If you had a huge windfall or catastrophic event happen to you, you generally get back to the same level of happiness in time, but there is no getting used to a long commute. I heard that on a podcast, and I was fascinated. So when I saw this chart in 2021, it stuck with me. It is, of course, illustrative, but the point remains that humans are fairly adaptable to both positive and negative events, but a long daily commuting causes a long term hit to happiness. This is the second in my series of charts from my post "Ten Charts I Can't Stop Thinking About". In a 2011 interview, author Dan Buettner said, "In fact, if you can cut an hourlong commute each way out of your life, it's the [happiness] equivalent of making up an extra $40,000 a year if you're at the $50- to $60,000 level. Huge... [So] it's an easy way for us to get happier. Move closer to your place of work." Source for chart: https://lnkd.in/gsK7X-yr NPR 2011 interview: https://lnkd.in/gcVHKpQ9 All Ten Chart: https://lnkd.in/g3tdHbZf
Very interesting - as someone who 4 years ago suffered a life-altering event to my arm (it works but with great pain), I can attest you do adjust and find joy in the fact that you have one good arm (and one that works even when it hurts). However, I have worked from home for 15 years, and I cannot imagine ever getting used to the daily commute again. Not sure there is enough money out there for that.
Calling moving closer to work an “easy solution” is tone deaf to say the least or simply disengenuous. So people are “choosing” to be less happy because they “don’t want to” move closer to work? Is the office in a HCOL area? Are schools good? What is affordable at their pay level, if anything, is in a safe neighborhood? Would they be able afford childcare at that new area? However, there is one solution that IS easy, companies allowing the workforce to be remote or to (truly) limit in person work to when is truly needed and being intentional and honest about that.
Respectfully disagree. An "extra" 40k a year would enable my family to pay our bills and get out of debt. I would do a lot more than spend a couple of hours a day in the car for life-changing money like that, but I can't even get a raise that keeps up with inflation.
My (completely untested) theory is that there is a U shaped curve of optimal commute time? I work from my bedroom and that is much too short of a commute! I sometimes miss the 20 minute phone calls and downtime between work and home.
Or, find remote work :)
This feels like a pretty tone deaf thing to say esp to people making $50k-$60k/year. Assuming good intent (I’m from FB after all), it’s possible you didn’t mean for it to come across as “take a 40% pay cut (or 40%+ increase in rent) to work somewhere closer to where you live” but unfortunately that’s how a lot of people will hear you.
A long commute makes you feel like you're being stolen from every day. Time you could be spending on things and people that bring you fulfillment. Or on knocking out things that need to get done... so you can spend time on things & people that bring you fulfillment.
I spent countless hours in my car commuting. The commute time was at a high of 1.5 hours one way IF every thing went right. I learned the location of certain cracks in the road because traffic backed up in many places every day. I commuted by car and on public transportation and all of it was exhausting. I did it for decades in various places across the country. I didn’t like any of it but did appreciate the opportunity to ride in with my boss who made the offer when I was going to quit my job. Having a buddy of misery made commuting tolerable. I wonder sometimes what my total contribution to air pollution and climate change has been by commuting, too.
What a lot of comments and reactions! My experience from talking to my folk in 1-1s over the years is that views in this topic run extremely deep psychologically, and differs hugely. My office is on the edge of London, and I would say there are 3 groups. - people who like lots of people. Think live nearer the centre of London and commute out. - people who like lots of trees. They live further out and commute in. - people who want to walk to work. They live nearby. The majority of the people who want a short commute had a short commute to school when they were young. Not all, but significant. Their hatred of a commute is deep seated. The people Vs trees thing is also strong (it's a little bit like introvert Vs extrovert). But it can vary over people's lives. Young people like the city vibe more. People with families tend to like trees more. Not universal obviously. I haven't completely understood the WFH effect yet. It's more complicated than just people who like trees and not commuting. And finally, there's the whole partner dynamics aspect. That's always fascinating. You learn a lot about people when you talk about trade offs they make in their relationships when considering something so deeply felt.
Senior Technical Project Manager at AT&T Government Solutions
3moEven the Founding Fathers negotiated a shorter commute in 1789. Alexander Hamilton became part of a grand bargain to move the capital from Philadelphia to an undeveloped area that encompassed parts of Virginia and Maryland (i.e., D.C.), receiving some help from Virginian Thomas Jefferson along the way. A deal had been reached between Hamilton, Virginian James Madison, and Jefferson, where Hamilton agreed with the idea that the capital would be moved to the South in D.C.. In exchange, Hamilton got a commitment to reorganize the federal government’s finances by getting the southern states to indirectly pay off the revolutionary war debts of the northern states.