Free tool
Is the job worth the commute?
A $20,000 raise with an hour-long commute can pay less per hour of your life than the job you already have. This calculator counts commute hours as what they are — unpaid work — and shows each job's true effective hourly rate, plus the salary where the offer actually breaks even.
Current job
New offer
The offer is really worth +$9,803/yr
A $20,000 raise on paper — but the added commute claims $10,197 of it at your current effective rate.
| Per year | Current job | New offer |
|---|---|---|
| Salary | $80,000 | $100,000 |
| Hours commuting | 208 hrs | 500 hrs |
| Total committed hours | 2288 hrs | 2580 hrs |
| Effective hourly rate | $34.96/hr$38.46 on paper | $38.76/hr$48.08 on paper |
Break-even: for this commute, the offer needs to pay at least $90,197 to match your current effective rate.
The offer claims 5.8 more hrs/week of your life — each extra hour pays $69/hr.
Research cross-check: happiness studies suggest ~40% more salary per extra hour of daily commuting — here that's roughly $37,333 on top of your current pay.
That commute estimate decides the answer
A "60-minute" drive at 8 AM is often half again longer. Get real rush-hour times from your address to the new office — your first report is free.
Get Your Free Commute ReportAlso see: what that commute costs out of pocket · is a 60-minute commute too long?
How the math works
We take a standard 2,080-hour work year, add your yearly commute hours (both directions, scaled by your office days, 50 working weeks), and divide salary by the total. That's your effective hourly rate — the number on paper never includes the driveway-to-desk part. The break-even figure is the offer salary at which both jobs pay the same per committed hour.
The 40% cross-check comes from economists Frey and Stutzer's commuting-paradox research: people systematically accept long commutes for raises that don't cover the satisfaction cost. If an offer clears both the effective-rate test and the 40% rule, it's genuinely better money.
Common questions
How much more salary is a longer commute worth?
The best-known research (Frey & Stutzer, "the commuting paradox") suggests you need roughly 40% more income per extra hour of daily commuting to stay equally satisfied. A cleaner personal test: divide each salary by ALL the hours the job claims — paid hours plus commute hours — and compare the effective hourly rates.
Should I take a pay cut for a shorter commute?
Sometimes the pay cut is a raise. If a job pays 10% less but hands back two commuting hours a day, your effective hourly rate can go up while your salary goes down — and the freed hours are yours. Run both jobs through the calculator to see the number.
Do commute hours count as work hours?
Legally no — commuting is unpaid. Economically yes: those hours are committed to the job and unavailable for anything else, which is why this calculator adds them to your work year (2,080 paid hours) before computing what each job really pays per hour.
Comparing homes instead of jobs? Try the rent vs. commute calculator — or price the gas, parking and fares with the commute cost calculator.
Wondering where the limit is? See how far is too far to commute.
Moving to a new city? See commute guides for all metro areas.