Grace Chang
Grace Chang says the occasional four-hour commute to her job is worth it but could be unsustainable in the long term.
Earlier this year, Chang, 28, felt burned out from her finance job at a hospitality company in Washington, DC. She began exploring new opportunities but struggled to find a role in DC that would allow her to grow and be less demanding.
After expanding her search outside the Beltway, Chang accepted a financial planning and analysis position, which she started in May. The role pays $120,000 annually, but it came with a downside: a commute roughly every other week from DC to New York City. Chang asked that the name of her employer be excluded for privacy reasons.
For her journey, Chang said she wakes up around 4 a.m. on Monday, catches the 5:05 a.m. Amtrak train at Union Station, arrives in New York City around 8:30 a.m., and is at her midtown Manhattan office 30 minutes later. She usually stays in New York until Wednesday or Thursday, and since her company doesn't pay for lodging, she crashes with friends or family who live in or near the city.
"I'm not 100% sure if the job is worth the commute, but it pays the bills and is a good stepping stone for other opportunities in the future," she said.
Chang is among the supercommuters who have embraced long treks to work in recent years: A Stanford University study published in June defined a supercommuter as anyone with a journey of more than 75 miles. The study, which was conducted by Stanford economists Nick Bloom and Alex Finan, found that the share of supercommutes in the 10 largest US cities was 32% higher between November 2023 and February than between the same time period four years earlier.
The economists said this uptick was likely tied to increased remote working arrangements. For example, some Americans who moved away from cities during the pandemic — in part for lower housing costs — decided they could tolerate their commute when their employers called them back to the office.
Chang said her employer doesn't have a specific in-office policy, but her manager wants her to work in person sometimes, particularly during busier periods.
When Chang landed the job, she never seriously considered moving to New York City. She and her husband have lived in the DC area for over a decade, and her husband works locally.
"We have friends and community here and didn't want to uproot so quickly," she said. "After I started making the commute, I just got used to it."
Staying with friends and family has helped Chang save money on accommodations while she's in New York, but her commute still comes with a financial cost. If she buys well in advance of her trip, she said she can generally get a one-way train ticket for less than $100. She said Amtrak offers a 10-ride ticket pass for $790, which amounts to $79 per one-way ticket.
However, Chang said her role would likely have a lower salary if it were based in DC, in part because the city has a lower cost of living than NYC.
In recent weeks, Chang's manager said she could reduce her commute to once a month. She said she'd previously requested a less frequent commute once she was fully trained for her job: She's been in the role for over six months.
While Chang is open to jobs closer to home, she said she's enjoying her current role and is getting the career development she wanted.
"It's definitely not a long-term goal or aspiration to continue to do this, but what has made this doable is having a positive mentality toward commuting," she said. "If I dreaded it every week, I would have quit in the first month."
Do you have a long commute to work? Are you willing to share your story with a reporter? Reach out to jzinkula@businessinsider.com.
