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How Many Days Americans Waste Commuting In The Course Of A Lifetime, Mapped By City (digg.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Have you ever stopped to think that over the course of your lifetime, you will likely spend hundreds of days commuting back and forth from home and work? If not, we've got a great map that's sure to make you question what you're doing with your life. The good folks over at Educated Driver used Census Bureau data on average daily roundtrip commute times in hundreds of cities nationwide to calculate how much time Americans spend traveling to and from work over the course of their lives. (They assumed a 45-year career working 250 days a year.) The results, mapped by city, are pretty horrifying.
Some of us do work at locations that's not pushing buttons and shuffling papers
But the price you pay to live or work in one is not.
Method of travel also matters -- you can read a book on a train or bus. You can't in a (not self-driving) car stuck in traffic.
I actually rather like my commute. I only have a few spots of traffic, but for the most part it is nice time for me to drive down with only myself and my thoughts.
Being scared that I may have wasted 2 years of my life driving to work, isn't that big of a deal. What is more scary is the 10 years of my life actually working.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
to most Americans. They couldn't afford nice houses in nice neighborhoods with nice schools and clean air if they didn't spend 2 hours a day commuting to work. Public transit isn't an option because nobody wants to pay for it, because people love cars (you get a lot of happy memories associated with them from when you were a teenager and your parents paid for it) and because you feel like a poor person riding the bus.
This might change, but only because wages are plummeting and pretty soon most Americans won't be able to afford their own cars.
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Try setting up a basic sciences lab with multi-million dollar equipment in your home. Try doing other people's plumbing or electrical work from home.
In other words, where a lot of people live, they have long commute times. Where nobody lives, they have short times.
Not very useful. Plus, the range is suspect. I've heard of many people that have daily 1 hour commutes, each way.
The solution is not to make it easier/more efficient for millions of people to shuttle back and forth every day. If you're solution starts with this premise, you will always fail.
No, the solution is to stop forcing people to shuttle back and forth every day. It's stupid, wasteful, and was only ever made into a thing so that car makers can sell millions of cars you fools,
However for a lot of companies that have Work from home, the employee is often not seen, and will not be considered for promotion.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
So, 365 days in a year, less 104 weekend days leaves just 261 days.
We then have holidays - most folk get off (either on the day or in lieu) New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
That puts as to 255 days available to work. In other words, the analysis reckons the average person will take five workdays total for vacation and sick time in an entire year.
And they think it's the commute time to be concerned about!
What about mapping the time we spend sleeping instead (already done before)? Much more horrifying.
Or what about mapping the amount of energy we waste while taking a dump?
The assumptions are that you have the same commute during your entire career.
I have had anywhere from zero (worked from home for 8 years) to 1.5 hours. For that 1.5 hour commute, I drove or walked to a train station, rode the train into the city (Chicago) and then had a 20 minute *brisk* walk to the office. During that commute I was able to relax, and I read lots of books that year. I also got 40 minutes of exercise every day walking to/from the office. My schedule was also very predictable. So there are trade-offs. I wouldn't want to do it today, but it wasn't bad at all at the time.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
and how much of your paycheck?
include car payments, interest, insurance, fuel, maintenance (both mechanical and hygenic)
now subtract that from your salary...
are you making enough? Does that giant black hole of time and money seem in any way worth it?
Nobody who has reached this point in their career is still naive enough to believe they'd be considered for promotion in the first place.
Digg still exists?
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
At my last job, I used to have an hour commute each way. There were two ways I could get there. One was mostly divided highway @ 70 MPH, but was several miles longer than the back road way, which was mostly 55 MPH, but also cut through several towns with 45 & 35 MPH zones, along with stop signs and traffic lights. I usually took the back road way because I got better gas mileage. Besides, I'd rather worry about hitting a deer than getting crushed by a semi.
When I took my new job, it cut my commute by about 25 miles & 35 minutes each way. I figured it saved me about 280 hours a year and nearly 12,500 miles of driving, and over $1500 in gas. Given all that, I figured I could probably take a $1500 cut and still be even with my old job. Thankfully, I got a 20% increase over my old salary. The pay increase was a nice benefit, but the shorter commute has been a life-changing experience!
