Hour each way commute, or 5 minutes each way commute with $12,000 pay cut?

[stifeler]

Should I keep a shitty hour driving commute +$12,000/year or get a easy 5 min commute and give up -$12,000/year in salary. 

I am getting worn out from all the driving it blows.  But I like my job and don't like the idea of giving up money.

Thinking of my long term health I should probably take the pay cut.

[nereo]

You haven’t told us the salaries involved.  Going from $85,000 to $73,000 is not the same as going from $38,000 to $26,000.

Still...
Personally, I would take the pay cut. An hour each way x 261 work days = 522 work hours lost to commuting. That’s 13 ENTIRE WORK WEEKS.  Would you take a $12k paycut if your boss gave you three months off? Even before you factor in commuting costs (fuel, depreciation of vehicle) that’s about $21/hour for lost time.

Ballpark figure (since you provided none) - you’re probably commuting something like 20,000 miles per year (or sitting in horrific traffic, which IMO is even worse). That’s an additional 600 gallons of fuel you are *probably* burning at a cost of around $1,700.  Car depreciation would be considerable.  Most formulas for calculating total cost would put this somewhere between $8,000-$9,000/year.  So you’re barely coming out ahead IF you ignore the massive amount of time lost.

[Ponderosa]

^^ On the salary, could change things a touch..even but so:
 
Don't commute an hour!

[Tester]

So on the added commute you are paid 23 USD/hour.
That is without any costs associated with the commute.

[chasesfish]

So on the added commute you are paid 23 USD/hour.
That is without any costs associated with the commute.

^This.

I estimate a commute costs $1 per round-trip mile.  If your job is 40 miles away, minus that from the number and you're working an extra two hours for free.  Thats before the fact you're paying a portion of that extra $12k you make to uncle sam.....so the commute is actually worse.  You're spending two hours a day to spend the $12,000 in commute costs, then pay more in taxes. 

[Zamboni]

This is a no brainer. Take the pay cut.

[formerlydivorcedmom]

A few years ago, I took the pay cut (~10% of pay) and I don't regret it AT ALL.  I was eventually able to get my salary back to where it had been. 

If it had been a more significant percentage, I would probably still be commuting.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

Should I keep a shitty hour driving commute +$12,000/year or get a easy 5 min commute and give up -$12,000/year in salary. 

I am getting worn out from all the driving it blows.  But I like my job and don't like the idea of giving up money.

Thinking of my long term health I should probably take the pay cut.

There are so many details missing!  You say that you like your current job, but you say nothing about the 12k less but closer job.  To me, this is the most important part of the comparison, because you are spending 8 hours a day there.  And if you can save the 12k extra for a few years, maybe it gets you to FU money and more options sooner.

The other compromise I would seek would be flexible hours.  Try to get to the long-commute job early so that you can figure out how to work in time in your routine to exercise.  To be honest, long commutes are not the worst thing in this modern age with the advent of podcasts and audiobooks.  Maybe put the 12k extra toward a used Tesla and have it drive :)

[elliha]

As long as we are talking a salary that is enough for you to handle your life remember that you will win 1h and 50 mins for every day that you work too. Your fuel costs will be lower, your car will be used less, you can go home if you forget something, all of that counts too. If you feel your health is suffering from your current job, that in itself might be a good reason to switch even without the commute. I would say go for it!

[terran]

Since no one else seems to have said it (unless I missed it): Why can't you move closer to the more lucrative job that you like?

[Brother Esau]

I switched from a shitty (all back roads with traffic) 1+ hour commute to a chill (all highway with little traffic) 20 minute commute. New job was 15% reduction in pay from the previous one. 2 1/2 years later and don't regret it one iota.

Best part was I made the job change soon after discovering MMM. The change in my financial IQ gained from this site resulted in my savings rate almost doubling, despite the cut in pay!

You can assign a $ value to every hour of your life. I vote make the change. In your case, I think it's worth it. 

[FIRE@50]

I've also found that working close to home means that I'm close to my daughter's school. This allows me to easily drop in on school events, teacher conferences, and help with drop off or pickup when needed. It would take an absurd amount of money for me to give that up.

[HPstache]

No opportunities to just move closer to work?

[SunnyDays]

Is that 12 K gross or net? 

[CupcakeGuru]

I've also found that working close to home means that I'm close to my daughter's school. This allows me to easily drop in on school events, teacher conferences, and help with drop off or pickup when needed. It would take an absurd amount of money for me to give that up.

+1
A couple of years ago I was offered a job that paid 20k more but was about an hour commute vs my 12 minute commute. No way. The freedom of being able to be at the school or home in less than 15 minutes is priceless.

[2Birds1Stone]

I've done this a few times. Never regretted it. Though the absolute salaries do matter. As someone pointed out. Going from $35k to $23k is not the same as $100k to $88k.

[Beach_Stache]

I would take the pay cut, 2 hours/day is a ton of time which you could use to get further education, learn some other skill, go to the gym, volunteer, basically fulfill your life in some other way.  I agree w/others that $112k vs $100k is a lot different than $40k vs $28k, so those numbers obviously matter, but IRS calculates each mile around $0.5/mile (a little higher) based on everything for your car (oil, tires, gas, depreciation, etc.) so I would certainly factor in not only your time, but how much money you are spending on your commute each year.  Then of course the work environment and people should be factored in.  If the people are >= current people then I would take it, but working w/terrible people can be a huge drain, so think about the culture, management and all that stuff and not just 1 think when changing jobs.

[TomTX]

So, $12k for 10 hours per week.

I recently took a new job for an additional $17k, with an added 3 hours of commute per week. I'm getting >$100/hour for the commute ;) If anything, the new job will be lower stress than the old one once I'm in the groove and up to speed on all the procedures.

As a bonus, my pension will be calculated on my highest 36 months of salary, so this does have long-term positive benefit not captured above.

[nereo]

So, $12k for 10 hours per week.
.

No.  $12k minus commuting costs for an additional 10 hours per week.
As has been calculated above, it’s likely $3-4K/year for an additional 10 hours (500 hours/year) of work after one subtracts commuting costs.  Closer to $6/hour.  Worth it?  I doubt it, but depends on the individual and their earning potential and circumstances.

[PaulMaxime]

When I first moved to San Francisco i took the shuttle bus to Google Mountain View (35+ miles away)

I hated that commute. 9 months later I moved up to the San Francisco office and it was awesome. It was a 10 minute bike ride, I could come and go as I please and the extra 2-3 hours in my day were amazing.

I didn't have to take a pay cut but I would have.

Is the one hour commute each way always one hour? Is it sometimes more due to traffic or weather. Factor that in too.

There's almost nothing better than not commuting, in my opinion.

[jpdx]

Can you turn your 5 minute driving commute into a bicycle commute? That would feel even better.

Are you single or do you have a partner/family? If the latter, you could sell one car and just share a car with your partner.

[The_Big_H]

An hour drive would require a $100k-NET increase for me (in other words, not  going to happen)

[BrightFIRE]

My SO made this choice a few years ago. Technically, it was a lateral salary move, but his old company tried to retain him. We calculated they would have needed to pay him another $15k to even equal the better commute and they weren't willing to come up that far, so he left.

It has been a huge change in stress, time available for other things, he actually gets more exercise because he can walk to/from work if he wants. And our expenses went down because he hardly ever drives now (I am already car-free). He would never go back to that kind of commute.