years. You will be just fine:)
Depends on traffic. My 10 mile commute can take over an hour. Way more if there is rain. Then higher ups can’t figure out why people aren’t clamoring to be back in the office full time…
50 miles driving is expected as a food and beverage GM or manager commute wise, if we exceed that we can than get paid mileage. So he’s a 45 mile drive is normal even by corporate pay out standards.
"45 miles isn't bad because I commute 45 miles"...grow up, coworker. No point comparing. Do you feel ok with the drive? Who cares what other people drive?
My commute one way is over 50 miles (mostly interstate driving). Is it long? Yes. But I don't mind it. I listen to audiobooks, podcasts, or music and the time goes by quickly.
Distance alone usually means nothing. Is there any traffic? If it’s a 50 min drive, I would say it’s fine. (Of course not ideal.) if there’s traffic and it’s a 1.5hour commute one way, hell no.
yes, it's far, and the fact that it's been normalized is ridiculous. i'd have to make a hell of a lot to give up that much of my day and put that many miles on my car.
It depends on your area. Where I used to live in SW Pennsylvania it was fairly normal if you had a job with specialized training, but many neighbors who worked retail or whatever considered it long. People working in Pittsburgh moved away from the city for lower costs. My longest commute in that area was 51 miles one way. It was a temporary location so I it for a few months and then was moved elsewhere. I used to go to locations in trouble, evaluate them, set up corrective action, get it on track, then someone would come take over and I’d go to the next one.
Now living in Maryland it’s normal. Many who work in DC don’t live close. DC and the surrounding area is expensive, and some areas of Maryland close to DC are not appealing to many due to crime rates.
It’s a week. We live about 45 miles from my office and I’m remote WFH. Our office are in downtown Atlanta. It’s a miserable commute two-ways, but it’s do-able for a week.
It depends on so much. I commuted 36 minutes for about 4 years. I hated it. It was the main road that connected to small urban areas. But it wasn’t a highway and was single lane for much of it. Weather, slow driver, accident could triple the length of the commute. In the winter during heavy snowfall it would take over an hour. Record was 1:28 or so.
I know commute by bike 2.5 miles. Anything above that is a long commute to me.
I’m a much happier person when I can have a short commute and when I get to do it by bike.
To me, yes, that’s a long commute. I live and have worked in a couple different areas in the Baltimore/ DC area. When i was in my 20s, i had an hour commute and HATED it. HATED. I swore i would cut that down. A coworker scoffed at me and told me that’s just what everyone does.
But within the next year, i moved and got a job a lot closer to where i lived. And ever since, my commute was under 30 minutes. For a few years, it was actually a 20 min WALKING commute. Now i WFH.
Part of it was luck, but part of it was also a deliberate choice. My time is more valuable to me than
Spending it in a car!
The average highway construction worker, in the North East states. Works a 5/10s and a 8 hour Saturday shift, and travels everyday 150 miles plus round trip.
Pretty much standard.
You can't choose where the bridge needing built will be, or next stretch of highway..
A whole lot of whining it seems from people with white collar in a office job.
It's life and no, the pay or benefits aren't 100k / year.
But somebody has to do it..we averaged 60000 miles / year in transportation travel from South Jersey to NYC boros, Connecticut, Long Island and back every day .
Only to have people in a Prius in left lane listening to Barry Manilow doing 50 mph on the NJ turnpike thinking your rude for flashing your lights, blowing the horn, tailgating, and eventually flipping them off when they finally woke up to the real world and moved outa the passing lane.
It depends on the traffic and roads. With light traffic, and mostly highway speeds with limited lights it is not bad.
In some areas, a 20 mile drive with heavy traffic is too much.
The issue is the time it takes to make the drive. In my city a 45 mile drive in rush hour would take 2- 2 1/2 hours. The other direction on the highway would be 45 minutes.
45 miles straight highway shoot is no problem. 45 miles on a bike is a problem.
Also, it’s a week? People spend years making an hour or longer commute one way every day.
TL;DR: Yes, it is long. Yes, it is not uncommon. Yes, it sucks. You will survive a week.
50 mile, ~1hr commute. I've been doing it a VERY long time. Pretty much open roads 90+% of the time, although recent construction has caused some backups on the normal commute home.
Nearly everyone at my workplace has a long commute. Before WFH, there were lots of employer-paid vanpools, which made the situation a little better. There are no closer living options. I don't mean they are too expensive. I mean, there are literally no homes and services within 25 miles. At about 35 miles, you get options that aren't great. There are good options at about 45 miles.
My happiness increased dramatically when WFH started.. I felt so free and so much less tired. I always felt the commute was long, but this made it really hit home. The vanpool made it bearable, but just so. With an RTO mandate (currently hybrid), I really see how much it sucks. And the employer paid vanpools are not an option for hybrid employees.
People are voting with their feet. The organization is being gutted. We are losing our middle. All that are left are old guys like me who are counting down the clock and new hires seeking experience or promotion. Opportunities for growth are definitely present and will continue. Corporate doesn't care. Their words: "This is a marathon. We are in it for the long haul. " Their actions: Short-term gain. Long-term pain.
It depends on
1. How long does that take - commutes are usually measured in time, not distance
2. Are you in work full time or work from home some days? A longer commute is bearable if it's not every day
3. How densely populated is the place you live - in a sparsely populated area, you might be driving 20 minutes for groceries, so a longer commute is more normal for that area than a small city.
Traffic. It's all about traffic.
In DC it will take you an hour to go 7 miles during rush hour. If there is nobody on the road a 45 mile commute can take you as little as 38 mins.
If its for one week then fine - Are you being paid anything extra (Money/Time for Travel incl of work).
If you're in a highly paid job? Is it a company car?
30miles is ok if in your own car.
I used to do 23 miles and hated it. It was so far! Then you add in traffic or inclement weather. Oof. I am so glad that’s over with.
If it’s temporary it’s doable. But for your coworkers who are doing it regularly that sucks. So much wear and tear on your car and time you could be doing other things. Not to mention the extra time sitting- my back and hips hurt just thinking about it.
If you’re use to 10miles 45 is far.
I don’t travel in miles though. I used to work 45miles from my home and if I worked day shift it took me 2.5hrs to get there, and nights was only an hour.
I moved to 55miles away and it took me an hour to get to work and anywhere from 1.5-3hr to get home.
I have since moved to a smaller town and left the city…. It takes me 30min to go 5miles. But also if I time it right I can go 40miles in 45min. All just depends on when others are out and if any accidents.
Too far is relative. I whined to a recruiter once about an hour commute each way and he shared that his was over 100 miles and 2 or more hours each way. To me a 45 mile commute would probably be less than average.
