How Your Commute to Work Impacts Your Happiness

After weeks of tirelessly job hunting you finally get some good news.

Not one but two job offers. Exciting right?

So which one should you go for?

The one paying the most money obviously.

Not so fast my friend.

The reality is that choosing the $75k a year over the $50k a year job on account of the higher wage doesn’t take into account the other factors related to the new job that will also have an impact on your happiness.

Like the length of your commute.

Studies by the UK’s Office of National Statistics show that anything over a 15 minute commute to work dramatically decreases happiness and instead increases your chances of becoming overweight, getting high blood pressure, higher stress levels, and taking more sick leave on average too.

Another report in the USA suggested that getting rid of a one hour commute is the happiness equivalent of receiving a $40,000 raise!

Interestingly, all the research shows that once your commute reaches three hours or more, then the negative effects wear off.

So next time you get a job offer, remember to weigh up the new wage versus your commute time and you might just end up $40,000 a year happier.