The true cost of long commutes.

[paigeoliver]

About a year ago I gave up a higher paying construction job to go back to work at the hotel again because I read something about the real costs of commuting.

The true cost of long commutes.

Example number one.

Bob makes $20 per hour, commutes 75 miles (1 hour each way, because Bob speeds), to work, works 40 hours per week, and pays 35 percent of his income in taxes.

Bobs pre-tax earnings are $800 per week. $20 per hour.

It takes Bob 50 hours to earn that $800, which of course includes his commute.

Bob's post tax earnings are $520 per week. $10.40 an hour (for his 50 hour week).

Bob drives 750 miles per week for his commute,  he gets 25 miles per gallon, and pays $2.50 per gallon for his fuel. Bob pays $75 a week for gas. $520 minus $75 equals $445.  Bob makes $8.90 an hour.

But WAIT, the true cost of driving isn't really even fuel. Cars cost money, maintenance costs money, repair costs money. Driving massive mileage eats up cars and is expensive. The most conservative estimate for non-fuel vehicle cost is 15 cents per mile. That can easily double depending on what you like to drive. Most people will spend more like 25 cents per mile or more.

Bob spends $112 a week on cars, maintenance, repairs, insurance, and other non-fuel costs.

Bob ends up with $333 a week. Bob's true salary is $6.66 an hour.

Ok, now that you understand the math I can run a milder example, and a more extreme example.

Chuck makes $15 an hour, commutes 50 miles (45 minutes each way), works 40 hours per week, and pays 30 percent in taxes, and Chuck has an ecomony car that gets 32 miles per gallon.

Chuck's pre-tax income is $600 per week. His paycheck is $420 per week. His actual income after taxes and vehicle expenses is $306. It takes him 47.5 hours to earn it, and his true wage is $6.44 an hour.

Peter is a big earner, he makes $30 an hour, commutes 90 miles to work in an SUV (hour and a half), works 40 hours per week, and pays 40 percent of his income in taxes. His SUV gets 16 miles per gallon. (Peter's more expensive SUV will use an ownership cost of 20 cents per mile, rather than the 15 cents we used for other vehicles).

Peter's pre-tax income is $1200 per week. His paycheck is $720 per week. His actual income after taxes and vehicle expenses is $400. It takes him 55 hours to earn it, and his true wage is $7.20 an hour.

Notice something, in every case all of these people are reducing their big salaries to almost nothing with these long commutes.

[paigeoliver]

Oh, I guess it is only fair to give my own numbers.

I work 40 hours per week, make $11.35 an hour, and get a (conservative) 42 miles per gallon. My commute is 9 miles and takes 10 minutes. Meaning actual work time including commute is 41 hours and 40 minutes.

My post-tax weekly income is $375, and my post vehicle expense income is $356. Making my final earnings $8.54 per hour after taxes and vehicle expenses.

Note, you can apply a lot of this logic to job related things OTHER than driving.

[Bones]

In Australia we have this mad invention called a train.

Honestly, who (apart from a courier or bus driver), would travel 900 miles per week to get to their place of employment?

[paigeoliver]

In Australia we have this mad invention called a train.

Honestly, who (apart from a courier or bus driver), would travel 900 miles per week to get to their place of employment?

Very common in California, Florida, and around other high value areas.

[Goz]

In Australia we have this mad invention called a train.

Honestly, who (apart from a courier or bus driver), would travel 900 miles per week to get to their place of employment?

Very common in California, Florida, and around other high value areas.

Guilty as charged... i'm in California and each direction my communte is between 1hr and 1hr 30 each way. I work way more than 40hrs a week. As a matter of fact I'm on the 85th hour this week as I type. I have a salaried position so the math is a bit fuzzier and if i did break it down by per hour I would surely shoot myself.

I used the following example with my son on the use of math in the real world (he's a 5th grader).

Dad drives 1hr each way to work each day. Thats 2hrs each day (rounding down). That is equivelant to 10hrs per week or approximately 45hrs per month (rounding down). Multiply that by 12 month and thats 540hrs per year. Divide the 540hrs by 24hrs in a day and we find that I spend at the minimum 22 days a year in my car simply driving to and from work. These numbers were rounded down for simplicity reasons. I spent the following month tracking my actual drive times and it came out to an average of near 3hrs per day due to traffic, etc.. if we look at that as a base I spend 37 days a year driving my car to and from work. I have done this same commute for 5 years. People if you can avoid it; don't commute! Spend more time with your family.

