I'm 40-45 minutes from my job, which is at my limit for commuting, any further and I'd likely change jobs before moving. I like our neighborhood and my wife is 3-5 minutes from her job.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I guess it would depend on where I was in my life. 20 yrs ago with little kids I would have moved. It was important to me to be close so I could attend school functions. If my kids were in H.S. involved and doing well, I would suffer a longer commute for them. With my kids out of H.S. and 5 - 10 yrs away from retiring, and having lived here 30yrs, 20 min commute now, job would have to move to an hour commute then we would probably start talking.

---

Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

My wife and I moved from a 5 min commute to a 30 min commute each way to get better schools for the kids. Kids are now out of the house but I am not moving. If it was an hour each way I would move.

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I drive 45-60 min for my internship and it's terrible. If the situation was permanent I would definitely move closer. Although, if it was 45 min free of traffic I wouldn't mind so much. The stop and go or idiots on freeway can become stressful.

50-60 minutes one way would be my limit. I place a very high premium on my time. I might endure for a while if a move required relocating my kids during certain ages. However, there would have to be a compelling reason for me to have that job and do that to myself.

Right now, mine is about 25-30 most days. If I have to go downtown it is 40-45 and I want to kill myself by the time I get there. All that being said, there are a number of strategies including going in early and visiting the gym. I did that a number of times since I am already up at that hour. Just makes for a longer feeling day but I can still accomplish things that are important to me (exercise in the am).

I've always been a believer of living near where you work. Half an hour is my maximum. Even less if it was on busy congested roads.

Child is going into 4th- but we would wait a bit to make sure new job is a good fit before uprooting. She is at a charter school too- so if we wanted she could keep going there- we would just have to drive 15- 20 minutes instead of 3. It’s K-8 and lots of kids commute in - so could probably find a carpool. The new town has excellent schools though- so might just pop her in the neighborhood school. As I said lots of good options. I would want to stay in the county so she can stay in her 4h club as it’s awesome and her favorite activity.

My job is part time and I can work from home most days. I usually go to the office 2-3 days a week now - to keep up relationships and we have a nice gym and cafeteria. So a longer commute would impact me less as I don’t actually have to do it. I just have to be within an hour of a major airport which I would be closer to if we moved.

Commuting just seems like such a time suck- it seems crazy to move a 15 minute drive away but twice a day is a loss of 2.5 hours a week which is a ton.

If it is actually 45 minutes, and not just 45 minutes on a good day I wouldn't move. I have 32 minutes with no traffic, 50 minutes on a real bad day, 40 minutes on an average day.

I carpool with my wife and don't mind it at all. When we weren't riding together I didn't mind either.

Once it gets much over that it starts to really cut into your day.

---

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

My first job out of college, I had a 90 minute (on a good day) commute into San Francisco. And 90 more minutes home. I couldn’t afford to live any closer. When my hand was forced to move either closer to SF or somewhere else, I chose somewhere else. Haven’t had longer than 15 minutes from door to chair since (7 miles). Couldn’t go back to big city commutes every day, or even long distance. It’s a life drainer! Just going to the grocery store 30 miles away is something I hate!😂😂. There is definitely something very nice about being close.

---

**********************
Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

We lucked out and got a place that is a 10 minute walk for my wife, and central for me (I work at various sites around town). 90% of the time, my commute is under 20 minutes. Usually closer to 10-15.

If I worked in one spot, like an office or something, I'd probably set my limit at 45 minutes. Although, around here, a 45 minute drive could only be an hour bike due to traffic and bike lanes, so that wouldn't be too bad.

---

Long Chile was a silly place.

bought my house like 18 years ago... I can't afford to move :) I'd suffer I'm 30-40 minutes now... 20 with no traffic

Right now I bike about 25-30 min to work. We are moving soon but the commute will be the same. My max commute by bike was about 45 min, if the commute would have been longer I would have probably moved closer. I was single then so it wouldn't have been a big deal.
Many years ago, the commute was a blast. I went wherever the ship was. Sometimes it was few hours bus ride, other times 2,3, 10 or more hours flight. After that, it was few minutes walk from my cabin to the ship's bridge.

commuting is a time suck, but in answer to your question i wouldn't move to avoid a 45 minute commute, with maybe the the exception being if you have other reasons to move house (need a bigger or smaller one for example, or want to move to a better location). Moving costs so much, and is also a huge time suck; and having a great neighborhood is worth a lot.

 My commute is 7 to 10 minutes depending on how many red lights I hit. No way would I commute 45 minutes without public transportation.

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I moved from the UK to Spain, so my commute is now a 2+ hr flight each way, return each week.

Does that count?

(To put it into context - commuting from Hertfordshire to London Paddington every day was at least 1.5hrs per journey, longer if there was moisture or a leaf on the train tracks.)

I think it depends on the drive, personally.

If it's a consistent 30 minutes each way in bumper to bumper traffic that's a much different experience than a 30 minute drive on scenic country roads.

For me, I would drive in heavy traffic each way if I didn't change my hours. I now start at 5 am so I don't have any traffic and my 30 minute commute isn't that bad. Some days I don't mind having the time to myself, even.

I have a low tolerance for commutes beyond 30 minutes after I made some bad decisions on jobs in the past. One was in the DC area and my commute was never less than 50 minutes and several times was over 2 hrs due to accidents or weather events. Right after we moved away a snow storm hit and people basically spent the night on the freeway in that area.

The second situation we bought a house 40 minutes away from my workplace so that my wife would be near family members who lived nearby. That did not work out as my wife didn't visit them all that often and my commute sucked so much time that it affected our relationship. We would have moved closer to my workplace had my employer not reorganized and eliminated my division, forcing me to find a new job.

These days my commute is about 15 minutes in both directions, which is tolerable. I would prefer to bicycle to work but the roads in my community are not suitable and there bike paths have not been extended to our neighborhood yet. That will happen about the time I retire, so I have resigned myself to commuting via decomposed dinosaur chow for the next few years.