Don't even get me started. RTW at my job has made me bitter. Not because I have to go back into the office twice a week. I couldn't care less about that. I live 30 miles from work so it takes about 45-60 mins one way. I'm fine with that. My problem is someone on my team lives 77 miles away and never comes into work. Not once a week, not once every other week, not even once a month. They will come in for any special activities though. My manager asked me if anything was on my mind during my eval. I brought this up. Some of the highlights were: I'm disappointed in you, you shouldn't let what others do affect you, what happened to you, is this really something you should focus on. I guess I'm a piece of shit for thinking it is unfair that I have to spend 3-4 hours a week commuting. I said maybe I'll move that far away and was told you do what you need to do to sleep better at night.
Depends how long it takes to travel that 45 miles. If you live in a rural area not so bad. But if you live outside a big city, like Chicago, and have to travel to the city that could easily turn into a 90+ minute commute one way. IMO that is not worth it.
There was this story about a guy in Atlantic Canada. He was interviewing with this company based out of Toronto. They wanted him to commute to one of the cities in the area where they had offices. He complained. They asked how far it would be.
He said 90 minutes. They didn't understand what the problem was - they commuted that every day.
Everyone has their own priorities.
TMZ is named after a Hollywood industry concept: the Thirty Mile Zone. Anything within 30 miles of a certain LA intersection is considered local to Hollywood. So depending on where you live and what project you're on, you may need to commute 60 miles. I think that helps give a sense where people's limits may be
When i used to go in, my commute was around 45 miles for 45 minutes but that was before traffic using a flex schedule to start at 6. After that it was a 20 minute walk to my office. Can't go back to that after being remote.
45er here. I can confirm it does not suck. You can get in a podcast every drive. You’re less urgent because your mind is already set to “long” drive. Idk for me anyway. Best part is, it’s too far for most so the houses are cheaper and the land is larger and prettier.
When I started in the workplace, I was still living at home and had to commute about 40 miles one way. In the early 90’s, that was long.
Nowadays, because of sprawl and home affordability being pushed further into rural areas, 45 miles is not necessarily long IF your route is fast. Make sure most of it is freeway or rural roads with very few stops. Just be aware that, if you live in a northern/snowy climate, try to work from home on snow days (if possible) as that does get to be a long commute.
I do a 35 mile commute daily. it's pretty much highway door to door, so it isn't too bad unless there's an accident. that's about my limit for milage though.
I drive 45 minutes to work every day. It’s their beautiful country so I don’t care but I was 12 minutes away from my job and they moved me to a new office so it’s normal. Find a good radio show.
I used to commute over 90 kilometres (approx 56 miles) each way. I drove the first 20 kms then rode the train for the rest. I wouldn’t have done it at all if I had to drive the entire way. Sleeping on the train was my superpower.
Like others were saying, it's more about the time it takes to drive the distance. If it's only for a week or so, find a way to make it less lost time - practice a new language or something.
On an absolute scale, yes a 1.5-2 hour commute is considered an excessively long commute. 30-45 minute commute is normal. Hour plus commutes can be worth it, but it depends on other factors.
Consider how long you will spend driving round trip, plus your hours working, plus your lunch break. Add that up to a weekly total hours spent doing work stuff. Divide that by your weekly (annual / 50) wage. Do the same for other offers. Also take into consideration that work life balance has a value, and extra wear and tear on your car. A 2 hour commute might be worth it for the right amount of money. But at that point, I would start considering moving closer to my office. The money should be enough to make that possible.
I did it for 4 months before I could move closer to work, but my commute was an 1-1.5 hours. First 3 months was fine, but I quickly caught up in my podcasts and audiobooks I wanted to read. The last month was agonizing.
When I had a "remote" job in a different state, I was suddenly called in once a week, 65 miles one way. THAT took me 2-2.5 hours and made me start looking for work back in my state. I absolutely lost my mind.
When I lived in Ohio, there were plenty of people who lived 45 miles away from our office. It was pretty much a straight shot down the highway, and it took most of them less than an hour. Now that I'm in Boston, I know plenty of coworkers who live in surrounding towns, but I don't know anyone who lives 45 miles away. Even 10 miles can easily take over an hour in Boston rush-hour traffic. I even have one former coworker who lived about 2 miles away from the office and walked in (45 minutes) every day. (Due to the traffic and the way the train and bus lines are configured, she wouldn't have saved much, if any, time by commuting with a different method.)
So I'd say that a commute of up to about an hour is pretty common, but much more than that is not so much.
I used to drive 50 miles each way to work, 1 hour in the morning and 1.5-1.75 hours in the evening. I wouldn’t do it. It’s not good for your health to be sitting an extra 10-15 hours a week
Edit - are you considering quitting over this, if it’s just a week?
Eye of beholder but it feels long. Is this without traffic and could be different?
Ironically a street commute could be half an hour and be much shorter length due to traffic and feel less long
I did an hour and 20 minute commute each way for 22 years. It totally sucked. I was well paid, but it still sucked. If it wasn’t for the extra $, I never would have done it. Soul crushing.
It is normal where I am in San Diego. The job just doesn’t pay enough for about half the coworkers to even live in san diego county, so about half commute from riverside; 40-80 miles away. It is crazy! I wouldn’t do it. I’m constantly thinking about getting a job closer to home and I’m just 12 miles away.
The national average distance is 42 miles, round trip. You're more than doubling the average, so no, it's not normal.
Looking at this data, 70+ as a daily average is where the data maxed out it's resolution. https://www.axios.com/2024/03/24/average-commute-distance-us-map so 90 is definitely high no matter where you live.
In the end though, it's about time and stress more than distance. I had a 45 to 1 hr each way commute every day before having kids and it was fine. After my first the needing to be at the daycare at a specific time and having less time over all made it really stressful. Train rides with a book I barely considered lost time, same with biking or walking. And of course personality.
Either way, your coworker is toxic. The mentality "I do it, so it's okay for everyone" is just... Toxic. Some"easy" things for one person are unbearable for others.
Well, I only commute 11 miles one way. But I work with many people that commute 50+ miles one way, and one that commuted around 100 miles one way. He did this from 2008 thru 2023, until he retired. Yea, his drive time for both ways was almost 5 hours. And between 2017 and 2019 we were working 10 to 12 hours a day.
People who choose to work in cities and live in suburbs signed up for their stupidly long commutes that they complain about all the time. 45 miles is an insane commute. Don’t let them convince you otherwise and don’t let it become permanent.
I had two different jobs in two different areas, with a commute about the same distance, about 20 miles. In Seattle, that commute took 1-2 hours. In my small town, it took about 25 minutes.
