Commute Time Cost Calculator
What commuting hours cost over a career, and what a shorter journey is worth.
The hours spent commuting are the largest unpaid part of most jobs. Over a working life they add up to years, and pricing them is how a longer journey to a cheaper home stops looking free.
Enter the journey, the working pattern and what your time is worth, and this calculator shows the hours per year, the value of that time and the effect of moving closer.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Minutes each way, Commuting days per week, Working weeks per year, What an hour of your time is worth, Minutes a day saved by moving closer, Extra housing cost of living closer, Years to look ahead
- What you get
- Commuting hours per year, Value of the commuting time, Hours saved per year by moving closer, Value of the time saved, Net gain of moving closer, Commuting hours over the period
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Commute Time Cost Calculator
- 1 Enter Minutes each way (minutes)
- 2 Enter Commuting days per week (days)
- 3 Enter Working weeks per year (weeks)
- 4 Enter What an hour of your time is worth
- 5 Enter Minutes a day saved by moving closer (minutes)
- 6 Enter Extra housing cost of living closer - The higher rent or mortgage you would pay to be nearer.
- 7 Enter Years to look ahead (years)
- 8 Press Calculate. You get Commuting hours per year, Value of the commuting time, Hours saved per year by moving closer, Value of the time saved, Net gain of moving closer, Commuting hours over the period, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 9 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
A 45 minute journey, five days a week, with 25 minutes saved by moving
A long commute and a move that shortens it, at a cost of $300 a month more in housing.
You enter
- Minutes each way
- 45 minutes
- Commuting days per week
- 5 days
- Working weeks per year
- 46 weeks
- What an hour of your time is worth
- $22.00
- Minutes a day saved by moving closer
- 25 minutes
- Extra housing cost of living closer
- $3,600.00
- Years to look ahead
- 12 years
You get
- Commuting hours per year
- 345.00 hours
- Value of the commuting time
- $7,590.00
- Hours saved per year by moving closer
- 95.83 hours
- Value of the time saved
- $2,108.33
- Net gain of moving closer
- -$1,491.67
- Commuting hours over the period
- 4,140.00 hours
The journey takes 90 minutes a day and 345 hours a year, which is 7.5 hours a week and 43.13 working days. At $22 an hour that time is worth $7,590 a year, or $632.50 a month. Cutting 25 minutes from each journey gives back 95.83 hours and $2,108.33 a year, which is $1,491.67 less than the $3,600 of extra housing, so the move does not pay for itself on time alone. Over 12 years the commute adds up to 4,140 hours, worth $91,080.
A 20 minute journey, two days a week, with 10 minutes saved
A short hybrid commute where the time saved is small and the housing premium is not.
You enter
- Minutes each way
- 20 minutes
- Commuting days per week
- 2 days
- Working weeks per year
- 44 weeks
- What an hour of your time is worth
- $35.00
- Minutes a day saved by moving closer
- 10 minutes
- Extra housing cost of living closer
- $1,800.00
- Years to look ahead
- 5 years
You get
- Commuting hours per year
- 58.67 hours
- Value of the commuting time
- $2,053.33
- Hours saved per year by moving closer
- 14.67 hours
- Value of the time saved
- $513.33
- Net gain of moving closer
- -$1,286.67
- Commuting hours over the period
- 293.33 hours
Two days a week of a 20 minute journey is 40 minutes a day and 58.67 hours a year, or 1.33 hours a week. At $35 an hour that is $2,053.33 a year and $171.11 a month. Saving 10 minutes each way gives back 14.67 hours and $513.33 a year, against $1,800 of extra housing, so the net gain of moving is minus $1,286.67. Even at a higher value per hour the small time saving cannot carry a $1,800 premium, and over five years the whole commute comes to 293.33 hours.
Guides that go with it
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Can I Afford My Rent? Calculate Your Ideal Rent Budget
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How Much of Your Salary Should Go to Rent?
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Frequently asked questions
What value should I put on an hour of my time?
There is no correct figure, and the calculator deliberately does not derive one. A useful starting point is your own hourly pay after tax, since that is what an hour of work is worth to you in cash, and then a judgement about whether commuting time is worth more or less to you than that.
Some people would pay more to avoid a crowded journey and less to avoid a quiet one. Set the figure once, use it consistently for both the current commute and the shorter one you are comparing it with, and the comparison stays fair even if the absolute value is a guess.
Why does the net gain of moving show a loss here?
Because saving 25 minutes each way gives back $2,108.33 of time in the year, while the extra housing cost is $3,600. The value of the time saved is $1,491.67 less than the money it costs, so on this valuation moving closer is not worth it for the journey alone.
The comparison changes with the numbers rather than the principle. Shortening the commute by 40 minutes instead of 25, or finding a smaller premium, moves the answer. So does a different view of what an hour is worth to you.
Is the time saved capped at the length of the journey?
Yes. The hours saved use the smaller of the minutes you enter and the whole daily journey, so a 90 minute round trip cannot deliver 120 minutes of saving. This stops an entry error from producing a gain larger than the commute itself.
Bear in mind that only the travelling time counts here. Waiting for a connection, walking to the stop and the few minutes at the other end are not modelled, so the real journey is usually longer than the minutes each way you typed in.
How do I turn the housing cost into a monthly comparison?
The extra annual housing cost field takes a yearly figure, so a rent or mortgage that is $300 a month higher is entered as $3,600. The page then shows how many commuting hours a month of extra housing cost buys back.
At $22 an hour, cutting 25 minutes each way over 46 weeks saves 7.99 hours a month, and $300 a month of extra housing buys back about 0.32 hours for each dollar, which is a little over 30 minutes of commute for every $100 of extra rent. That is the clearest way to see whether the trade is close or not.