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Minutes.
It's even faster if you bike or skateboard, by the way.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
And by waste I mean I'm getting paid to show up, as in I have a fucking job and being here is part of it.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
any more?
Where I work, at home employees are just as entitled to apply for new positions as in office employees are.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Sad but true.
If you haven't been getting promoted quickly while young, when you are older, odds are against it happening then.
Career tracks (the type of job you start out with) have a much larger effect on promotion than your ability does.
Just try to secure a high salary and aim for decent working conditions. The "promise" of promotion is usually an illusory carrot dangled in front of you.
Many jobs do not accommodate working remotely. Many people that have jobs that could support remote work are not responsible enough to work unsupervised or get too easily distracted. There's also a lot of benefit to the social contact at an actual office. Not to mention the ability to collaborate face to face. It can also be healthy to have a distinct separation between work space and leisure space. Unless you have a home that has a dedicated office space that you only use for work, lines blur too much.
The article starts out zoomed in on the connected 48 states. Zoom out to see Hawaii and Alaska. Hawaii has a giant red dot -- you may not be going far on a small island, but getting there is apparently slow.
anymore? My bro doesn't, and he's in a fairly well paid job (just shy of $50k/yr, good money where he is). When I was a dumb kid working fast food nobody got those holidays except the other dumb kids (are parents wouldn't let us work). I'd be willing to bet less than half the population gets holiday time/pay anymore. I know retail employees don't.
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Try setting up a basic sciences lab with multi-million dollar equipment in your home. Try doing other people's plumbing or electrical work from home.
Meth-heads seem to be able to set up home labs, why can't you?
I have it drummed into my head that this is the greatest country on earth. It was big news when a dumb show about corrupt politicians had a phony TV politician asked about American Exceptionalism and go on a rant about how we're not in the top 5 for anything except prisons. And I've never heard a real politician make that point. Even Bernie has to shy away from it.
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Average commute time for last 10+ years: 34min x 2 = 78 minutes five days a week
Average cost per year of commute with a small Honda: $12,000
After working remotely for the last six years, it's hard to justify both the financial and mental costs of commuting.
You 're free to drive in any lane you like until the next traffic light in 300 yards.
While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?
#DeleteChrome
For average daily commute (round trip), the daily time seems off. Some areas of LA or SF for example should be well over 77 average-- minimum of 100, but I could see 120. A few other cities raise flags as well. Only explanation I can see is they are counting unemployed people.
Not complaining about my daily 35-minute round trip commute on the bike though.
You can Apply for the Position, however being considered against others who are in office, may be taken into consideration.
There is you who is faceless email, vs bill who the boss talks to every day.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Is the time we spend travelling always to be classed as "wasted"? If I'm going to an event and it takes me two hours to get their are those two hours wasted?
My commute to my job is about 30 minutes each way, and I've been doing it 5 days a week, for almost 20 years now, so that's ~250 hours of commuting time a year, or ~5000 hours of commuting time total.
So that's ~208 24-hour days of my life wasted, right?
Well, the kicker (and I know this is going to sound obnoxious/pretentious, but it's true so I'll post it anyway) is that I've been commuting by bike, and enjoying all of that commuting time as exercise and a recreational activity. I wouldn't count it as wasted at all.
If your situation allows you to commute by bike, I highly recommend it -- it transforms a tedious daily chore into something you can look forward to both before and after work. It also cuts down on the time you need to spend at the gym, since part of your exercise quota you now get "for free" as part of your commute.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
I have colleagues who sometimes work from home but also is a dependency for others in the office, and those non-commuters are less effective at their jobs when issues arise that require them to interact with somebody else. The office chat programs are often ignored, set to offline / do not disturb, etc. If that person with the issue had commuted in, the rest of us wouldn't be idled by their situation. The work-from-home employee didn't "waste" his time by staying home, but he is wasting other people's time by not being present.
It takes me about 10 minutes (on average) to bike to work each day each direction (20 minutes total per day). Plus I get exercise, so I don't even count that as lost time. This just makes me feel even better about it. Unfortunately the winters are tough (I am located in Canada).
