Why Americans Live So Far Away From Everything

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"Super commuting": when your job is in one metropolitan area and you live in a completely different metro area. With the intensifying housing affordability crisis and the increase in hybrid work schedules, there are more long work trips than ever...but are they really "super"?

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There’s a nurse I used to work with that lived in Idaho and flew to work. She’d schedule herself a bunch of days in a row and would stay at a friend’s or family’s house and then fly back home. Her commute was like 1500 miles. I’ve had patients that own property in cheaper adjacent states that fly to CA to work too. I find it insane that people actually do this.

cllax
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Can’t believe nobody has mentioned the elephant in the room: people’s jobs don’t pay enough money to allow them to afford to live closer to where they work, even assuming housing was available.

happycommuter
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The real problem with a "supercommute" is that you need time to sleep. You need downtime. You need time to go to the grocery store. You need time to eat. You need time for chores around the house. Those are all things which you AREN'T getting when the commute eats up too much of your time. Have I mentioned sleep already?

jkzmuqs
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Years ago (pre-pandemic), I turned down a job in California that offered to pay me $12, 000 more because that pay increase wouldn't have *remotely* been enough to offset the stark increase in rent.

The folks at the job even had a spreadsheet of places I could work to earn supplemental income. 😐🤦🏿‍♂️

SupermanHopkins
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I used to be a Boston super-commuter. I took a job making what I assumed to be enough to survive in the city; it wasn't even close to enough for me to support my financial goals, and I'd have to live with strangers in a small apartment. So I stayed outside of the city and commuted a few days each week. I didn't know there was a name for this until today.

Eventually, my company wanted me in the office more, and with my commute reaching nearly 3 hours across multiple transit modes, it became unbearable. The final nail in the coffin was breaking up with my girlfriend who lived in the city. Every trip felt more worthless over time.

Super commuting is a miserable shell of a life. My mental, physical and financial health suffered so much in that year.

Find a job close to you. Use public transit if you can. Relocate if you want. Find something you can do from home. Don't waste your life on the road to a job that likely doesn't recognize your true worth.

mcbrian
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I've never felt happier to live within walking distance of my office than after watching this video.

brothertaddeus
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Thank you for coming right out of the gate and acknowledging that transportation and housing are inextricably linked. California's proposed climate action plan goes hard on decarbonizing transportation systems, but never once mentions housing or density (lack thereof) and it's impact on transportation patterns.

MrEmptyKay
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My dad was a super commuter long before it was even a thing in the 190s. We lived in Malibu, also before that was a thing, and he worked in San Clemente. His commuting actually enabled him to accrue so many miles that the odometer flipped over to zero, four years in. While he was able to sell his car for much more money than it was worth, the amount of alcohol he consumed every day after commuting was terrible. The social impacts of super commuting would be interesting and undoubtedly sad research.

Madaboutmada
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Slightly more people commuting into Chicago from St Louis vs Milwaukee might be the most bizarre thing I’ve learned from this

ztl
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Remember: there are no lobbies campaigning for better public transportation (or when they do exist, they fight amongst themselves, e.g. bus v/s light rail) but there are very powerful lobbies for the automotive industry.

oldskoolmusicnostalgia
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Speaking as a British based observer, there is a lot of super commuting in Europe. But it is almost entirely by public transport. The advent of high-speed rail between cities encourages super commuting. Perhaps the beat known example is between Paris and Lille. 142 miles (227 kms.) but just 65 minutes by TGV. Another good example is between Cologne and F.rankfurt. 180 kms. (112 miles) in just under an hour by ICE In Britain, one reason for super commutes is where the husband works in (say) London but the wife works in (say) Birmingham. Again that is about 112 miles, and the fastest trains currently take 76 minutes. HS2, currently under construction, , will, if it ever opens, reduce the time to well under an hour.

Fanw
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This is very common in the airline industry, where Flight attendant pay is barely enough to cover rent and cost of living in the city they are based out of, so a good chunk of FA's would pool money together for a "crash pad" close to the airport. I've seen 2-6 to a room, where they would just sleep when they are back in their "home airport". It was usually between 250-400 bucks a month per person and if their schedules aligned, half of the people aren't working and stayed at their actual homes while one or two got sent to another city and spending the night at a hotel paid for by the company.

When they're not on the schedule for the rest of the week, they fly back on standby to their actual homes

Skyriderx
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I had a coworker in West LA who commuted every day from Bakersfield, 100 miles away. That's twice as far as the Stockton San Jose commute! It took 2-3 hours depending on traffic and weather over the Grapevine. I met a man who works for Apple in Cupertino but lives in Paso Robles, over 150 miles away. That didn't even make any sense to me until he told me he bought an RV drives up to Cupertino Sunday night and lives in the RV until he drives back to Paso Robles Friday afternoon! He said it was cheaper than buying a house in San Jose. Sure enough, there are loads of RV lining some of the main streets of San Jose at night.

bryanCJC
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What seems strange to me is seeing everything full of small houses with gardens and then practically everything surrounded and screwed with 8-lane roads where the traffic is also dangerous and slow. No matter how beautiful your garden is, you will end up very early in the morning entering the gray box and having to waste hours every day in the funnel to get to work. Guaranteed depression, at least for me.

I think it's some kind of green hell.

kaekae
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I drove 100 miles from Santa Rosa, California to Sacramento. It was horrific. I moved to California and that was the only job I could get at the time. 12hr overnight shifts. So thankfully it was only 3 days a week. Although driving back in the mornings sucked. A year later, got a job in San Francisco 50 miles away. But now had to pay tolls to cross the golden gate. A year after that, 40 miles in San Rafael. Finally I work 2-3miles 10 minutes away. I feel blessed. And previously I grew up in Chicago, with jobs 10 minutes away. So this was such a big change.

mr.b
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I used to "super bike commute" 25 miles/2 hours each way each day from White Plains in Westchester County to Lincoln Center in Manhattan. It was easy to keep track of the miles per year - 3, 000 one year, 4, 000 another. I once met a nurse who was doing the opposite commute from Park Slope, Brooklyn to Woodlawn in the Bronx - we'd wave each day as we passed each other going in opposite directions. We super bike commuters are also out there.

BillKing
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Hey, it's me! I'm a Baltimore-area resident who travels to DC for work by way of bike + train. The affordability of the area makes it worth the 1-hour commute, for me. In addition, I'm able to build in exercise and leisure time to my commute. My work pays for my train ticket, so my commuting costs are practically nil.

Jeremyeb
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I noticed this happens a lot in rural bedroom communities--growing up driving an hour or longer to get to work was fairly common for people in town, especially after the bosses cut the jobs in town. My conspiracy theory is that commuting and the content people consume while commuting has a significant effect on radicalization

sophiahardin
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It's not just housing. Many people choose to super commute so they can put their kids in Public school in a more desirable city/district, rather than paying for private school in the city where they work. In the Sacramento to Oakland/SanFrancisco example, putting kids in a public school in Sacramento can save $20K or more per year, vs living in Oakland and using a private school.

SofiaFreja
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It's such a strange phenomenon. People have to stay close to these Metropolitan areas. Because that's where the Salary jobs are at.

If they move to an area with a Lower Cost of living: There's a higher chance that they won't get anything with adequate pay.

Usually it's just factories or minimum wage positions.

eksbocks