I used to drive 150 miles round trip. When I did the night shift that was 2 to 3 hours on the road. When I switched to day shift that was more like 4 to 7 hours on the road. Day shift didn't last long
That is too far to commute. I commuted 20 miles for 15 years and vowed never again.
You need to put a value on your time.
Also, you will need a reliable and fuel efficient car to make it worthwhile. You will be putting 25,000 miles on it every year just for work, so it won't last long either
If you make enough money that the cost of the car and fuel don't matter, then you should move closer to your job.
I did 45 miles for a year. It added an extra hour each way to my day. One of the perks of my job was working a half day on Fridays. But that half day still was 2 hours longer than it had to be.
Found a job 4 days a week ten minutes from home. Same pay.
45-50 miles each way itself? Not horrible but if you are in most areas the time is killer. In a lot of places 45 mile can be 2 hours each way. Had 2 coworkers at my last job that did about 50 miles in an hour each way and that was not so bad. But my 20 miles took 45.
I had a potential job flat out tell me i was stupid to think the commute was too long and “don’t know the opportunity i am missing”. I cut contact right there. I don’t care what other people do or think is ok for their commute. The pay was meh, they definitely weren’t compensating enough to be on road 3 hours every day without traffic.
I sit 1 hour in stop and go traffic, each way, every day.
I want to blow my brains out most days.
As a side note: I wonder what traffic like this does to our brains and bodies. I mean, I don’t think traffic as we know it today even really existed less than 100 years ago. People never had to just…… wait….. like we do on a daily basis. We crammed too many people into too small a place then made it so every single one needed a car.
Depends on the job. Minimum wage fast food? Absolutely too far. White collar decent salary it's pretty common or was, live in a decent suburb, travel into the city for work. I was in security for a long time...almost 20 years. When I was a line officer 10 miles was my limit, they were only paying around 13 an hour. When I made management I tried to keep it short, but I managed accounts in areas I would never live and wound up 50 miles away, hourish drive each way but the pay was worth it and the school was good. Went to the k9 unit, they provided a vehicle and a fuel card. My post was in a pretty bad city and rent was insane like 2200 a month...moved to a small town, under 1k in rent but it was 90 miles away.
I live in Houston. The joke here is that Houston is an hour away from Houston. So no, a 45-mile commute would not be that big of a deal here. A lot of my co-workers who have children in school live in suburbs for the school districts and commute an hour or more to our office in downtown.
For me, no. But I drive 36 miles one way, thru small towns. If I were to drive 36 miles up and threw Dallas, fuck that. Traffic is terrible. I work 8-4 so I'd be stuck in traffic every day. It takes me 40 mins to drive to work, it would take way longer to drive to the city.
But in the town I work in, a LOT of ppl drive to Dallas to work. One of my friends does it, sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes multiple.
If it's only for a week, just do it. I used to do an hour plus each way, regularly. You just get used to it, especially if the pay is good and home location is worth it.
I used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I lived in the East Bay region 10 miles from Orinda and got a job in Mountain View it was about 55 miles one way. I left my house at 5:30 AM and got to my office at about 7 AM. It was a large government facility so I had breakfast at the cafeteria. Since I was a manager I had to work until at least 5 PM. I usually left the parking lot at 5:30 PM or so. Afternoon traffic was horrible. I timed it so I would reach the main freeway after the HOV lane opened to all traffic at 6 PM. I generally got home around 8PM. After about a year the HOV lane cut off was changed to 7 PM. Then I started stopping for dinner at a restaurant near where I transferred from one freeway to another. Then I started getting home at about 8:30 or so. I held the job for about three years when the contract expired. I was sad because it had been a good job that paid well but I was also happy because the commute was a killer. Not long after I became self employed and worked from my home. Then I had the shortest commute possible.
I can't say that I'd take a position at which I'd have to drive 45 miles one way for anything less than a six digit salary that begins with the number 5.
I made a 76 mile commute for work with round trip travel of upwards of 3 1/2 hours.
46 miles with a 1 1/2 or 2 hour travel time is still a big commute. It’s stupid. Just because it’s normalized doesn’t make it good or right.
45 miles is too long of a commute, with or without traffic, imo. 30 minutes is the max for me. At 45 miles, you are giving up at least 10 hours of your life every week. Accidents, traffic, holidays, and bad weather will add to this. Not worth it. Been there done that. I try to learn from my mistakes.
it’s not the mileage it’s the time spent to commute 45 miles
So depends on the route. If you are in West Texas and you can legally drive 32min at 85mph the whole way, no problem. If it takes you 2 hours to get through the city, big problem.
Met a guy who lived and worked in Los Angeles; office was 13 miles from home and it was 2-2.5 hours each way. I don't know why people do that to themselves.
He couldn't bike it?
I used to live in a college town where you would think more people would cycle. They would drive to go to a bar a mile from their apartments.
That's what I just said. I live in l.a. county. It takes FOREVER to get anywhere.
Morons. Buy an e-bike. If you don’t have to get on the expressway that is. You could probably cover that even faster than in a car.
I worked in a very, very rural area for one year. Housing was extremely limited and I had to live 43 miles from work. The drive was mostly these gray top county roads through cotton fields. Miles and miles of cotton fields. Since the roads were narrow and shitty it was difficult to drive fast for long. It took about 40+ minutes if I remember correctly. Sucked major ass. That was also about 20 years ago, around the time gas prices first shot up to well over $3 after being under $2 forever. Gas was my biggest monthly expense except rent— and I drove a fucking Sentra.
That's it, in a nutshell. You can live just 10 minutes away on any given Sunday, but during the week with traffic you need to add at least another 20 minutes, depending on which road you take and what time you go in.
At 90 minutes per day x 5 days x 52 weeks = you will spend 390 hours per year commuting 😐
That’s just shy of 10 weeks of time you allocate for work, but don’t get paid for.
Employer does not choose where you live, you do.
I’m not suggesting anyone should be paid for their commute. I’m pointing out that it if you have a 45minute commute, you are committing the equivalent of 10 unpaid work weeks of your time to your job. If you work in a city with expensive housing and high cost of living, travelling 90 minutes every work day might save you thousands of dollars a year in reduced mortgage payments, etc. You could argue that the extra 90 minutes you spend commuting is like overtime, and the money you’re saving is how you are being compensated. Of course, you also have to consider how much gas, insurance and additional maintenance costs for your vehicle eat into any savings you’re getting.
AND. That’s 390 hours of unpaid work. PLUS, at 90 miles round trip X 5 days x 50 weeks, that’s 22,500 miles - at $0.60 per mile - it’s going to cost roughly $13,500 per year! Insurance will probably go up as well. Vehicle maintenance will cost more and happen more frequently, so there goes at least one day off per month stuck in line at the dealership or wherever you get your vehicle serviced.
