The New Super Commute

A new breed of commuter is going to great lengths-and doing a lot of number crunching-to pull off living and working in far-apart places. A super commuter used to mean someone who trekked at least 90 minutes to work each way, often five days a week. With more companies embracing hybrid work, the new super commuter is one of the many people who now live hundreds of miles or multiple states away from where they work. An estimated 4.6 million people, or 3.1% of the U.S. workforce, were super commuters, according to 2019 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau. If hybrid work becomes a permanent fixture in many workplaces, more professionals may have the option to super commute, says Robert Pozen, a former financial-industry executive and a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management who has written about personal productivity and remote work. Ms. Rice makes the 2.5-hour commute to Washington once or twice a week, spending about $50 on gas and parking per trip. The commute lets her maintain her New York salary and live in a neighborhood where she can afford more space for her family.