The days of quieter freeways and nary a traffic jam are long since gone, a remnant of our COVID-19 pandemic past. We’re back to bottlenecks, fender benders, stranded cars and angry motorists.
People are once again spending hours of their lives going to and from work, but exactly how much time are we spending on the roads? The website ChamberofCommerce.org looked at many cities across the U.S. to see how many minutes we are commuting on average and how much money it’s costing us.
To attach a dollar figure to our commutes, the website analyzed the median earnings for full-time workers who live in the 170 most populous cities and also analyzed the average round-trip commute times. With a few more calculations, the website figured out how much our trips to work are costing us in lost wages as we sit stewing in traffic.
Take a ride through this slideshow to see which commutes are the costliest.
10. Huntington Beach, California
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $9,463.59 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 53.4 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $85,066 per year
It makes sense that folks would want to live here, especially if they are into the limitless possibilities of the beach life that is Surf City USA. It also makes sense that residents will brave the commute to a lucrative job to be able to afford housing in a market that features a median home price of $1.3 million.
9. Frisco, Texas
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $10,093.28 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 52.6 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $92,106.00 per year
The Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments — of which Frisco is a member — adopted a resolution in June 2021 to reduce the amount of solo commuters and encourage carpooling.
8. Sunnyvale, California
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $10,354.08 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 39.6 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $125,504.00 per year
Residents in this Silicon Valley city of 156,317 apparently aren’t stressed out by the nearly 40-minute commute. It’s the most relaxed city in America, according to one analysis, with high rankings for mental and physical well-being and less social stressors.
7. Seattle
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $10,361.54 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 52.6 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $94,554.00 per year
While many Seattleites are making the time-consuming trek to work, some aren’t making any kind of trek, except maybe to their refrigerators. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Emerald City had the second-highest percentage of remote workers in the nation.
6. Santa Clarita, California
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $10,743.52 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 66.4 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $77,664.00 per year
The median price of homes in Los Angeles County’s third-largest city is well over $700,000, according to real estate platform Zillow. To make mortgage payments, residents are commuting more than an hour a day, on average.
5. New York City
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $10,831.74 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 79.6 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $65,317.00 per year
Commuting isn’t the only cost that takes a bite out of Big Apple residents. Prices for housing, transportation and utilities all help drive the New York City cost of living well above the national average, according to website Best Places. NYC commutes are also the longest, according to ChamberofCommerce.org.
4. Jersey City, New Jersey
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $10,903.23 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 68.0 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $76,964.00 per year
Workers in New Jersey’s second-largest city obviously aren’t skittish about traveling over an hour to get to work, but they’re also into commuting by transit. Jersey City says that nearly half of all residents use public transit to get to work.
3. Washington, D.C.
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $11,067.07 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 56.6 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $93,855.00 per year
If District of Columbia residents are able to find a remote gig and ditch the commute, they could be pleasantly rewarded. The seat of U.S. government has one of the “10 Best City Cultures for Remote Workers,” thanks to its diversity, wealth of museums and musical offerings.
2. Fremont, California
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $12,048.32 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 55.2 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $104,768.00 per year
Thanks to high ratings for mental, physical and financial well-being, this city between San Jose and Oakland is one of the “15 Most Relaxed Cities in America.”
1. San Francisco
Estimated average cost of commuting in this city: $12,650.66 per year
Average round-trip commute here: 58.4 minutes
Median full-time pay here: $103,978.00 per year
As if San Franciscans weren’t losing enough money by commuting to work, there’s also the high cost of living in the City by the Bay. Investopedia rates San Francisco as the third-most-expensive city in the U.S., with a median home price higher than $1.6 million.
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