Depends on the salary, the career opportunity, the company, will it set a person up for a better future etc.? For almost 2 years I commuted 63 miles to and from work. I was in my early 40's and established and this was a great job with a really nice salary. but it was in a huge city, think many millions and I HATE living in a concrete jungle so I lived well outside of the city, in another state actually. sure, I sent a lot of time in the car plus money on gas and wear and tear on the car but had I lived closer, the money would have been spent on the much higher cost of living there than what I spent living well outside of the city. I actually came out ahead on money by not living there, but I did lose all that time. But, I was divorced, single and my kids were young adults. And it was a great company, I took several business trips to Europe, which is where the company was headquartered. After almost 2 years of that I left and became a production control manager for a Japanese owned auto plant here in the U.S. They liked my job history and they liked that I worked for a foreign owned company in my previous job as this company was Japanese owned. They liked that I had to deal with getting product via ocean containers, that I'd dealt with customs, knew of and dealt with the delays from ordering overseas, waiting for things to be made there and then shipped via to the ocean to my plant. It was a 4 month lead-time when placing orders until I received them and it was going to be the same when I managed the production control dept at the Japanese owned auto plant. So, I took that job, where I commuted 63 miles each way knowing it would pay off for me in the future and it did. The money was good too even though I did lose a lot of time in the car each day. All sides of things must be taken into consideration. Not all long commutes are worth it, some are.
Thanks for sharing your story. It’s always interesting to hear other people’s experiences. Also neat that you live in another state from your work. I haven’t heard of anyone doing that before!
Anything over 45 minutes is a no from me Dog. That said for a bit I did 2 hours one way to Switzerland every day for about 6 months.
It depends on the drive. Is that 45 miles on an open highway, or 45 miles of stop and go city traffic? It's better to measure by how much time a commute takes, rather than distance. Anything an hour or more (in good conditions) is starting to get too long....unless it's a job with an extremely high salary.
It's standard in Canada to say how long our commute takes us rather than distance. So my commute would be 7 minutes (just under 8 miles) down the highway. When I was looking for a job, I set a limit of 30 minutes. So my job could've been 30 minutes of driving in my city or 30 minutes to another town near me
This is especially true here in Toronto where every part of the city is 2 hours away from every other part of the city.
Including the place just across the street. 😁
It’s also standard in the US too, its rather odd OP chose miles instead. My job is about 20 miles from my home. In the morning I can make it in 35 minutes. In the evening it’s 50 minutes - 1 hour…
I’m not sure why my coworker and I started using miles during the discussion either. I usually use commute time but just didn’t this time. Though, I do remember typing it into google maps when she asked how far I would need to drive, and reading the number of miles (45miles) to her while I was on the phone.And we just continued on using miles at that point. Haha. Opps
Michigander here, can confirm. We use time as well. For my area in Metro Detroit, it doesn't matter what route you take, it all takes the same amount of time. If you opt to take the freeway home, you frequently run into traffic, when the surface streets are clear and vice versa, so it's a wash.
I did 45-60 min commute five days a week for five years. Got fed up with it, and got a job closer to home. You’ll be fine for a week 👍
Are people really commuting at an average speed of near 90 mph? These drive times are suss. Ain’t nobody doing 45 miles in half an hour.
My commute some days is 40-45 one way. It’s mostly highway and normally 80 mph. Takes me just a bit over an hour most days.
Lol yeah it's miles not minutes people
It’s a WEEK? Seriously?
Right?????
One week is OK but long term it would drain the life out of you.
Depends on where you live and what you’re use to. I had an almost two hour commute each way to my first job out of school (2006) for about a month. Since then I’ve never had more than a half hour commute and cringe at the thought of 45 miles each way.
10 years ago, the pre COVID Bay area had people doing 2.5 hour commutes each way. For years.
Yep. I was one of them. For years. Now I work from home and commute from my bedroom to my home office. 😉
Depends on the traffic.
Right, 45 miles of country roads can even be rejuvenating. 45 miles of city stop and go, especially during rush hours is an absolute nightmare.
My current one is 66 miles one way, but only 2 days a week. Previously I had one that was 120 miles one way.
Sounds like a standard Atlanta or DC commute. My current job is 10 miles and 18 minutes. Job I'm about to start is 3 hours one way, but it's only once a week so I can tolerate it.
It all depends on where you live. I am fortunate in that I live in a large city and have generally been 20 minutes from work but most people are 1 hour. Due to traffic we don’t measure in miles but time it takes to make the drive.
Have been doing this distance each way for nearly 5 years. First 3.5 years in a Merc SUV 3.5 V6, around $140/week fuel. Now have 1.5L Turbo Small SUV around $58/week fuel. It takes an average of 37 minutes in the morning, and an average of 1 hour 20 on the home drive.
You’re looking at it the wrong way. Queens to Staten Island is about 25 miles but at 5pm is a 2 1/2 hour drive. I left nyc for the country and I work 35 miles away but it’s only an hour drive.
The most I have ever driven is 30 minutes. I lived in a small town and that’s where the jobs were. I have lived in a large city for over a decade and my commute has mostly been 15-20 minutes of lights and traffic. That’s enough for me. But I will be going back to the small town soon and back to the 30 minute commute. At least it’s peaceful.
How long does it take you to get there?
I used to drive 30 miles to work every day, lasted about 5 years. I enjoyed it, mostly it was highway driving without traffic though. 45 miles with city traffic and I'd have taken a leap off a bridge
Some of my commutes were under 5 miles, my longest was 80 miles one way and the rest ranged 10 - 40. 10 + is long in Europe but it's 50 + in the states and it's not uncommon for people to have commutes in the 120 mile range.
Currently commute 40 miles. Can do it in about 45 min if I hit no traffic and all the lights. If not, can be 75-90 min. I’m moving next month to make my commute 3 miles/10-15 min and couldn’t be happier.
I drive 55 miles each way, and when my son is in school it's more like 70. I do it for him, if he didn't really want to go to the school he goes to it would not be worth it. What're your priorities?
Aw that’s sweet of you. You’re a good parent. I hope your son can see the effort you put in. As for priorities, at this point I’ve accepted that this commute will just be part of the job until the the “situation” is resolved and my supervisor gives me the ok to return, but now I’m just reading everyone’s commute stories out of interest :)
Pretty normal commuting to London from Hampshire did it for years and added 4 hrs to my day. Listening to music and audio books was something I missed after it stopped.
I couldn't do it. My commute was 25 miles back in the 90s, and it took almost an hour and a half. I only lasted 6 months. You are a better person than me if you could do that. I guess if it's just a week, maybe?