Echoing what others have said about the questionable use of the word "wasted", I use my commute time to listen to podcasts. The content is educational (history, news, etc.), so it's hard to consider the time 'wasted'.
"The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right." - Henrik Ibsen
Who in this age keeps the same job for 45 years?
If you superimpose that map over an income map, it would look the same. There's a reason no one want's to live in the Midwaste with 100 degree summers, 50 below winters, bottom of the barrel pay and virtually nothing to do. Sure, you can buy a McMansion for $300K, but then you have to live there.
Or better yet. Make $50K in the Midwaste putting 10% away for retirement or live in a "red zone" making $120K and see who has the best choices after 45 years of working and saving. Chances are better of ending up a Walmart greater if you in the blue zone.
Some of us even fly regularly to the California bay-area for work, rather than live there. When I could limit my lobby wait-times, it was about an 80 minute commute to fly there and back from Oregon twice a week.
Then you go numb.
I happen to be pretty close to the average that TFA (yes, I even skimmed it!) cites. And that adds up to just 408 days over the course of the average working lifetime.
Now, it you want some REAL shocking numbers:
Assuming their number of 45 years working, and 40 hours work a week (yes, coders and IT need to adjust...). And also assuming 50 working-weeks per year.
That's an eye-popping 4.79 years spent working.
And as far as SLEEP...
Assuming the recommended 8 hours per day, and an average lifespan of 80 years, that's 26.6 (!!!) Years spent unconscious!!!!
So, add those up, and you have an average of 1 + 4.79 + 26.6 = 32.46 YEARS of just... Nothing.
Depends on the boss. Maybe the boss can see that Bill is a time-wasting sycophant.
sustainable living
Many Californians could help reduce this across the state by riding motorcycles, but for one reason or another we don't. We have the weather for it. Filtering is legal. We get the commute lane. On top of all that, even if we're not using it, 4 motorcycles can take up the same space as 2 cars pretty easily, and we rarely find ourselves driving with a passenger. Motorcycles typically manage 40-70mpg without having to go to hybrid technologies, and you can find them for as little as $4500 brand new - $4100 if you don't need freeway capacity and don't mind looking a bit like you're riding on a micro machine. With significant numbers of motorcycles on the road, we could also feel more comfortable that we'd be seen, and keep an eye out for each other more easily.
Get out and ride!
Suck it, flyover deplorables!
They based this on the commute times from the census bureau, but I'm not sure how they arrived at the values. Two of the cities (pop 100K to 150K) where I've lived in are listed at 39+ minutes for commutes (roundtrip), but you'd have to take some really bad routes to need more than 15 minutes to go point-to-point in those cities. 8-12 minutes each way for a round trip of 16-24 (avg 20) minutes would be a more realistic average for most residents in those communities.
On the other hand, the commutes for some of the larger cities actually seem too low. Could the census bureau method be biased and incorrectly scaling up commute times in smaller cities for some reason?
Wouldn't Trump's ghost haunting the prison be considered "cruel and unusual punishment" to the other inmates??
Imagine his bullshit echoing throughout the cell blocks forevermore....
Whilst in worst cases they are showing commuting time of almost 2 years over a life time, they haven't broken down working time spent on actually purchasing cars. I haven't done the calculations, but my guesstimate would be 1+ years spent working simply for purchase and running several cars over the life of the worker. Which is not insignificant compared to actual commute time.
Doesn't seem to matter where I work, since hardly anyone works in the office.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Commuting can be the only quiet time you have in the entire day. I used to commute 25 miles each way (not outlandish compared to some) and enjoyed it. Maybe listen to the radio. Maye just enjoy the peace and quiet. Nobody around to bitch. I never considered it a waste.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
The premise assumes that "travel time = waste". That's a false assumption. Let's assume a 2-hour commute (round-trip) for every work day. What is 2 hours worth to you?
The nearest city to me is about a 45-minute commute one-way. Were I to live there, the difference in cost of living between "in the city" and where I live (1.5 hours/day) would double my mortgage payment and double my property taxes. That would be about $20k per year.
