June 19, 2024
Rise of remote work leading to longer commutes in US, study claims
The time and distance Americans spend commuting appears to be increasingly markedly thanks to the increase in remote work, say researchers. According to the new study from Stanford University, the share of “super-commutes,” those 75 miles or longer, is up by nearly a third since the start of the pandemic. Employees who no longer have to trek into the office each day appear to be more willing to tolerate a longer commute once or twice a week if it means a higher standard of living further away, the report concludes.
The shift is likely driven by remote and hybrid work arrangements, according to the report’s authors. “It’s a trade-off,” said Nicholas Bloom, an economist who co-authored the study. “Do you cram into a small apartment close to work or deal with a longer commute for more space?”
Bloom’s analysis looked at two million trips across the nation’s ten largest cities and found long commutes have become more common since the pandemic. As a share of all commutes, 18.5 percent are now 40 miles or longer, up from 15.8 percent before the pandemic. Super-commutes now account for about 3 percent of all commutes.
Rising housing costs are another factor pushing people to relocate further from city centres. A separate report found that homeownership costs have increased by 26 percent since the pandemic. Cities like Washington D.C. and New York City have seen the biggest rise in super-commutes, likely due to their high cost of living.
The trend of longer commutes seems to be most pronounced among young workers and high earners. A Fannie Mae report found that the share of young hybrid workers willing to add more than 20 minutes to their commute jumped from 7 percent to 15 percent between 2021 and 2023. Some have even resorted to extreme measures, like commuting by plane, to avoid high rent prices.
Another study found that the increase in the distance between employees and their workplaces is greatest for the highest-earning workers. In 2018, workers earning over $200,000 lived an average of 12 miles from work. By 2023, that distance had grown to 42 miles.