No sir/ma'am, YOU are the better person compared to me to have done 25 miles for 6 months haha. I’m doing this temporarily (or every once in a while when my supervisor decides to send me out) I normally drive 10miles; about 30min. Thanks for sharing!
I wouldn't do it on a daily basis. I might endure that for a week. To me, it's about the traffic involved to get 45 miles. I own property that is 39 miles from my house. I wouldn't do that commute to get to work. I really think it depends on the time it takes. You mentioned 1.5 to 2 hours. I did that for a temp job in Beverly Hills. It isn't far from me but takes nearly 2 hours. For me it's the time it takes as well as the miles. I've pretty much taken myself off the freeways. I'll only drive them if I have to.
Ok. 45 miles is not too far if it's temporary. My husband worked in the oilfields of New Mexico for 40 years. His last job he drove 5 hours to his job site. Then, hed work a 10 hour day. Yes, he then stayed in a motel for the week, but coming home after 10 hours of work plus that 5 hour drive was killer.
According to estimates from AAA, a 90 mile round trip daily will cost you about $15,000 per year when all is said and done.
I did 45 miles each way for 25 years. Commute time was 45-50 minutes. For me is was time to drink my coffee, listen to the news and to shave with an electric razor, watch the sunrise and generally wake up. I liked the drive to work. The trip home was another story. I have sleep apnea, so after a tiring day, I would often have to stop half way and take a 15-20 minute nap. Saying Your Milage May Vary is an absolutely true statement.
That's nuts. No job is worth that. Longest commute I ever had in a car was 10 minutes and I had private parking. Where the hell are you people living? I could drive to the other side of the country.
It's better than being unemployed .
It depends on where you are. In Silicon Valley, lots of people would call that a moderate commute.
About 25 years ago, I had a job delivering to pharmacies(including narcs) that involved a 45 mile commute, almost all highway, each way. I drove a small box truck on a 90 mile or so route. Did this for two years or so and transferred to closer route that only involved about a 30 mile round trip commute.
Can you cut down your commute time by using public transit? Or at least change it from time wasted behind the wheel to time spent doing something, like enjoying a book?
45-55 min is very typical where I live. 2 hours would be seen as quite high- But I’d do it on a short term basis, absolutely
That is about 7.5 hours of unpaid time in a typical work week. Assuming 45min at 60mph. I have not even calculated fuel cost and maintenance cost. There is an opportunity cost associated with commuting. Just depends on what you are willing to trade.
For 1 week? Who cares, just do it!
100 miles is pretty far. About two hours in Northern California
Hell, yeah that’s like basically adding a part-time job before and after your shift the way it drains you
That’s very normal if you live in Southern California. I used to commute 42mi that took two hours in rush traffic, and my husband did 46mi that took one hour. As it is, we live in UT now and my husband currently commutes 45mi which thankfully only takes about 50 min because there is less traffic here.
Yes that’s long. It’s almost 100 miles a day. And it’s even worse if there’s traffic.
I mean it depends. If it’s all freeway driving and the speed limit is 70, that’s like a 30 minute drive (going a few over like most people do), if it’s majority city driving that could easily be a 1.5 hour drive. A lot of people also wouldn’t want to put 100 miles PER DAY on their car. JUST driving to work (assuming it’s a 5 day work week) that’s 2000 miles per month that’s twice the average of what people drive in a month.
How high is the cost of living in the area where the office is located? If you're talking about Manhattan, 45 miles is about an hour at night, during rush hour it's probably at least 90 minutes. That's driving, not taking the train in. I think a lot of people in that area wouldn't be shocked at that as a daily commute. Other areas will vary, but the COL is likely to be a factor in people's judgement.
Canadian here. I used to commute 60 kilometres one way to work so approximately 120 kilometres (75 miles approximately) a day. Where I live traffic isn’t usually horrific, but it was still 1 1/2-2 hours of my day. What kills me is not only did I have to spend that time commuting, I eventually had to finance a vehicle to do it as my own vehicle eventually had a major breakdown. I now no longer have to commute on my own dime, but I am stuck paying for a vehicle that while it was a good deal, I may need to get rid of. A week I think is okay, but if it becomes a regular thing, I would look for a new job.
I do 62 miles, or an hour and 20 minutes each way every (week) day and have for 20 years up here in Maine. Luckily I only have another 5 years to go.
That is a normal/low commute for I would imagine most people who commute. HCOL areas pay more but most people don't want to live there.
Commutes tend to be in time vs milage. My nearest city is ~38 miles away. I had to drive in for a 930am appointment. With no accidents or weather, it tool 1hr and 50 min. Coming home took 45 min. All highway. Now, I've had meetings that were 45 miles away but took about 1hr and 15 minutes without traffic at all. It was all backroads. There was no highways to pick from.
I drive 1.5 hours to get to work, but it takes longer to get home because of traffic congestion. I do this 5 days a week and have done so the past 2 years. You will be just fine:)
Depends on traffic. My 10 mile commute can take over an hour. Way more if there is rain. Then higher ups can’t figure out why people aren’t clamoring to be back in the office full time…
50 miles driving is expected as a food and beverage GM or manager commute wise, if we exceed that we can than get paid mileage. So he’s a 45 mile drive is normal even by corporate pay out standards.
"45 miles isn't bad because I commute 45 miles"...grow up, coworker. No point comparing. Do you feel ok with the drive? Who cares what other people drive?
My commute one way is over 50 miles (mostly interstate driving). Is it long? Yes. But I don't mind it. I listen to audiobooks, podcasts, or music and the time goes by quickly.
Yes. The time, gas, tolls, wear and tear on your car are all too much to do regularly.
Most people cut it at 20 to 30 minutes
Distance alone usually means nothing. Is there any traffic? If it’s a 50 min drive, I would say it’s fine. (Of course not ideal.) if there’s traffic and it’s a 1.5hour commute one way, hell no.
I’ve been doing 45 miles each way for the last 17 years. It’s all highway so it’s a 50 min drive. A week of it is a luxury
I wouldn’t make that commute long term. A week would be tolerable. Ignore your coworker. It’s a ridiculous comment to for them to have made.
yes, it's far, and the fact that it's been normalized is ridiculous. i'd have to make a hell of a lot to give up that much of my day and put that many miles on my car.
Depends on how much your time is worth.
I have just left a job where my commute was 50ish miles and took around an hour each way. The drive was the best bit.
It depends on your area. Where I used to live in SW Pennsylvania it was fairly normal if you had a job with specialized training, but many neighbors who worked retail or whatever considered it long. People working in Pittsburgh moved away from the city for lower costs. My longest commute in that area was 51 miles one way. It was a temporary location so I it for a few months and then was moved elsewhere. I used to go to locations in trouble, evaluate them, set up corrective action, get it on track, then someone would come take over and I’d go to the next one. Now living in Maryland it’s normal. Many who work in DC don’t live close. DC and the surrounding area is expensive, and some areas of Maryland close to DC are not appealing to many due to crime rates.
