The number of Americans embarking on a super commute to work has increased dramatically, with many saying the long distance travel has its benefits, according to new data.
The rise of remote work during the pandemic prompted many people to flock to the suburbs – and as offices opened back up, a majority decided to travel from their new homes.
Research from Stanford University found the number of commutes over 75 miles on weekday mornings grew 32 percent since the pre-pandemic period of November 2019 through February 2020 compared to November 2023 through February 2024.
The study analyzed car commuting trips ending in the 10 largest U.S. urban areas using INRIX GPS datasets.
Super commuting grew a staggering 100 percent in Washington D.C., 89 percent in New York City, 57 percent in Phoenix and 29 percent in Dallas.
The number of commutes also grew 20 percent in Los Angeles, 18 percent in Houston, 28 percent in Philadelphia, and 6 percent in both Miami and Atlanta.
The authors of the study, Nick Bloom and Alex Finan, said the likely explanation for the massive increase in super commuters was the rise in working from home.
Working from home directly reduces the need to commute every day and indirectly reduces traffic volume, speeding up super-commutes, the study said.
Craig Allender, who moved from Novato, California to a bigger house 30 miles north in Sonoma County told The Wall Street Journal his new 63-mile drive to work was worth it because he only has to travel to the office three days a week.
‘If I had to be in the office five days a week, there’s no way,’ Allender said.
Heather Adams, who commutes from her home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to her office in Moline, Illinois, said she listens to audiobooks to pass the time on her trip home.
‘It is very calming after work to have someone read to you,’ Adams said.
The mean distance to work rose from 10 miles in 2019 to 27 miles at the end of 2023, according to a study from payroll processing and HR services company Gusto.
The study found the share of workers living more than 50 miles from their employer rose more than five-fold, from 0.8 percent to 5.5 percent.
According to their data, millennials live the farthest away from their employer, which Gusto indicated is a sign that this group is taking advantage of the flexibility of remote and hybrid work.
‘They’re the ones making life transitions and deciding where to live and that can be farther out,’ said Liz Wilke, Gusto’s principal economist.
Katlin Jay, 30, travels 650 miles on a biweekly basis from her Charlotte, North Carolina home to her job on the Upper West side as a hairstylist.
She estimates that she spends just under $1,000 a month on flights, ground transportation and paying some rent to a friend with whom she stays.
The average cost of rent in New York City is about $3,747. The average rent in Charlotte is less than half that – just $1,400.
‘I stay at my friend Jenni’s house,’ Jay told NBC New York. ‘I pay her a little bit for rent so it works out both ways that’s one of the things that made it really affordable to do this back and forth. I don’t have to get a hotel every time.’
Chip Cutter, a Wall Street Journal reporter, relocated closer to his family in Columbus, Ohio, early in the pandemic and has never left.
He chose to show up at the office for at least three days a week, maintaining elite status with both Hyatt and American Airlines, instead of paying thousands of dollars for a shaky Manhattan studio.
However, that’s only his romantic vision of being a super commuter – a lifestyle that blew his budget and didn’t last long.
He wrote in a WSJ article: ‘Shocking no one, that fantasy soon came crashing down. Burning points on fancy hotel rooms was the first problem.’
Cutter did his math before entering the super commuter era and tried everything he could to keep the rent in Ohio plus travel costs below $3,200 per month.
‘In the end, the math didn’t work. I blew my budget by 15% and drained my miles balance,’ he acknowledged.