-Goz

[Stingray]

My commute is about 50 miles (round trip) each day. So that's 250 a week I'm putting on the car. I live way outside of town, so probably regardless of where I worked, I'd be putting a similar number of miles on a car. To me the extra commute is well worth the peace and quiet that comes with living out in the country.

-S

[ErikRuud]

Somtimes the trains aren't useful, even when they are available.

I used to drive 40 miles one way to get to work, because the train line didn't run in the right direction.  I would have to take a train from the west sububrbs into downtown Chicago, walk three blocks from one station to another, and take a second train out to the north suburbs.  The commute time would have been 3 to 5 hours one way depending on how the trains schedules coincided.

Now, I ride the train into Chicago every day.  The train ride is just over an hour long, plus a 4.2 mile drive between the train station and my house.  Riding the train allows me to make use of those two hours instead of driving.  I read books, watch DVD's on my laptop, talk with friends, or sometimes I just sleep.  The books and DVD come from the local library.  I have been checking out so many books and movies that I think my library card is going to wear out.  

[Zakk]

Oh, I guess it is only fair to give my own numbers.

I work 40 hours per week, make $11.35 an hour, and get a (conservative) 42 miles per gallon. My commute is 9 miles and takes 10 minutes. Meaning actual work time including commute is 41 hours and 40 minutes.

My post-tax weekly income is $375, and my post vehicle expense income is $356. Making my final earnings $8.54 per hour after taxes and vehicle expenses.

Note, you can apply a lot of this logic to job related things OTHER than driving.

Yikes!  How do you live?!!?  I just did my figures, and even though I do drive a lot, I gross about $70 per hour, 365 days a year, based on an 8 hour day (I usually work 10-12 hours, but since I'm "working" right now, it's not too bad).

Now I just have to figure out "net" and I'm probably down to $5.00 per hour 

[Stingray]

Yikes!  How do you live?!!?  I

Paige and I live in an area of the US where a person can live quite comfortably on a wage that would be below poverty level in other parts of the country. I'm constantly amazed at how many people make statements like "you could never live on $ X a year" where X=roughly double what I make. Sometimes it's nice to live in the middle of the country where the cost of living is nice & low.

-S

[slayj]

I drive 70 miles round trip and 2 hours a day to my job.

[Stingray]

I drive 70 miles round trip and 2 hours a day to my job.  The commute is expensive, however, if I were to move closer I would spend the money I saved on gas and maintanece (about $200) on a more expensive house because it cost more to live closer to my job.  I could find a closer job to my current house, but the pay would be less, thus negating the cost savings. 

This is pretty much the same situation I'm in. Plus I have no interest in living in the city where I work or any city for that matter. Rent is higher, crime is higher, and it's noisy. I'll stay out here at the Stingray Compound out in the Oklahoma wilderness.

-S

[Zakk]

Yikes!

[paigeoliver]

I could live on half my income. Granted I would need to pick up a roommate again.

Its simple, the midwest has a low cost of living, and I am not stupid with my money.

I bring home $1500 a month (2 paychecks at $750 each, there are 2 extra paychecks per year due to the number of weeks/months, but assume those purchase all clothing, furniture, power tools, license plates, etc).

$450 Rent
$150 Utilities (is only $40 months that I need neither heat nor air).
$15 Vonage
$28 cable interweb.
$40 car insurance.
$683 a month in bills. I can chop that to $350ish any time I want to take a roommate.

That leaves me with $817 for food, transportation, and all the other fun stuff. Or, it leaves me over $1100 for that if I have a roommate.

My lifestyle gives me a higher expendable income than my parents. I have a higher expendable income than any of my friends, many of whom make far more than I.

It isn't what you make, it is how you use it. If I took a roommate again I could buy a brand new BMW convertible and I wouldn't even be hurting. The reason I can afford to is because I DON'T waste money on stuff like that. I have a Geo Metro convertible instead. 100 percent of the utility, 80 percent of the fun, 5 percent of the purchase price, and it costs a whole lot less to operate.

And if I felt like it I could move to the city, live in a $400 apartment in one of the high rises that COMES with utilities and wireless internet, and I wouldn't even need a car then.

[Stingray]

You crazy poverty-sticken mountain man

 

Gotta say though, your place does look nice and secluded.  Although...from that overhead shot of your place....how do I ask this....were those dead bodies out behind the woodshed??

