Recent attention to “super commuters”—those rare people who live in one city and work in another—raises questions of more mundane commuting for most workers. Considering your commute is critical part of any job search you do. Commuting has costs and benefits, and it will matter for your job and personal satisfaction, and your relationship with your employer and future job prospects.
The Covid-19 pandemic complicated commuting, pushing up the amount of remote work available, which in turn affected commuting patterns. Early in the pandemic, some firms went entirely remote and stayed that way, allowing workers to live at greater distances.
But even for companies with some remote work, going permanently and fully remote is rarely an option. Instead, a hybrid model combining working from home with regular time in the office is the emerging pattern when remote work is involved.
Relatively few people work fully remote, and that number has been declining. Just after the pandemic struck, over 50% of workers did at least some remote work. But by 2023, those numbers had shifted dramatically. According to an analysis in The New York Times
New York Times
That means 20.3% of all workers are now doing at least some remote work, sharply down from the over 50% from the pandemic’s early days. And there’s debate on whether that remote work percentage will be stable or decline further.
Economist Nick Bloom says remote work is here to stay. Bloom, one of our leading analysts of remote work, points to survey data from the U.K. and U.S. where employers expect remote work to stabilize or even increase slightly. Criticizing those who argue there’s an increasing return to the office (RTO), Bloom said “the RTO debate should end. There is no RTO and leaders confirm this.”
As part of his analysis of remote work’s impacts, Bloom and his colleague Arjun Ramani observed a spreading out of residents in metropolitan areas, trading off longer commute times for preferred housing and lifestyles. They called this the “donut effect,” with residences close to city centers declining in popularity as hybrid commuters took on longer individual trips to work, while taking fewer of them in the aggregate.
So can you rely on a significant and stable amount of hybrid work in the future, and take on a longer commute with that expectation? Not automatically. Remember remote work isn’t randomly distributed or readily available to everyone. Higher income and higher educated workers, often with specific in-demand skills, are more likely to have significant opportunities for remote work.
And of course, some industries and occupations have relatively low amounts of remote work. If you are in one of those fields, you should think hard about taking on a longer commute.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in March 2024, 23% of all workers did some remote work. That means 77%—over three quarters of all workers—did no remote work.
What industries and occupations have the most remote workers? The BLS says occupations where more than 50% do some remote work include legal work, professional and technical jobs like accountants and book keepers, information jobs in software and data processing, and financial work like analysis, insurance claims and adjusters, and personal financial advisors.
But even in those sectors, many workers did no telework: 68.3% of those in computer and mathematical occupations did some or all remote work. But no other occupation listed by the BLS has more than 54% doing some remote work, meaning that even in remote work-friendly jobs, 45% or more are full-time in-office workers.
In addition to the remote work issues, there are other key lifestyle questions about commuting. Are you young and single, and interested in meeting new friends, potential dates, or even prospective mates? A long commute can chew up your free time, and may also put you in an area without many peers.
Or you may just want to be nearer the action—diverse people and restaurants, movies and plays, museums, and the other cultural attractions in a big city. And working more in the office can expose you to more new people and both personal and professional networks.
Longer commutes also could hurt your job search and promotion opportunities. A 2018 study by economist David Phillips found that job applicants “living in distant neighborhoods” got more negative responses from employers.
And while managers and hiring departments know commuting ranges have expanded due to the pandemic, HR professionals are worried. They fear excessively long commuting and increased demands for remote work will increase tensions among workers, and between workers and managers.
So should you take on a long commute? There’s no single answer. Your profession, seniority, personal and family situation, company culture, cost of housing, and just your own preferences all matter in the decision. Just don’t assume longer commutes will necessarily be free of costs, both personally and professionally.
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