How to Find an Apartment with a Great Commute

Everyone handles their commute differently. Perhaps you consider it your “me” time, where you can belt out “Bohemian Rhapsody” or get caught up on your favorite podcasts as you fly down the highway. Or perhaps it is the least favorite part of your day where endless gridlock keeps you encapsulated in a metal box when all you want to do is get home.

No matter how you feel about commuting, it's a big part of daily life. It shapes where renters look. Most of us are still driving to work: according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 69.2 percent of workers drove alone to work in 2024, while only 3.7 percent took public transportation.

Since your commute can impact your overall health and happiness, let’s dive (drive?) into how to find an apartment with a great commute.

How's Your Commute?

The average one-way commute in the U.S. is 27.2 minutes, according to the Census Bureau. That number tells a more interesting story than it used to: commutes peaked at 27.6 minutes in 2019, dropped sharply during the pandemic, and have been climbing back ever since. Long trips are growing again, too. 9.3 percent of workers had a one-way commute of 60 minutes or more in 2024, up from 8.9 percent the year before.

Nationally, about 40 percent of commuters get to work in under 20 minutes, while 18 percent spend 45 minutes or more. If 27 minutes sounds enviably short to you, your commute is longer than most.

• Fun Fact: No matter how long your commute might be, it probably doesn’t come close to the winner of America’s Longest Commute Award. That honor went to a California engineer who, back in 2006, drove 372 miles round trip every day – that’s almost four hours each way!

A long commute isn’t just aggravating – it can be bad for your health. According to the US National Library of Medicine, health impacts associated with a long commute include increased blood pressure and weight gain. Studies also suggest a correlation between long commutes and higher rates of worker absenteeism and higher employee dissatisfaction. One study by Mercer found that people with long commutes get less sleep and are more stressed.

Look on the Bright Side

In a perfect world, no one would have to commute. For a while it looked like commuting might become optional for a lot of workers. But until then, we will continue driving to work every day, so let’s make the most of it.

Remote work peaked at 17.9 percent of the workforce in 2021, then settled back to 13.3 percent by 2024 as hybrid schedules took hold and RTO mandates rolled out. The result is that most renters are commuting again, just not always five days a week.

That changes how you should think about location. If you're in the office three days a week instead of five, a slightly longer commute may be worth trading for more space or a lower rent. If you're back full time, those same extra minutes add up fast. Either way, the commute is worth pricing out before you sign.

One important factor to also consider is the average commute time for your city. To compare, let’s look at some cities with the longest and shortest commutes.

Cities With the Longest Commute Times

Larger cities and commuter hubs tend to have the longest trips. These are the cities with the longest commutes, based on mean travel time to work:

• New York, NY: 40.6 minutes
• Jersey City, NJ: 39 minutes
• Chicago, IL: 33.5 minutes
• Philadelphia, PA: 33.2 minutes
• Newark, NJ: 32.7 minutes

Cities With the Shortest Commute Times

Conversely, smaller and more compact cities land well below the national average. Here are the cities with the shortest commutes:

• Sioux Falls, SD: 17.1 minutes
• Wichita, KS: 17.3 minutes
• Lubbock, TX: 17.5 minutes
• Anchorage, AK: 18.1 minutes
• Lincoln, NE: 19.2 minutes

How to Calculate Commute Times

A variety of factors go into your commute, and since those factors can change daily, your commute is far from predictable. There are traffic jams, accidents, road construction, school zones, and the weather to consider. (Yes, the weather. If you’ve ever commuted in Atlanta in the rain, you know what I mean.) Here are some to keep in mind: 

1. Unless you are walking or bicycling to work, the distance from your apartment to your job isn’t as crucial as other factors. For example, without traffic, it might take you 30 minutes to drive 15 miles. But on a traffic-jammed highway, that 30 minutes quickly becomes an hour or more. You might want to consider taking a slightly longer route along back roads to avoid the highway and make the trip to work a little more pleasant – and maybe even save some time.
2. To get a better understanding of the commute you might have when looking at apartments, visit during rush hour. Drive from the apartment complex to your work. If possible, do this in the morning as well as in the afternoon. This will give you an idea of the traffic pattern, tricky intersections, possible bottlenecks, and potential hold-ups like school zones, extra-long traffic lights, and bus stops.
3. In addition to the actual distance from the apartment community to work, you’ll want to look for access points to major highways or a train station and the roads you’ll have to take to reach those access points. Use Google Map’s street view to get an idea of how congested those roads are (remember to factor in important things like where you can get coffee in the morning, your child’s daycare location, and other morning stops you might have to make).

One last tip: be sure to take note of any major road projects along your route, since these can cause major traffic back-ups and take several months (in some cases, years) to complete.  

How to Plan Your Commute

Commute time is one of the biggest factors to weigh during an apartment search. You don't want to fall in love with a place and then discover it comes with an hour-long trip to work. Apartments.com lets you search by travel time so you only see rentals that fit your day.

On the map, click the Options button. At the bottom, under Travel Time, select the checkbox that says Search by Commute Time. The menu will expand so you can set your destination — work, school, or somewhere else entirely — choose your transportation method, and pick your ideal commute time.

A new boundary appears on the map showing only the rentals that fall within the commute time you set. And you don't have to mentally add a buffer for traffic: commute times are calculated at rush hour, so what you see is the realistic version of your morning, not the best-case one.

From there, layer in the rest of your criteria: budget, amenities, and floor plans with the right amount of space.

Keep in Mind When You Decide

To find the perfect apartment with the perfect commute, make a list of your priorities and consider the cost associated with your chosen commute. For example:

• You might pay more to live in the city close to work (and your apartment will likely be smaller), but if you can walk to work, you’ll save money on car expenses (gas, loan payments if you forgo the car completely, and maintenance costs).
• If you choose a place a little farther from work, you might find a larger rental with more amenities for far less than you could in the city, but you’ll be giving up some time each day for your commute.

If you do choose an apartment with a longer commute, consider using mass transit or try to find some neighbors to carpool with. This will save wear and tear on your car and give you some days where you can read or work rather than drive.

No matter how long (or short) your commute is, try to make the most of it. Instead of thinking about the awful traffic or the fact that you just want to get home to your cozy sweats and your favorite reality TV show, try queueing up an audiobook, working through a language app, laughing at comedy podcasts, or singing along with your favorite band.  Happy commuting!

This article was originally written on July 16, 2020 and has been updated.