Move Closer vs Commute Calculator
Both rents, both commutes, and what your time is worth
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- General mathematical model
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only. Confirm the assumptions, current rules, fees, and rounding that apply to your situation before making a decision.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter the monthly rent near work and the monthly rent farther out, for homes you would actually live in.
- 02
Enter the round-trip miles and minutes to work from each place, at the hour you really travel, and the days a week you go in.
- 03
Enter what an hour of your time is worth to you and the parking and tolls a month that only the longer commute adds.
- 04
Check the cost per mile, which starts at about 26 cents of fuel and wear, and in the advanced fields add a monthly transit pass and its round-trip minutes if there is a transit option from the farther place.
- 05
Read the yearly saving with your time counted, then the cash-only figure, the hours you would get back and the rent premium at which the two places tie.
Formula
Commuting days a year = days a week × 48 weeks. Rent a year = monthly rent × 12 in each place. Driving a year = round-trip miles × days × cost per mile, and the farther place adds parking and tolls × 12. Cash a year = rent + driving. Hours a year = round-trip minutes ÷ 60 × days; time cost = hours × what an hour is worth. Total with time = cash + time cost. Living close saves = farther total − near total. Rent premium where cash ties = (farther driving and parking − near driving) ÷ 12 a month; with time counted, add the difference in time cost before dividing by 12. Extra rent per hour regained = (yearly rent premium − driving saved) ÷ hours regained.
Example
Rent is $2,300 a month near work and $1,800 farther out, $27,600 against $21,600 a year. The farther place is a 40-mile, 90-minute round trip with $150 a month of parking and tolls; near work it is 4 miles and 20 minutes. Five days a week for 48 weeks is 240 commuting days. At 26 cents a mile, the far commute's driving costs $2,496 a year plus $1,800 of parking and tolls, and the short one $250, so in cash living close costs $27,850 a year and farther out $25,896: the farther place is $1,954 cheaper. Living close gives back 280 hours a year, 360 against 80, worth $8,400 at $30 an hour, so with time counted living close costs $30,250 against $36,696 and saves $6,446 a year. The places tie at a rent premium of $337 a month in cash, or $1,037 with time counted, and each hour regained costs $6.98 in extra rent. A $110 transit pass from the farther place would cost $1,320 a year but take 480 hours, for $37,320 with time counted.
Definitions
- Rent premium
- How much more a month the home near work costs than the one farther out.
- Cost per mile
- What each extra mile of driving adds: mainly fuel and wear, not the insurance, registration and depreciation a car costs whether it moves or not.
- Round trip
- The journey to work and back in one day, the basis for the miles and minutes on this page.
- Value of time
- The dollar figure you put on an hour. Take-home pay per hour is one yardstick; the choice is personal.
- Break-even rent premium
- The rent difference at which living close and commuting cost the same, in cash or with time counted.
Good to know
What a commute costs beyond the gas
The cost of a longer commute is easy to underestimate because most of it never arrives as a bill. Fuel is the part people notice. Wear on the car, parking, tolls and the hours spent traveling are just as real, and this page counts all of them. Start with the miles. On the example, the farther home is a 40-mile round trip, and five days a week for 48 weeks is 240 commuting days, or 9,600 miles a year. The page prices each of those miles at 26 cents by default. That figure is built from two published numbers: gasoline at the EIA's national average of $4.071 a gallon for the week ending August 31, 2026, divided by the EPA's 27.2 miles per gallon average for model year 2024 vehicles, which is about 15 cents a mile, plus AAA's 2025 Your Driving Costs figure of 11.04 cents a mile for maintenance, repair and tires. Together that is $2,496 a year for the farther commute, against $250 for a 4-mile trip from near work. Parking and tolls add $1,800 a year at $150 a month. Two other per-mile figures often appear in these comparisons, and neither fits well. AAA's all-in cost of owning a car, which adds depreciation, insurance, registration and finance charges, ran from 55.9 cents a mile for a small sedan to 98.5 cents for a half-ton pickup in its 2025 edition. Most of those costs stay the same whether you drive 5,000 miles or 15,000, so they belong in this comparison only if living farther out means owning a car, or a second car, that you would otherwise not need. The IRS business standard mileage rate, 72.5 cents a mile for the first half of 2026 and 76 cents from July 1, is an allowance for deducting business driving. It is not what driving costs you, and commuting between home and a regular workplace is a personal expense that never qualifies for it.
Putting a price on the hours
Time is usually the largest cost of a long commute, and the hardest to put a number on. On this page's example, the farther home takes 90 minutes a round trip and the home near work 20, so over 240 commuting days the long commute takes 360 hours a year and the short one 80. Living close gives back 280 hours, the equivalent of seven forty-hour work weeks. How much those hours are worth is a personal choice, and the page asks you to make it rather than assuming a figure. One common yardstick is your take-home pay per hour: the money an hour of work actually puts in your account. Another is what you would pay to avoid the hour, which for many people is less than their wage, since commuting time can be used for calls, podcasts or simply winding down. Time on a train or bus, where you can read or work, is usually worth less to avoid than time behind the wheel, which is why the page lets you enter transit minutes separately. The example uses $30 an hour. At that value the extra 280 hours are worth $8,400 a year, which is more than the $6,000 of extra rent near work and turns the answer around: in cash the farther place is $1,954 a year cheaper, but with time counted living close comes out $6,446 a year ahead. A useful way to test your own figure is the page's price per hour regained. After the driving saved, each hour you get back by living close costs $6.98 in extra rent in the example. If you would happily pay $6.98 to skip an hour of driving, living close is the better deal for you; if not, the farther place is. Try the page at a low and a high hourly value. If the answer does not change, the decision is robust. If it flips, the choice is really about how you want to spend your days.