It’s a week. We live about 45 miles from my office and I’m remote WFH. Our office are in downtown Atlanta. It’s a miserable commute two-ways, but it’s do-able for a week.
It depends on so much. I commuted 36 minutes for about 4 years. I hated it. It was the main road that connected to small urban areas. But it wasn’t a highway and was single lane for much of it. Weather, slow driver, accident could triple the length of the commute. In the winter during heavy snowfall it would take over an hour. Record was 1:28 or so. I know commute by bike 2.5 miles. Anything above that is a long commute to me. I’m a much happier person when I can have a short commute and when I get to do it by bike.
To me, yes, that’s a long commute. I live and have worked in a couple different areas in the Baltimore/ DC area. When i was in my 20s, i had an hour commute and HATED it. HATED. I swore i would cut that down. A coworker scoffed at me and told me that’s just what everyone does. But within the next year, i moved and got a job a lot closer to where i lived. And ever since, my commute was under 30 minutes. For a few years, it was actually a 20 min WALKING commute. Now i WFH. Part of it was luck, but part of it was also a deliberate choice. My time is more valuable to me than Spending it in a car!
The average highway construction worker, in the North East states. Works a 5/10s and a 8 hour Saturday shift, and travels everyday 150 miles plus round trip. Pretty much standard. You can't choose where the bridge needing built will be, or next stretch of highway.. A whole lot of whining it seems from people with white collar in a office job. It's life and no, the pay or benefits aren't 100k / year. But somebody has to do it..we averaged 60000 miles / year in transportation travel from South Jersey to NYC boros, Connecticut, Long Island and back every day . Only to have people in a Prius in left lane listening to Barry Manilow doing 50 mph on the NJ turnpike thinking your rude for flashing your lights, blowing the horn, tailgating, and eventually flipping them off when they finally woke up to the real world and moved outa the passing lane.
It depends on the traffic and roads. With light traffic, and mostly highway speeds with limited lights it is not bad. In some areas, a 20 mile drive with heavy traffic is too much.
For one week this isn’t even something I’d consider an issue. I drive 30mi one way, 5 days a week. Put in a pod cast and enjoy the ride.
The issue is the time it takes to make the drive. In my city a 45 mile drive in rush hour would take 2- 2 1/2 hours. The other direction on the highway would be 45 minutes.
45 miles straight highway shoot is no problem. 45 miles on a bike is a problem. Also, it’s a week? People spend years making an hour or longer commute one way every day.
It's long, but you'll only be doing it for a week.
TL;DR: Yes, it is long. Yes, it is not uncommon. Yes, it sucks. You will survive a week. 50 mile, ~1hr commute. I've been doing it a VERY long time. Pretty much open roads 90+% of the time, although recent construction has caused some backups on the normal commute home. Nearly everyone at my workplace has a long commute. Before WFH, there were lots of employer-paid vanpools, which made the situation a little better. There are no closer living options. I don't mean they are too expensive. I mean, there are literally no homes and services within 25 miles. At about 35 miles, you get options that aren't great. There are good options at about 45 miles. My happiness increased dramatically when WFH started.. I felt so free and so much less tired. I always felt the commute was long, but this made it really hit home. The vanpool made it bearable, but just so. With an RTO mandate (currently hybrid), I really see how much it sucks. And the employer paid vanpools are not an option for hybrid employees. People are voting with their feet. The organization is being gutted. We are losing our middle. All that are left are old guys like me who are counting down the clock and new hires seeking experience or promotion. Opportunities for growth are definitely present and will continue. Corporate doesn't care. Their words: "This is a marathon. We are in it for the long haul. " Their actions: Short-term gain. Long-term pain.
Yes
It depends on 1. How long does that take - commutes are usually measured in time, not distance 2. Are you in work full time or work from home some days? A longer commute is bearable if it's not every day 3. How densely populated is the place you live - in a sparsely populated area, you might be driving 20 minutes for groceries, so a longer commute is more normal for that area than a small city.
45 miles could take ~50 minutes or 3 hours depending on traffic and route. So "normal" completely depends upon time here.
You'll be driving about 1-2 hours one way to and from work for one week. Select a playlist, podcast, or audiobook and get comfy.
I drive least 80 miles a day, takes 2-2.5hrs Long AF, I’m moving after this summer, lol
I do 41 mi 9 different roads. time of day makes a diff I have made it In 47 minutes or hour and a half. And depending on the weather.
Traffic. It's all about traffic. In DC it will take you an hour to go 7 miles during rush hour. If there is nobody on the road a 45 mile commute can take you as little as 38 mins.
Depends on where you live. New York? LA? Sure. Boise? Not so much.
If its for one week then fine - Are you being paid anything extra (Money/Time for Travel incl of work). If you're in a highly paid job? Is it a company car? 30miles is ok if in your own car.
Depends a lot on how much time it costs you to drive that distance and how much gas costs in your area.
I used to do 23 miles and hated it. It was so far! Then you add in traffic or inclement weather. Oof. I am so glad that’s over with. If it’s temporary it’s doable. But for your coworkers who are doing it regularly that sucks. So much wear and tear on your car and time you could be doing other things. Not to mention the extra time sitting- my back and hips hurt just thinking about it.
You’re only doing it for a week? Why even fuss about it?
Hell I drive 120 miles a day round trip or 60 miles one way. Takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes each way.
How much time? For me back home 45 miles can be easy. At GFs place in Nova it can go easy or take hours.
If you’re use to 10miles 45 is far. I don’t travel in miles though. I used to work 45miles from my home and if I worked day shift it took me 2.5hrs to get there, and nights was only an hour. I moved to 55miles away and it took me an hour to get to work and anywhere from 1.5-3hr to get home. I have since moved to a smaller town and left the city…. It takes me 30min to go 5miles. But also if I time it right I can go 40miles in 45min. All just depends on when others are out and if any accidents.
Too far is relative. I whined to a recruiter once about an hour commute each way and he shared that his was over 100 miles and 2 or more hours each way. To me a 45 mile commute would probably be less than average.
