But for those who don’t, do you have a long commute each day? If yes, is that a good thing? Would you prefer being closer to work, and if yes, why are you living so far away?
FWIW, when my wife and I were looking for a new home, one of the main considerations was the distance to our work. (We work at different locations that are about 5 miles apart.) After all, there are many homes in many areas.
What were your reasons for choosing to live far away from work? Or, your reasons for choosing to work so far away from home?
I have about a 45 minute commute each way. I wanted a house on a large lot, at least 4 acres, so I had to move out to the boonies. A shorter commute would be nice, but not worth giving up the land…
I have been on both sides of the equation. When I got my first jib after University, it was in Manchester. I still lived with my parents 60 miles away and commuted each way everyday (between 2 and three hours daily) That soon becomes a pain, both in petrol costs and commuting time. When I could afford to move out (over a year later) I chose my new home accordingly, and can now walk to work in 15 minutes. I much prefer it.
I commute about 50 minutes to work under good conditions, but it can take well over an hour returning in the evening if there are accidents on the expressways, which there usually are. Everyone knows the tourist town Orlando, in Orange County in central Florida. I live north of Orlando in southern Seminole County (Casselberry), and I work south of Orlando in northern Osceola County (Kissimmee). When I first got the job, I moved up here from Miami, and the only person I knew was one of my best friends since high school, who has a spare room in his house that he agreed to rent me. It was the perfect situation–live with a buddy in a full-furnished house, pay cheaper rent than almost any single-person apartment, and split all bills in half. I live close to everything (supermarkets, restaurants, movies, bank, post office, malls, comic book stores, etc.) EXCEPT my job, but I greatly prefer the area I live in to the area I work in. The commute sucks and it’s expensive, but I can’t see moving much closer because I like my current situation.
Well, when I picked the apartment I live in now, I was just out of school and had been at my job for about a week and a half. It was kind of far from the office (30 minute bus ride,) but a cheap apartment at an intersection of good public transit routes.
Since then, my work moved about another 20 minutes further away. (sighs softly.)
I hear ya Metacom. I have about a 40-minute commute. About 20 minutes to ‘services’, unless you count the tiny town down the road. It’s got a bar/restaurant but that’s about it.
When I originally got the job in this area, I needed to find a house to rent with a good-sized yard for my dog. An apartment or condo was a no go.
The houses close to work/in-town are ridiculously expensive. So I live out in the ‘sticks’. No neighbors and plenty of room. I love it. Don’t think I could ever live in town again.
I’m in there with Metacom and enipla … I don’t really care for the 50 minute commute but rather that than live in town.
I was able to telecommute part-time for the last several years, and last fall finally made the leap to full-time work-at-home. I love it! But if I had to go back to a “real job” I’d still commute rather than move.
I am currently working a temp job that pays very well but involves a 45-mile one-way commute. Fortunately, I travel AGAINST the flow of rush hour traffic, which is the only thing that makes it bearable. But day before yesterday, there was a fender bender on the interstate and I had a two-hour drive to get home. That definitely sucked.
I’ve lived both close to work and further away. My first real job, I was only about 3 min away from work. That was nice. Now I’m about 40 min away. Not bad, except when the weather is horrible.
Why’d I choose to live far from work? Mostly because the area where I work isn’t very safe, and the “safer” areas that are closer to work are pretty expensive. To get a reasonable rate for my rent, I had to move about 26 mi. from work. I don’t mind. It provides a nice “wind-down” after work before I get home. I just wish I didn’t have to get up quite as early in the morning to make it to work on time.
I work in El Segundo, California, which is flanked by the most expensive beachfront real estate in America on one side, and old, decaying, gang-ridden quasi-suburbs on the other. So I commute 22 miles. At LA freeway speeds, that is about a one-hour trip.
As a teacher, I’ve found it greatly preferable to live far away from where I work. It cuts down enormously on things like being targetted for Halloween vandalism. It also means that I can go about my daily business on days off w/o having chance encounters with students and/or parents. So I live about 30 minutes from where I work.
