How long is a reasonable commute to work? (Driving only)

I’d drive an hour each way, I’ve driven 40 minutes each way for several jobs.

My longest regular commute was 40 minutes in the morning, 1 hour 20 in the afternoon.
My daughter currently does a 2 hour commute, one way.
Now that I am 12 minutes from work, I don’t know how I did that for 10 years.

Many people, who live in Kentucky, work in Tennessee. thats about an hours drive each way, depending on the weather and traffic conditions. i would not drive this each day, but there are many people that do. i guess its just work where you can find it.

For a few months, working on site, I had about a 120 minute (I think it was around 90 miles) commute each way. I had no problems with it at all because it was a lot of back roads and at worse light traffic. From there a handful of times I had to go to a secondary site which added maybe another 45 minutes (maybe another 25–30 miles) each way, again, no real traffic, just trees, farms, and generally a nice drive. I actually enjoyed going each day and aside from sometimes working late never thought it was “too far”.

On the other hand, I had a commute that was about 25 miles each way down the 2 primary arteries of my area. Most mornings it took 85 minutes in each direction. I despised that drive and when I was offered a permanent position turned it down without hesitation because of it.

So my limit is realistically about 2 hours each way if there’s no traffic. But heavy bumper to bumper traffic can dramatically shorten my patience.

Many people where I live drive over an hour one-way to work. That’s about the distance to the nearest decent-paying employer.

An hour or maybe a little more.

I’d say a normal amount of driving would take 40 minutes here.

A half hour, anything more, move, find public transportation, car pool, or a new job.

Reasonable is however long you are willing to travel. I have known people who commuted an hour and a half each way. I have known people who commuted three hours each way, but they didn’t do it five days a week.

Twenty minutes is about my limit for travel time under optimal conditions, which means it could go double or more in rush hour traffic. When I was job-seeking in better times, I went out as far as I was willing to travel and then worked my way home, dropping off resumes along the way. That way I didn’t apply any farther from home than I was willing to travel. One of those companies called me within two days.

My favorite commute is from my bedroom down the hall to the laptop in my home office.

I would like to keep it under 15 minutes if at all possible, but if the situation were dire I could see driving maybe 45… If it was public transpo I would be ok with an hour and change, but not driving that far both ways.

Up to 60 minutes (regardless of actual distance)

Please carpool or use public transportation!

30 minutes seems reasonable. Time to rev up on the way there and time to de-stress on the way back.

Miles are not important, time spent commuting is. My current commute is about 45 minutes and I am starting to think it’s too much, even when I use public transport and so can read on the way.

If you commute an hour a day and work 50 weeks a year, you spend 500 hours a hear commuting. That equals 62.5 work days, since the typical vacation is two weeks or 14 work hours, you spend 3 times as much time traveling to and from work as you do on vacation. Sounds awful to me.

Ron C that was my life for many Years. I took a bus into Manhattan and often stood.

@philosopher it must have been hell. Are you happy with the change or do you miss it.

The best jobs in NYC are in Manhattan. Having a decent job makes it worth it.
You work in any other Borough you make less. You have less opportunity too.
It is OK when you are young.

Longest commute was 1.25 hrs up I-5 (california) and I LOVED it! It sucked when I was exhausted because I almost fell asleep a few times, but if I was awake it was beautiful. I loved the scenery, the alone time, the radio, and drive-thrus!!

But living 5 minutes away (as I do now) also has it’s benefits, like I actually make it home in time to make dinner and I can sleep in later.

But if given the choice, I’d pick the nicer house further away (as long as the commute wasn’t tons of traffic I-5 was pretty bare at my commute times and ugly surroundings – that actually counts a lot!).

No more than 1 hour each way.