New study uncovers Columbus commuting costs and you won’t like it
Apart from all the pain and suffering, have you ever wondered how much your work commute is costing you? Clever has, which is why they recently conducted a study examining commuting expenses across the 50 most-populated metros.
According to Clever, the study took into account fuel cost, maintenance cost, and time (because, after all, time is money). See below for how they defined the metrics:
- Fuel Cost: Estimated by calculating the amount of gas used to commute to work (in gallons) by dividing the average distance to work by the average miles per gallon across vehicles (21.1333 MPG), then multiplying that by the average gas price per gallon.
- Maintenance Cost: The cost of maintenance was calculated as the average cost of maintenance per mile (8.94 cents) multiplied by the average number of miles to work.
- Time: Estimated the opportunity cost of a person’s time as the amount of money they could have earned had they been working instead of commuting by multiplying the average hourly wages by the number of hours spent commuting to work.
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Turns out, people in Columbus spend and average of 27.35 minutes in the car on the way to work. Annual car maintenance in Columbus totals $413.28, while gas costs $563.46 each year. After factoring in the estimated time opportunity cost, the annual cost of commuting in Columbus totals $6,819.61.
You may be boggling at that number, but you’ll be pleased to know Columbus is towards the front of the pack when it comes to affordability. We are the 15th cheapest city to commute, according to Clever, with New Orleans being the cheapest and Washington, D.C. being the most expensive.
See below for a full breakdown of the study results:
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