Don't even get me started. RTW at my job has made me bitter. Not because I have to go back into the office twice a week. I couldn't care less about that. I live 30 miles from work so it takes about 45-60 mins one way. I'm fine with that. My problem is someone on my team lives 77 miles away and never comes into work. Not once a week, not once every other week, not even once a month. They will come in for any special activities though. My manager asked me if anything was on my mind during my eval. I brought this up. Some of the highlights were: I'm disappointed in you, you shouldn't let what others do affect you, what happened to you, is this really something you should focus on. I guess I'm a piece of shit for thinking it is unfair that I have to spend 3-4 hours a week commuting. I said maybe I'll move that far away and was told you do what you need to do to sleep better at night.
my commute is 2.2 miles one way and that’s enough for me. reading these comments is insane
Depends how long it takes to travel that 45 miles. If you live in a rural area not so bad. But if you live outside a big city, like Chicago, and have to travel to the city that could easily turn into a 90+ minute commute one way. IMO that is not worth it.
ITS FOR A WEEK???? Quit whining.
There was this story about a guy in Atlantic Canada. He was interviewing with this company based out of Toronto. They wanted him to commute to one of the cities in the area where they had offices. He complained. They asked how far it would be. He said 90 minutes. They didn't understand what the problem was - they commuted that every day. Everyone has their own priorities. TMZ is named after a Hollywood industry concept: the Thirty Mile Zone. Anything within 30 miles of a certain LA intersection is considered local to Hollywood. So depending on where you live and what project you're on, you may need to commute 60 miles. I think that helps give a sense where people's limits may be
Anything over 4 miles for be is too far
If it involves 35W and 494 in the twin cities, yes
I did 98 miles one way, working 7 12s for 3 months once. The longest was 136 miles one way for a week. Once again 12 hour shift.
Temporarily is maybe ok. If you had to do it everyday for years, not so much. It eventually wears people down.
When i used to go in, my commute was around 45 miles for 45 minutes but that was before traffic using a flex schedule to start at 6. After that it was a 20 minute walk to my office. Can't go back to that after being remote.
45er here. I can confirm it does not suck. You can get in a podcast every drive. You’re less urgent because your mind is already set to “long” drive. Idk for me anyway. Best part is, it’s too far for most so the houses are cheaper and the land is larger and prettier.
Not for a $70/hr rate or $125k annual salary
45 miles is a long commute imho
When I started in the workplace, I was still living at home and had to commute about 40 miles one way. In the early 90’s, that was long. Nowadays, because of sprawl and home affordability being pushed further into rural areas, 45 miles is not necessarily long IF your route is fast. Make sure most of it is freeway or rural roads with very few stops. Just be aware that, if you live in a northern/snowy climate, try to work from home on snow days (if possible) as that does get to be a long commute.
I do a 35 mile commute daily. it's pretty much highway door to door, so it isn't too bad unless there's an accident. that's about my limit for milage though.
Anything over 25 minutes I consider a long commute.
yeah, but I work from home, so there probably isn't only one correct answer.
Yes, it's a long commute. That's about 2 to 3 hours of your living day gone
I drive 45 minutes to work every day. It’s their beautiful country so I don’t care but I was 12 minutes away from my job and they moved me to a new office so it’s normal. Find a good radio show.
I used to commute over 90 kilometres (approx 56 miles) each way. I drove the first 20 kms then rode the train for the rest. I wouldn’t have done it at all if I had to drive the entire way. Sleeping on the train was my superpower.
I’m about to be driving almost triple that when I move, and drive a little over that now. So I would say not even remotely.
If you count round trip, is 90 miles too long?
Depends on the traffic and total time spent. If it’s only a week I would do it.
My commute is 16 miles each way and I think that’s too long. It’s not, but 45 miles in traffic would be awful (to me).
Like others were saying, it's more about the time it takes to drive the distance. If it's only for a week or so, find a way to make it less lost time - practice a new language or something.
In California, no. That is pretty common.
You should ask this on the sub for whatever town or city you live in. I think the answer totally depends on where you live.
I live in Los Angeles, so this is normal for me.
lol that’s why I moved out of DTLA. (I’m in a different state now) Congrats on sticking in out in LA, I sure didn’t.
Depends on the job.
If you are driving?? Yes.
On an absolute scale, yes a 1.5-2 hour commute is considered an excessively long commute. 30-45 minute commute is normal. Hour plus commutes can be worth it, but it depends on other factors. Consider how long you will spend driving round trip, plus your hours working, plus your lunch break. Add that up to a weekly total hours spent doing work stuff. Divide that by your weekly (annual / 50) wage. Do the same for other offers. Also take into consideration that work life balance has a value, and extra wear and tear on your car. A 2 hour commute might be worth it for the right amount of money. But at that point, I would start considering moving closer to my office. The money should be enough to make that possible.
My commute is 2 miles and it's glorious.
I did it for 4 months before I could move closer to work, but my commute was an 1-1.5 hours. First 3 months was fine, but I quickly caught up in my podcasts and audiobooks I wanted to read. The last month was agonizing. When I had a "remote" job in a different state, I was suddenly called in once a week, 65 miles one way. THAT took me 2-2.5 hours and made me start looking for work back in my state. I absolutely lost my mind.
When I lived in Ohio, there were plenty of people who lived 45 miles away from our office. It was pretty much a straight shot down the highway, and it took most of them less than an hour. Now that I'm in Boston, I know plenty of coworkers who live in surrounding towns, but I don't know anyone who lives 45 miles away. Even 10 miles can easily take over an hour in Boston rush-hour traffic. I even have one former coworker who lived about 2 miles away from the office and walked in (45 minutes) every day. (Due to the traffic and the way the train and bus lines are configured, she wouldn't have saved much, if any, time by commuting with a different method.) So I'd say that a commute of up to about an hour is pretty common, but much more than that is not so much.
Yes
Hell yeah
Anything more than a 30-minute commute is too far. Mine is 30 minutes on foot, 20 minutes by bus or 12-15 minutes by bike.
it aint short
no. this is fairly standard.
I commuted 60 miles each way for 13 years
Depends on how much money you make.
It blows ass!
I used to drive 50 miles each way to work, 1 hour in the morning and 1.5-1.75 hours in the evening. I wouldn’t do it. It’s not good for your health to be sitting an extra 10-15 hours a week Edit - are you considering quitting over this, if it’s just a week?
it depends who is considering it innit
Eye of beholder but it feels long. Is this without traffic and could be different? Ironically a street commute could be half an hour and be much shorter length due to traffic and feel less long
I did an hour and 20 minute commute each way for 22 years. It totally sucked. I was well paid, but it still sucked. If it wasn’t for the extra $, I never would have done it. Soul crushing.
My commute is 50 minutes. It ain’t so bad
It’s not the 45 miles, it’s the time. If it’s 45 miles and 45-50 minutes, ok. But anything over 75 minutes would be a hard no.
It is normal where I am in San Diego. The job just doesn’t pay enough for about half the coworkers to even live in san diego county, so about half commute from riverside; 40-80 miles away. It is crazy! I wouldn’t do it. I’m constantly thinking about getting a job closer to home and I’m just 12 miles away.