It's not "wasted time". It's an investment with a higher ROI than living in the city. Add on quality of life and all those other things that can't be quantified in dollar amounts, and.... The author of the article has no clue.
shouldn't have voted for him then.
My city shows 52 minute commute time. In reality it takes me about 15 minutes in bad traffic (stopping at signals) and 12 or so otherwise (signals green). And since I drive a Porsche to work, it's more like play time than "commuting" in the traditional sense. Sometimes I drive the long way on purpose. /shrug
I dunno, removing all of the illegal alien criminals would greatly reduce overcrowding.
I guess most of these so called "liberal paradise" spots, such as Seattle, San Fran, LA, NYC have the LONGEST commute times. What's wrong? Don't like living in your utopia? So you flee the high taxes, high housing costs, high crime to the suburbs, but then have to spend an HOUR or more to get to work? Out here in flyover country, we have peace and quiet IN the city, takes 10-20 minutes to get to work, low crime, low housing cost, and low crime. Oh, by the way, stop moving here! You are bringing your stupid ideas, that screwed up your own part of the country with you and we don't like it. Don't like God/Church, guns, country music, pickup trucks, etc? Stay out!
Ooo, Ooo, now do a map for how much time we lose to sleeping. Or how about one for time we lose to eating.
Time not spent working or with friends and family is time wasted!
I've often wondered what I'd consider a promotion. Certainly not becoming a manager. Any "promotion" would involve more paperwork and less creation. What I am is senior, which means I usually win arguments, and can tell junior engineers and outsource coders what they should do.
I used to do my commute by train, and it was not wasted time at all. I had a book with me and read it, and aside from the good of reading books, it was also a really good frame for the working day, helping me to change my mind into and out of private/work mode.
Currently, I'm forced to commute by car (no acceptable public transport connection). I've switched to audio books and while not the same thing, it does help. However, I notice how much more exhausted I arrive home, because driving in traffic does take constant concentration.
If you are only driving, it's a waste. Using the time reduces the waste, and that part is in your hands.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Try setting up a basic sciences lab with multi-million dollar equipment in your home. Try doing other people's plumbing or electrical work from home.
Meth-heads seem to be able to set up home labs, why can't you?
---and they are probably hiring! No need to commute when you can make product in your very own home!
Thank god for Europe, have taken my bike to work/school all my life and the commute has always been 15min max (one-way).
Some free exercise isn't bad either.
its not a waste of time for me to commute, I take mass transit and either work on projects, or study the language Iâ(TM)m learning.
Somewhat flawed and narrative oriented... I hate commuting to work and I live in a yellow graded city and I take measures to reduce time wasted in commute.
In reviewing the map against places known personally - it appears that the study was consider with only commute time and that commute distance was not taken into consideration. The edge case noticed : some of the smaller towns (some with populations less than 10k) with the red grading do not have the physical capacity (infrastructure) for employment hence traffic delays and commute is due to distance to an employer.
The assumption of a full-time working career that begins at 18 is most likely flawed - naively or otherwise.
The article presents a singular facet as the total picture.
The methodology should be published with the actual formulas used.
Live in Spring, TX (like 5 min south of Woodlands), study is accurate.
What percentage of the time you spend commuting is wasted depends on what mode of travel you use. Commuting time driving a car is nearly a total waste for most people, though some mitigate that a bit by listening to audiobooks, and you can sometimes combine the trip to work with needed errands. (For example, if you stop to buy groceries on the way home from the office, you eliminate time that you otherwise might spend taking a trip from home to get them.) Commuting by public transit varies depending on how crowded the train or bus is; it may be possible to read, or even get work done on a laptop on a long trip. Walking or bicycling to work is time spent on exercise, and not wasted at all for most people with desk jobs.
my commute is 40 mins a day.
That's a lot of time away from the wife and kids, and not actually working.... So I wouldn't call it wasted.
I only wish I lived further away from work.....
Yes, because everyone knows it's the middle of the country that is completely clogged with vehicles and there's never a traffic jam on the coasts.