When I moved down here, I was unemployed, so my commute wasn’t a factor in choosing housing. SuaSponte and I looked at houses/apartments close to his office, but we settled on our current place because it’s on the ocean. Can’t beat that. We each have about a half hour commute up the coast road. Even with a 35 mph speed limit, that can be faster (and of course, more scenic) than I-95 at rush hour.
I understand wanting to be live away from the city; and I understand wanting to live *in *the city.
What I don’t understand is someone who lives in one end of a large city and works at the other end of city. Or someone who lives outside the city and works in an area that is 50 miles away and still outside the city.
Well, for starters, houses are somewhat permanent and jobs aren’t.
When I bought my house in the city, it was 5 minutes from where I work. When I got laid off I found another job 40 minutes away but it’s not like I was just up and moving.
Also, some of us don’t really mind commuting. Sure, there are days when it’s a pain, but mostly I don’t mind getting in my car in the morning. I listen to Stern, get the sports scores, get a little news, see if there’s a good story on NPR.
As to the specific point, “What I don’t understand is someone who lives in one end of a large city and works at the other end of city.”
First of all, in a lot of cities, that’s hardly a commute. 15 minues in Baltimore unless you’re talking about real extremes. So, you live in whatever neighborhood suits your fancy and don’t sweat the commute.
Second of all, a lot of down town areas aren’t residential so you don’t really have a choice.
To the OP: When I worked in NYC, for ConEd, I deliberately chose to live in Jersey City, even though I was working in Astoria, Queens. For those of you who are not familiar with NYC distances, and travel times, this worked out to about a 2 hour travel time each way.
The reason I choose to live there was that I had a very close friend who lived in Jersey City, and living where I did I was within about four blocks of his apartment. I was moving into an area I really wasn’t eager to live - NYC has never been a particular gem to my mind. I’m borderline claustrophobic, and all those people were a psychological weight on my mind. (I can’t, for example, use the subway during rush hour - it’s too oppressive for more than about 10 minutes.) The reasoning for living near my friend was valid. However, what I forgot was that the job I was doing was going to involve rotating shift work, and was often required to work double shifts (I’d usually end up sleeping in the lockerroom at the plant, then.) - so I rarely got to see him anyways. I’d have done better to live closer to work so that the times my off days or schedule matched normal work days I could have had more energy for socializing.
Anyways - in my mind a two hour commute is longish - and it’s worse when one has to do it through a torturous experience. But because of where I grew up (Eastern Mass) a 45-60 minute commute is normal to my mind, and relatively short. When I did travelling sales, I worked hours just as long as for ConEd, but because I was in my own car, in private space, I found it a lot more comfortable.
Just my experience with long commutes - YMMV, of course.
Well, I moved to this somewhat dull suburb because it was close to where I was working (4 or 5 miles, I never have successfully remembered to check the odometer). Then, * after * I sunk an ungodly amount of time and money restoring the house, work moved twelve miles farther away. Given the slow secondary roads, the inordinate amount of trucks that can’t seem to climb even slight grades at reasonable speeds, and the even greater number of people that enjoy driving 10 mph under the limit, this added maybe 20 minutes to my commute each way. Not much compared to some peoples’ nightmarish commutes, but five years later it still irritates me on a daily basis. But moving closer to work isn’t really an option because:
a. Real estate prices have almost doubled around here since I bought my place. So even though I could make a tidy profit on my house, I could never afford a place with a similar large yard and rural setting closer to work.
b. I’ve put a lot of effort into the house and moving is hard and expensive.
c. It’s not unlikely that our place of business will change again at some future date,
I guess in summary, when you’re in your 20’s and can still throw all your belongings into a UHaul, moving on a whim is a possibility. Fifteen or twenty years down the road, you want to put down some roots.
My commute is somewhat more unusual in that I live in the City (Washington, D.C.) and commute to one of the suburbs in the area, (Alexandria). It takes me about 30 minutes to get to work on a good day. My wife takes public transportation to work and her commute is the same. The reason we moved here is that even if we switch jobs and to another suburb. The commute won’t be much worse since we are in a central location.
Let’s put it this way: when I leave for work, the traffic contains a large proportion of bakery trucks. I’m lucky enough to have a job where they don’t care which hours I work, as long as they get at least 40 per week.