Finding the rent premium that ties
The most practical number on this page is the rent premium at which the two homes cost the same. It turns a vague trade-off into a figure you can hold against a real listing. In cash, the two places tie when the extra rent near work equals the monthly cost of the longer commute's driving, parking and tolls, less the short commute's driving. On the example that is $337 a month. With your time counted, the tie rises to $1,037 a month, because the hours saved are added to the cash saved. The example's actual premium is $500 a month, $2,300 against $1,800, so it sits between the two: living close loses in cash and wins with time valued. Knowing both ties is useful when you are searching. Any home near work that costs less than $337 a month more than the farther one is cheaper outright. Anything between $337 and $1,037 is worth it only if you value the hours. Anything above $1,037 costs more than the commute, even with your time counted at $30 an hour. The ties move with a few inputs, and it is worth knowing which. Days a week matter most for the variable costs: on a hybrid schedule, fewer trips mean fewer miles and hours, so the tie premium falls, although a monthly parking pass that you pay whether you go in or not does not shrink with the days. The round-trip minutes matter because traffic at the hour you actually travel can be very different from the time a map suggests at midnight. And the cost per mile matters if your car is unusually thirsty or efficient. Rent is also not fixed. Both leases will rise at renewal, often by different amounts, and the rent increase page shows what a higher rent costs over several years, which can close or widen the gap found here.
What the comparison leaves out
A comparison of two rents and two commutes captures most of the money in this decision, but not all of it, and not the parts that no field can hold. The first thing it leaves out is the cost of moving closer. A move within the same city still means movers or a truck, often an overlap month of rent and time off work, and it can take a year or more of the yearly saving to repay. The moving cost page prices those lines. The second is the car itself. This page charges only what extra miles add, about 26 cents a mile. If living close would let a household sell a second car, the saving is much larger, because insurance, registration and depreciation go away too; AAA's 2025 all-in figures of 55.9 to 98.5 cents a mile are the better guide in that case, and the car cost page totals them. Insurance can also change with where the car is parked at night and how far it is driven. The third is transit. On the example, a $110 monthly pass from the farther place costs $1,320 a year, against $4,296 of driving, parking and tolls, $2,976 less in cash. But the trip takes 120 minutes a round trip, 480 hours a year, so with time counted the farther place by transit costs $37,320 a year against $30,250 living close. Whether transit hours are worth less than driving hours is up to you, and the page lets you judge that. Finally, the homes are rarely the same. A place near work may be smaller, noisier or in a different school district, and a place farther out may come with a yard or more space. Safety, schools, being near friends and family, and the chance to walk or bike to work all belong in the decision. Use the result as the money side of the choice, and let those factors decide when the numbers are close.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth paying more rent to live closer to work?
In cash alone it often is not; with your time counted it often is. In this page's example, rent near work is $2,300 a month against $1,800 farther out, $6,000 a year more. Living close saves $4,046 a year of driving, parking and tolls, so in cash the farther place is still $1,954 a year cheaper. But living close also gives back 280 hours a year, and at $30 an hour that is worth $8,400, so with time counted living close comes out $6,446 a year ahead.
At what rent difference does moving closer pay off?
The page solves for it. In cash, the two places tie when the rent near work is higher by the monthly cost of the extra driving, parking and tolls: $337 a month in the example. With your time valued at $30 an hour, they tie at a rent premium of $1,037 a month. The example's $500 premium sits between the two, which is why the answer depends on how much you value the 280 hours.
How much does it cost per mile to drive to work?
For the extra miles a longer commute adds, about 26 cents: fuel at the EIA's $4.071 a gallon for the week ending August 31, 2026 and the EPA's 27.2 mpg average, about 15 cents, plus AAA's 2025 figure of 11.04 cents a mile for maintenance, repair and tires. AAA's all-in cost, with depreciation, insurance, registration and finance charges, ran from 55.9 cents a mile for a small sedan to 98.5 cents for a half-ton pickup in its 2025 edition; that fuller figure fits only if the longer commute means owning a car you would not otherwise need.
Is the IRS mileage rate what my commute costs?
No. The IRS business standard mileage rate, 72.5 cents a mile for January to June 2026 and 76 cents from July 1, is an allowance for deducting business driving. It includes costs that do not rise with each extra mile, and it does not apply to commuting at all, because driving between home and your regular workplace is a personal expense.
How should I value my commute time?
There is no single right figure. Take-home pay per hour is a common yardstick, and many people value time behind the wheel at less than their full wage. The example uses $30 an hour. The farther commute in the example takes 360 hours a year, 15 full days, against 80 hours from near work. Another way to see it: after the driving saved, each hour you get back by living close costs $6.98 in extra rent.
Is taking transit from farther out cheaper than driving?
In cash it usually is. In the example a $110 monthly pass costs $1,320 a year against $4,296 of driving, parking and tolls, $2,976 less. But the transit trip takes 120 minutes a round trip, 480 hours a year, so with time counted the farther place by transit costs $37,320 a year against $30,250 living close. Time on a train you can read or work through may be worth less to you than time driving, so try a lower hourly value for it.
What does this calculator leave out?
The one-time cost of moving closer, which the moving cost page prices; rent increases at renewal in either place; differences in the homes themselves, such as size, schools and safety; and whether living close lets a household run one car fewer. Insurance can also change with where the car is garaged and how far it is driven.