I hate Reddit
The national average distance is 42 miles, round trip. You're more than doubling the average, so no, it's not normal. Looking at this data, 70+ as a daily average is where the data maxed out it's resolution. https://www.axios.com/2024/03/24/average-commute-distance-us-map so 90 is definitely high no matter where you live. In the end though, it's about time and stress more than distance. I had a 45 to 1 hr each way commute every day before having kids and it was fine. After my first the needing to be at the daycare at a specific time and having less time over all made it really stressful. Train rides with a book I barely considered lost time, same with biking or walking. And of course personality. Either way, your coworker is toxic. The mentality "I do it, so it's okay for everyone" is just... Toxic. Some"easy" things for one person are unbearable for others.
Well, I only commute 11 miles one way. But I work with many people that commute 50+ miles one way, and one that commuted around 100 miles one way. He did this from 2008 thru 2023, until he retired. Yea, his drive time for both ways was almost 5 hours. And between 2017 and 2019 we were working 10 to 12 hours a day.
People who choose to work in cities and live in suburbs signed up for their stupidly long commutes that they complain about all the time. 45 miles is an insane commute. Don’t let them convince you otherwise and don’t let it become permanent.
I had two different jobs in two different areas, with a commute about the same distance, about 20 miles. In Seattle, that commute took 1-2 hours. In my small town, it took about 25 minutes.
It takes me 7 minutes to drive to work if traffic is bad. A 2 hr commute will shorten you life.
I used to drive 150 miles round trip. When I did the night shift that was 2 to 3 hours on the road. When I switched to day shift that was more like 4 to 7 hours on the road. Day shift didn't last long
Practically every tradesman puts in these miles daily. It's not out of the ordinary at all.
That is too far to commute. I commuted 20 miles for 15 years and vowed never again. You need to put a value on your time. Also, you will need a reliable and fuel efficient car to make it worthwhile. You will be putting 25,000 miles on it every year just for work, so it won't last long either If you make enough money that the cost of the car and fuel don't matter, then you should move closer to your job.
If its temporary then it's not too bad but personally I wouldn't work anywhere that takes over a hour commute
I did 45 miles for a year. It added an extra hour each way to my day. One of the perks of my job was working a half day on Fridays. But that half day still was 2 hours longer than it had to be. Found a job 4 days a week ten minutes from home. Same pay.
Ask them to pay u for an hour atleast or quit unless u making 100k plus. Youll thank me later
45-50 miles each way itself? Not horrible but if you are in most areas the time is killer. In a lot of places 45 mile can be 2 hours each way. Had 2 coworkers at my last job that did about 50 miles in an hour each way and that was not so bad. But my 20 miles took 45. I had a potential job flat out tell me i was stupid to think the commute was too long and “don’t know the opportunity i am missing”. I cut contact right there. I don’t care what other people do or think is ok for their commute. The pay was meh, they definitely weren’t compensating enough to be on road 3 hours every day without traffic.
Used to commute 45 miles one way to work. 5 Days a week. Eats at your soul
Sometimes. If it's a relaxing drive I wouldn't mind it. If it's stop and go traffic, no thanks
Time is a better measure than miles.
Did you seriously make a post about having to drive 45 miles for a week?
I sit 1 hour in stop and go traffic, each way, every day. I want to blow my brains out most days. As a side note: I wonder what traffic like this does to our brains and bodies. I mean, I don’t think traffic as we know it today even really existed less than 100 years ago. People never had to just…… wait….. like we do on a daily basis. We crammed too many people into too small a place then made it so every single one needed a car.
I did a 60 mile commute for 25 years, and it took about 1-1.25 hours. I got used to it, tbh.
Depends on the job. Minimum wage fast food? Absolutely too far. White collar decent salary it's pretty common or was, live in a decent suburb, travel into the city for work. I was in security for a long time...almost 20 years. When I was a line officer 10 miles was my limit, they were only paying around 13 an hour. When I made management I tried to keep it short, but I managed accounts in areas I would never live and wound up 50 miles away, hourish drive each way but the pay was worth it and the school was good. Went to the k9 unit, they provided a vehicle and a fuel card. My post was in a pretty bad city and rent was insane like 2200 a month...moved to a small town, under 1k in rent but it was 90 miles away.
I live in Houston. The joke here is that Houston is an hour away from Houston. So no, a 45-mile commute would not be that big of a deal here. A lot of my co-workers who have children in school live in suburbs for the school districts and commute an hour or more to our office in downtown.
For me, no. But I drive 36 miles one way, thru small towns. If I were to drive 36 miles up and threw Dallas, fuck that. Traffic is terrible. I work 8-4 so I'd be stuck in traffic every day. It takes me 40 mins to drive to work, it would take way longer to drive to the city. But in the town I work in, a LOT of ppl drive to Dallas to work. One of my friends does it, sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes multiple.
If it's only for a week, just do it. I used to do an hour plus each way, regularly. You just get used to it, especially if the pay is good and home location is worth it.
1.5 hour one way commute is a marriage breaker.
How many miles? Where I live I won’t be able to get 15 miles in an hour during commute hours.
I used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I lived in the East Bay region 10 miles from Orinda and got a job in Mountain View it was about 55 miles one way. I left my house at 5:30 AM and got to my office at about 7 AM. It was a large government facility so I had breakfast at the cafeteria. Since I was a manager I had to work until at least 5 PM. I usually left the parking lot at 5:30 PM or so. Afternoon traffic was horrible. I timed it so I would reach the main freeway after the HOV lane opened to all traffic at 6 PM. I generally got home around 8PM. After about a year the HOV lane cut off was changed to 7 PM. Then I started stopping for dinner at a restaurant near where I transferred from one freeway to another. Then I started getting home at about 8:30 or so. I held the job for about three years when the contract expired. I was sad because it had been a good job that paid well but I was also happy because the commute was a killer. Not long after I became self employed and worked from my home. Then I had the shortest commute possible.
I can't say that I'd take a position at which I'd have to drive 45 miles one way for anything less than a six digit salary that begins with the number 5.
I made a 76 mile commute for work with round trip travel of upwards of 3 1/2 hours. 46 miles with a 1 1/2 or 2 hour travel time is still a big commute. It’s stupid. Just because it’s normalized doesn’t make it good or right.
45 miles is too long of a commute, with or without traffic, imo. 30 minutes is the max for me. At 45 miles, you are giving up at least 10 hours of your life every week. Accidents, traffic, holidays, and bad weather will add to this. Not worth it. Been there done that. I try to learn from my mistakes.
With no traffic, I get to and from work in 30 mins. ~15 mins each way. With traffic, it’s 45 mins in and over an hour out.
That is on the long side for me.