Mountain man? You've never been in Oklahoma have you? I'll accept hillbilly though.

And of course there are no bodies behind the shed.

I plant them in the garden where they can do some good as fertilizer.

-S

[SirPoonga]

In Australia we have this mad invention called a train.

Honestly, who (apart from a courier or bus driver), would travel 900 miles per week to get to their place of employment?

Well, if there is no train that runs from Marshfield, WI to Wausau, WI then you have to make the 50 mile one way trip in car.

[nostrebor]

I live 2 1/2 miles from work, and my company pays all my car expenses, so basically I suck

The cost of my great fortune is neighbors. Many are renters, and one is a self-admitted drug dealer. The neighborhood is actually quite nice, forcing the rent to be quite expensive, so we have "white collar" felons.

I have considered on many occasions moving back out to the country (grew up in middle of no-where) because of the social costs of living 2 1/2 miles from work. Sometimes the cost is not monetary.

[missioncontrol]

I drive 50 minutes each way. I make $13.32 plus a 50 cent shift differential. I work 40 hours a week. my take home every 2 weeks is $887. I fill up every 4 days putting about 26 gallons of gas in my truck.

[Bones]

Wow, I am amazed!

For over 10 years I travelled over an hour either direction to get to work I hated it so much and swore I would never commute this far again.

Now I am about 20-30 minutes each way from where I work. Bugger the dollars, I actually get time to spend with my family instead of wasting time in a car which is more valuable than my hourly rate.

[DrewKaree]

Gotta say though, your place does look nice and secluded.  Although...from that overhead shot of your place....how do I ask this....were those dead bodies out behind the woodshed??

Pay no attention to what's behind teh woodshed.  That's just his supply of cordWood(y)

[screaming]

About a year ago I gave up a higher paying construction job to go back to work at the hotel again because I read something about the real costs of commuting.

  Yeah, but what if you loved that constructon job? Doing what you love, getting great benefits, great people, great boss, relatively relaxed about time off and lots of company-sponsored events?

  It's not always, or hardly ever, all about monetary differences.

--Steve

[JB]

The true cost of long commutes.
...
Bob ends up with $333 a week. Bob's true salary is $6.66 an hour.

See? the long commute has made Bob EVIL!

[quarterback]

if we look at that as a base I spend 37 days a year driving my car to and from work. I have done this same commute for 5 years. People if you can avoid it; don't commute! Spend more time with your family.

And, those are 37 FULL 24-hour days in your car.  If you take out 8 hours for sleep, you're really looking at more like 55 days a year that you're not spending with your family, friends, or whatever.

I used to live in SoCal and it wasn't uncommon for me to do 90-min each way, 6-days/week as well.

[nostrebor]

The true cost of long commutes.
...
Bob ends up with $333 a week. Bob's true salary is $6.66 an hour.

See? the long commute has made Bob EVIL!

LOL!

It was the first thought that came to my head as well.

[paigeoliver]

About a year ago I gave up a higher paying construction job to go back to work at the hotel again because I read something about the real costs of commuting.

  Yeah, but what if you loved that constructon job? Doing what you love, getting great benefits, great people, great boss, relatively relaxed about time off and lots of company-sponsored events?

  It's not always, or hardly ever, all about monetary differences.

--Steve

I actually DIDN'T like the construction job. I enjoyed the part where I would drive around in my little truck, I didn't mind the actual installation, but I HATED loading and unloading the truck, and every time it rained I just wanted to quit. It was absolutely miserable trying to unload shelves in the rain, carry them into a fancy new house located in the middle of a mud field, without getting any mud in the house. And then I would be cold and wet all day long.

I like my hotel job much better.

[markb]

I have recently changed from spending 2 hours a day in a car to 10 minutes on a bus.
Apart from the extra cash saved on petrol (about

[Harry Potter]

In Australia we have this mad invention called a train.

In Melbourne, this mad invetion is just that.
It costs me about $6.00 a day to get to and from work (Car maintenance + rego + insurance has been factored in). It would cost me about $10 a day by train + tram (and it would take 3 hours instead of 1 hour).
 It's ridiculous when public transport is more expensive than a car.
And the politicians wonder why more people drive.

[M3talhead]

I dont want to hear anyone ---auto-censored--- about gas prices. In Holland, just 30 minutes north of where I live, regular petrol is $6.40/gal.......and thats on a good day.