Free tool
What does your commute actually cost?
The gas receipt is only the visible part. Add vehicle wear, parking or a transit pass, and the hours of your life in between, and a "20-minute drive" turns into a second utility bill. This calculator shows the whole number — and what one more work-from-home day is worth.
Your commute really costs $1,218/month
$588 out of pocket + $630 of your time — $14,616 a year.
| Cost | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Out of pocket ($28/day) | $588 | $7,056 |
| Time commuting (21 hrs/mo) | $630 | $7,560 |
| True cost | $1,218 | $14,616 |
Negotiating one more work-from-home day per week would save you ≈ $2,923/year.
Put that in perspective
- 252 hours a year in transit — about 6.3 full workweeks
- The true cost is roughly 23% of a $62k salary
- Over 10 years: 105 full days of your life spent commuting
That commute time is a guess
Get the real numbers: rush-hour drive and transit times from your actual addresses to work, school and gym — your first report is free.
Get Your Free Commute ReportHow the math works
We count round trips on your office days (4.2 weeks a month — 5 days a week works out to 21 commuting days). Driving costs use an all-in rate per kilometre or mile: the default $0.70 matches the CRA's per-kilometre vehicle allowance in Canada and, by neat coincidence, the IRS standard mileage rate of $0.70/mile in the US — both bundle fuel, maintenance, depreciation and insurance. Gas alone is typically only about a quarter of that — the rest is the part people forget. Drag the slider down if you want the gas-only picture.
Transit is modelled as a fixed monthly pass, which is why skipping office days saves time but not fare. Your commute hours are priced at the rate you pick — the same assumption as our rent vs. commute calculator, which answers the follow-up question: is cheaper housing farther out actually a deal?
What this page can't know is whether your commute-minutes guess is right. A "25 minute drive" at 8am is often 40. That's the gap our commute reports close — real rush-hour drive and transit times between your actual addresses, from Google Maps traffic data.
Weighing a job offer with a different commute? Try the salary vs. commute calculator.
Wondering if the minutes themselves are too many? See how far is too far to commute.
Moving to a new city? See commute guides for all metro areas.