Commute Time and Cost Calculator
What a commute takes over a year — the hours, the days they add up to, the fares or fuel and parking, and what the time is worth at your hourly value — with the saving from working from home some days.
A 40-minute commute each way is 80 minutes a day, and over 230 working days that is over 300 hours — nearly eight working weeks.
How the commute time and cost calculator works
A 40-minute commute each way is 80 minutes a day, and over 230 working days that is over 300 hours — nearly eight working weeks. Add the fares or the fuel and parking and the commute has a cash cost too, and valuing the hours at what you earn shows the true price of the distance. Every day worked from home removes a full day of both.
Formula: hours = minutes each way × 2 × days / 60; cost = daily travel cost × days; value = hours × hourly value
Worked examples
| Inputs | Commuting hours per year | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 40 minutes each way, five days | 306.7 | over 300 hours a year |
| Two days at home | 184 | 40% less |
| A short walk | 92 | under a hundred hours |
FAQFrequently asked questions
How many hours a year does commuting take?
About 230 working days times the round trip. Forty minutes each way is 300 hours — nearly eight working weeks — and an hour each way is 460.
What is my time worth?
Your after-tax hourly pay is the usual proxy, or what you would pay to get an hour back. Either makes the commute's hidden cost visible next to the fares.
Does working from home really save the whole day?
The commute, yes. Some people work longer on home days and some spend the saved time on chores; the hours are still theirs.
What about a move closer to work?
Compare the yearly cost here with the extra rent or mortgage. Ten hours a week at 35 an hour is over 17,000 a year, which is a lot of rent.
Should the travel cost include the car?
Fuel and parking directly; a share of insurance, depreciation and maintenance if the car exists mainly for the commute. Public-transport fares are simpler: the fare is the cost.
Where these figures come from
- ISO 8601 — Date and time — Representations for information interchange — the yyyy-mm-dd format and the week-numbering rules used here
- US Naval Observatory — Calendars — the Gregorian leap-year rule
- US Office of Personnel Management — federal holidays — federal holidays (not applied here)
Last checked: September 2026. The Gregorian calendar rules do not change; working-day counts exclude Saturdays and Sundays only.